great ideas
A new remote summer course — modeled on the Oxford Tutorial System — introducing students to a collection of entertaining and important concepts from the Humanities and Social Sciences
FORMAT
Great Ideas is an Oxford-style tutorial, meaning it’s centered around weekly meetings on discrete concepts, using the Socratic method to help students develop their thinking. Prior to each meeting, students have 4 responsibilities:
Review the provided resources
Independently research the concept, finding sources of their own
Write a short (1 page max) paper, in which they
succinctly describe the concept, and
react to the concept in some way
Come prepared to discuss the concept and their ideas in detail
logistics
The default syllabus provides a baseline of 10 lessons, with opportunities to add lessons ad hoc if students are captivated by a particular subject
Each lesson is a 90 minute video chat with Mike
Lessons can be 1-on-1 or in groups up to 3 (small groups provide a better environment for discussion in our experience, so all are encouraged to sign up with friends or request a group placement)
Open to high schoolers from rising sophomores to graduating seniors
Runs from ~June 15th to ~Aug 15th (specific dates and times of sessions are flexible)
syllabus
We developed the Great Ideas tutorial to serve as a tasting menu of mind-blowing, fundamental ideas from a variety of academic disciplines.
Each lesson is centered around 1 or 2 fascinating concepts from a particular field, and highlights both the subject matter and the methodology of that field.
We focus on ideas that are fun to discuss, critical for every budding intellectual to understand, and emblematic of a particular discipline.
If a student falls in love with a certain subject, we will often have the option to depart from the syllabus, using subsequent lessons to dive deeper into the field.
research:
don’t be a flat earther
Core Concepts: Occam’s Razor; Availability Bias
Our first lesson builds independent research skills by examining popular conspiracy theories like flat earth and the fake moon landing. We ask why conspiracy theories are so appealing, why they’re so convincing, and how to tell the difference between trustworthy and untrustworthy sources of information.
Economics:
why do banks pay us?
Core Concepts: The Time Value of Money; The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Our introduction to economics starts with the fundamentals of the banking system, covering the logic of interest as “the price of borrowing money”, and banks’ role in the efficient allocation of capital. We then introduce the prisoner’s dilemma as a model to understand what happens when the banking system collapses.
critical theory:
revolution begins in the mind
Core Concepts: The Master’s Tools; Intersubjective Truth
This lesson introduces the core argument of the critical perspective: truths derived within systems created by the powerful will tend to serve those in power, so it is therefore necessary to step outside conventional modes of thought to craft theories that serve oppressed populations. We cover the distinction between objective, subjective, and intersubjective truth, and ask how these concepts apply to conventional wisdom from a variety of academic disciplines, particularly psychology and linguistics.
cognitive science:
can evolution explain the eye?
Core Concepts: Natural Selection; Vision; Memes
Our introduction to cognitive science forces a deep understanding of Darwin’s theory of natural selection by grappling with the challenge presented by the human eye, often cited by critics of Darwin as an example of a mechanism too intricate to have developed through random mutation (arguing it must instead have been intentionally designed by an intelligent creator). To this end, we review the work cognitive scientists have done to model the eye’s evolution. We also touch briefly upon memes as evolving cultural genes, because that concept is just too captivating to pass up.
law:
what are your rights?
Core Concepts: 4th Amendment Rights; Legal Precedent
We begin this lesson with a seemingly simple question: what are your rights during routine traffic stops? To answer this question, we examine the Constitution and 4th Amendment case law — covering concepts like probable cause, suppression of evidence, etc. — an exercise that introduces students to the mechanism by which legal rights are created and refined: written judicial opinions in real-life cases, governed by the principle of stare decisis.
philosophy:
do the right thing
Core Concepts: The Trolley Problem; Reflective Equilibrium
This lesson asks students to tackle one of the most famous ethical thought experiments: the trolley problem. As we struggle with this moral dilemma, we discuss why having a logically consistent belief system is valuable in the first place, and introduce Rawls’ reflective equilibrium as one method a responsible, truth-seeking person might use to resolve internal conflicts.
religious studies:
was jesus a real life dude?
Core Concepts: Religious Texts as Historical Sources; The Historical Jesus
Most students are surprised to learn religious texts can be viewed through lenses other than theology. A core element of this lesson, therefore, is simply to introduce the existence of religious studies as an academic discipline that brings the methodology of history to questions of religious significance. As an example, we ask what historians believe about Jesus as a historical figure, examining the books of Mark, Matthew, and Luke not as gospels, but as legitimate — yet often conflicting — sources of historical evidence.
rhetoric:
how to manipulate people
Core Concepts: Expression vs. Persuasion; Aggression vs. Compassion
In this introduction to the art of persuasion, we discuss the importance of distinguishing between ideas you want to express and ideas that will have the desired impact on your audience, particularly in the context of difficult conversations. We also explore how various argumentative styles (think honey and vinegar) are suited to different contexts — how, for example, convincing a friend is different from convincing a crowd.
political science:
democracy is a game
Core Concepts: Electoral Systems; Social Choice Theory
This lesson begins with the (often eye-opening) notion that America’s version of democracy is just one among many. We then examine a variety of electoral systems, and introduce social choice theory as a tool to predict the dominant political strategies that emerge when elections are organized according to different rules. For example, we learn that America’s two-party system is not required by law — it’s just a strategic consequence of our plurality-rule elections.
psychology:
the problem of evil
Core Concepts: The Banality of Evil; The Power of Social Influence
In the wake of World War II, the world collectively struggled to explain how a nation of seemingly normal people could engage in a collective endeavor as horrifically evil as the Holocaust. In this introduction to social psychology, we cover researchers’ attempts to explain what makes people do evil things — including Milgram’s obedience studies and the Stanford Prison Experiment — and discuss the ethical implications of their shocking findings.
pricing
group rate: $260 / Lesson
group 10 lesson package: $2340
1-on-1 rate: $330 / Lesson
1-on-1 10 lesson package: $2970
All client relationships begin with a free 1-hour consultation. Subsequent meetings take place in 90 minute blocks at whatever time is most convenient for you.