Noah’s Ark goes to college

Joanne Jacobs:

Michael Goldstein imagines a new liberal arts college for students and professors who like to argue about ideas. He calls it Noah’s Ark College, because he’d insist that students and faculty be admitted or hired in pairs with one liberal and one conservative.

. . . the professors physically teach in pairs whenever possible—in courses ranging from history and literature to economics and psychology. In that way, classroom discussion constantly models respectful disagreement, and the course readings pit the best competing ideas against one another.

For every class that is co-taught by two professors, a student takes another course online for free (or near free) from the likes of EdX, with Noah’s Ark giving the exams in person for credit. In this way, the additional cost of having 2 professors in each classroom is offset by an equal number of classes that have no (paid) professors.

Admissions would be based on evidence the applicant “delights in understanding multiple sides of an argument,” writes Goldstein. The founder of Boston’s Match Education, he went on to found  the Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education.