Can Excellence be Taught?

We're delighted to announce that the next six months of Different Class will be led by Andrew McGettigan, under the general theme of political ideas and education. Andrew is a researcher in education and philosophy who has taught at Middlesex University, the University of Westminster and Central Saint Martins and is one of the organisers of Big Ideas.

We kick off with a classic of ancient Greek thought: Plato's dialogue Meno, which deals with questions of what it means to learn and be educated and what we should teach our young people to prepare them for civic life.

The text is available free online as a web page (http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html) or a PDF (http://bit.ly/GYPEpJ). You can also buy it as part of a low-cost paper edition (http://amzn.to/GYBY02) or, indeed, Plato's Complete Works. You may also enjoy listening to an introductory podcast about the Meno by Peter Adamson.

As always, if you can read the text before the event you'll get the most out of the discussion.