Lifelong Learners: An Independent Collaborative

These are the NYT Opinions — What are Yours?

Course Leader(s)
Day of Week: Wednesday
Course Length: 5 weeks
Starting: 10/25/2023
Ending: 11/29/2023
Period of Day: Period 1 Zoom
Time: 9:30 - 11:00
Course Fee: $50

Course Description:

Each week, we will discuss three or four articles from the Opinion Section of The New York Sunday Times.  We will focus on articles that will allow us to have in-depth discussions about issues that are rarely explained in depth in the daily news.  We will avoid topics that are highly politicized. We will focus on issues that are complex and difficult to understand. Some of these issues will be very promising, others could be very dangerous, most will have aspects of both.

Some examples of what we might discuss are: what can really be done about immigration? poverty? drug treatments? the price of housing in Massachusetts? Chat-bots? medical care?  are the humanities still important? and the lasting effects of COVID?  We will describe, as best we can, what the issue is, why it is relevant to our lives, what is being done about, what should be done about it, and what is possible.

These topics should easily lead to interesting discussions about many of the complex and confusing changes that are rapidly transforming our world. The discussions will help all of us deal with these issues and how they affect our lives.  The class will be mainly discussion.  Weekly preparation time should be 30 minutes to an hour.

Books and Other Resources:

The material for the class will come from The New York Times.  Most of it will be from the editorial pages, some might be podcasts.  The material will be sent in a form which everyone can access.

 

Course Leader Bio(s)

Don Bermont

I have been teaching courses at LLAIC for several years. I have taught courses about the future, artificial intelligence. and recently about pop music.  I am not an expert on any of these things, but I love to do the research and then learn from the class.  I have always found the class discussions stimulating and enlightening. I have been very impressed with the breadth of our members’ knowledge.

In my previous years I ran a psychology practice in Lowell, MA.  Now, besides participating in LLAIC, I make videos or play ball with my grandchildren, and am active in state and national politics. I root for the Celtics (very frustrating these days), cook for my wife, and grow spices.