What would the best version of
myself look like? What would I regret not doing on my deathbed? Will I be
happier if I try to be a good person? What is true friendship and how best can
choose whom to love? How do I make decisions? How do I become an expert
communicator?
Over the last 18 months, with the help of my colleague Prof.
Arlene Holmes-Henderson and other allies, and in collaboration with NOVUS Education, I have achieved a long-held ambition to bring ancient ethics,
rhetoric and art, mostly via Aristotle, to incarcerated students. The results have been profound
and moving, as documented in the Guardian.
The feedback has been
extraordinary. Students tell us that the ‘potential’ session has helped them
thoroughly reevaluate what they could achieve in life; performing a Greek
tragedy with improvised props and discussing the moral and emotional issues it raises have helped them
see how they have been misled or provoked; when we bestow the trophy for best
actor (decided by classroom vote) there are tears and palpable pride; rhetorical
insights have already helped them deescalate conflict on the wing.
I have found
these sessions to be the most fulfilling experience of pedagogy in my entire working life. Neglected men and women whose brains have had no stimulation bar daytime television are so thirsty for
knowledge and philosophy that it is painful to leave at the end of each course.
That is why, in January, Arlene and I trained eleven prison educators to deliver
the course so it can reach far more students. But we want to continue delivering
it ourselves and the funding Durham University generously gave us to set up the
initiative has run out.
We teach for free, of course, but do need to stay in
Travelodges and take trains. I have just donated £4000 myself to kickstart our
new fundraiser, aiming to get to the £20,000 we need to reach eight or more
prisons over the next two years. Please help if you can here.
An important note on the
donation website. When you get to the payment page that looks like this you can
remove the tip JustGiving wants by clicking ENTER CUSTOM AMOUNT and changing it
to 0.00.
We are also developing three further courses: an advanced Ethics
course, by popular demand, which will think more about intentions, dilemmas,
apologies, death, bereavement and suicide; a content-based course on Classical Civilisation
and Ancient History for those unlikely to be released; and a course on literacy
using ancient linguistic stems to help with spelling and syntax.
I’ll continue
to update progress via this blog. Please, please help us enhance the life chances of
some of the most marginalised members of the community.