Study like it's 1971: the Integrated Humanities Program
John Senior's Integrated Humanities Course
It’s 1971 and you’ve just enrolled in Kansas University’s experimental liberal arts program: the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program.
Led by John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Nelick, the courses turned toward the classics—truly classical education—in the face of the progressive curriculum of the time.
It was an experiment for the university. It was life-changing for the students.
Program Overview
The courses consisted of reading classic literature, history, and philosophy.
The classes revolved around conversations between the professors, students drawing wisdom from these shared discussions.
The program required participation in the arts, in dancing and song, in stargazing. It exposed students to beautiful writing in both English and Latin. It beckoned them to study abroad over Christmastide.
It was truly bringing together studies that had been segregated in the university system, integrating the liberal arts, offering students their classical inheritance, calling them to the intellectual life and forming them as persons.
The program was shut down by 1979.
Bringing the IHP to the Masses
As society has watched the decline of the university continue, the legacy of the Integrated Humanities Program has remained.
Wouldn’t it be great to go back in time and take a seat in an IHP class?
Well, now you can!
I’ve pulled together the book list, the available lectures online, and the interviews of former students to recreate the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program!
You can now work your way through the program, semester-by-semester, as a self-study course.
But you’re not alone! When available, I included recordings of lectures by Senior, Quinn, and Nelick so that you can have the full IHP experience.
Oh, yeah. It’s also free.
You don’t even have to subscribe to my newsletter unless you want to do so.
Access the full program for free by clicking the button below.
I’ll be updating it with additional relevant lectures and resources as I come across them. You can check back via the link for updates.
In case you missed it…
Check out my post on the current Reclamation happening. It includes a primer on Wonder which is the start of all true education.
My post on a simple fix to unplugging has been making the rounds.
Check it out below.
BTW for those looking for an IHP program for young children through some of middle school, check out:
https://www.thechildrenstradition.com/
Thank you, *thank you* for bringing this together and making it available. Just reading through the syllabus fills my heart with joy and interest. I've bookmarked it and started listening to the introduction.