PRINTA newly released five-year study shows that Mass Humanities' Clemente Course is changing more than just minds—it's changing lives.
For the 129 graduates of the 11 Clemente Courses Mass Humanities has offered since 2006, literature, art, philosophy, and American history are not the luxuries they are sometimes accused of being. For these graduates, the study of such disciplines has provided a pivotal gateway from one reality to another. To use the students' words: from “detached to aware,” “neglected to engaged,” “dormant to energized.” But no matter what words these graduates use, they all seem to come down to one: change.
“Clemente is about change,” agrees David Tebaldi, executive director of Mass Humanities. “History, literature, philosophy, ethics, civics—these disciplines that make up the humanities also cultivate in the human spirit its most prized and essential qualities: curiosity, creativity, reflection, insight, and, most importantly, the thoughtful actions that stem from such qualities. What Clemente students learn is that, with these newfound tools, they have a hand in shaping their own lives and the life of the nation they belong to. That's real transformation. And it doesn't get more important than that.”
The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides tuition-free, college-level instruction, for college credit, to economically and educationally disadvantaged individuals aged 17 and older. The course is based on the premise that the insights and skills offered by study of the traditional humanities disciplines can provide people with crucial tools for gaining control over their lives and becoming engaged in their communities.
Click here to read more about Mass Humanities' five-year study of the Clemente Course.