The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides tuition-free, college-level instruction, for college credit, to economically and educationally disadvantaged individuals aged 17 and older. The course is based on the premise that the insights and skills offered by study of the traditional humanities disciplines can provide people with crucial tools for gaining control over their lives and becoming engaged in their communities. Course participants receive 110 hours of instruction in five humanistic disciplines: literature, art history, moral philosophy, American history, and writing. Instructors are experienced college-level teachers. Classes meet twice a week for eight months at a community host site, and students receive free books, carfare, and childcare. Bard College grants a certificate of achievement to all students who finish the course and six college credits to those who complete it at a high level of academic performance.
In Massachusetts, the Clemente Course is currently offered in Dorchester and New Bedford, in partnership with local social service agencies in those communities. The writer Earl Shorris, who conceived and developed the course, explained its core concept in an interview in Mass Humanities: "The humanities provide the most practical education. The humanities teach us to think reflectively, to begin, to deal with the new as it occurs to us, to dare. If the multi-generational poor are to make the leap out of poverty, it will require a new kind of thinking—reflection." Adds Karen Chapdelaine, a Clemente Course graduate, "This course is the best four hours of my week. It`s taken the edge off my fear of college. It`s a bridge from `had I only` to `I can.`"
For more information about the program, contact Kristin O`Connell, Assistant Director, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 584-8440. To make a donation to support this program, you may give online or contact John Sieracki for more information.
Contributions from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Boston Private Bank & Trust, Citizens Bank, The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, Harvard Pilgram Health Care Foundation, King`s Chapel House, UMass Dartmouth, and numerous generous individuals make it possible for Mass Humanities to offer the Clemente Course in Holyoke, Dorchester and New Bedford.
The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides tuition-free, college-level instruction, for college credit, to economically and educationally disadvantaged individuals aged 17 and older. The course is based on the premise that the insights and skills offered by study of the traditional humanities disciplines can provide people with crucial tools for gaining control over their lives and becoming engaged in their communities. Course participants receive 110 hours of instruction in five humanistic disciplines: literature, art history, moral philosophy, American history, and writing. Instructors are experienced college-level teachers. Classes meet twice a week for eight months at a community host site, and students receive free books, carfare, and childcare. Bard College grants a certificate of achievement to all students who finish the course and six college credits to those who complete it at a high level of academic performance.
For more information about the program, contact