Hope, Heart, and the Humanities

How a free program in the humanities is helping low income students achieve their educational aspirations. At a time when STEM education is being touted as the key to America's future, along comes a national program that says "not so fast." Hope, Heart, and the Humanities tells the story of how Venture, a free, interdisciplinary college humanities course based on the national model, has helped open doors to improve the lives of people with low incomes who face barriers to attending college. For over a decade, this course has given hundreds of challenged adults, some of them immigrants or refugees, the knowledge, confidence, and power to rechart their lives. As one graduate put it, "Venture has rocked my world." If the humanities are irrelevant, how can this program have such impact? Readers will go inside Venture classrooms to see what occurs when adults enter serious discussions about literature, critical writing, art history, American history, and philosophy. Inside those classrooms, readers can witness the diversity of the humanities through five distinctive approaches to teaching students. Apparent also are the difficulties nontraditional students, who range in age from 18 to 60, often encounter in a college classroom and the adjustments they and their teachers make. What readers may remember most are the stories and words from people whose views of the world broaden and whose directions in life changed. Written by five Venture professors with long experience in the classroom, Hope, Heart and the Humanities affirms the power and possibility that can come from studying the humanities.