> it all sounds like delusional charity work to me.
To me, it sounds like a constructive alternative to Sunday morning sermons.
I'll never tithe in my life. Where does that money go instead? Well, where did it go originally? 90% of tithing these days goes to supporting a developed world middle-class lifestyle for folks who give one lecture a week and spend the rest of their time providing constitutionally protected unlicensed mental health services.
So, there is a business model here. Professors are paid so poorly that individual tutoring for the intellectually curious in the professional class could provide meaningful additional income. $60,000/(24 x 3 x 3) = $277/student/class for a typical 3+3 load. But I'd happily pay $500 to take a 3-4 person class with a good prof on a topic I enjoy. $500 x 4 = $2,000 per seminar. Which is quite a lot of money when you're only making $60,000 -- especially if you're already prepped to teach that seminar. And my guesstimates here are actually high for the humanities at some institutions!
I'd happily pay $500/mo to attend intellectually engaging seminars with a small group of like-minded folks, even online. And I view that as morally equivalent to tithing, since it's achieving roughly the same thing (sponsoring someone's life-of-mind).
So, there is a market for the idea outlines in thep ost.
(The Plato's Republic thing feels pretty off-topic; I also think it's over-rated fwiw, but if others want to read it more power to them.)
To me, it sounds like a constructive alternative to Sunday morning sermons.
I'll never tithe in my life. Where does that money go instead? Well, where did it go originally? 90% of tithing these days goes to supporting a developed world middle-class lifestyle for folks who give one lecture a week and spend the rest of their time providing constitutionally protected unlicensed mental health services.
So, there is a business model here. Professors are paid so poorly that individual tutoring for the intellectually curious in the professional class could provide meaningful additional income. $60,000/(24 x 3 x 3) = $277/student/class for a typical 3+3 load. But I'd happily pay $500 to take a 3-4 person class with a good prof on a topic I enjoy. $500 x 4 = $2,000 per seminar. Which is quite a lot of money when you're only making $60,000 -- especially if you're already prepped to teach that seminar. And my guesstimates here are actually high for the humanities at some institutions!
I'd happily pay $500/mo to attend intellectually engaging seminars with a small group of like-minded folks, even online. And I view that as morally equivalent to tithing, since it's achieving roughly the same thing (sponsoring someone's life-of-mind).
So, there is a market for the idea outlines in thep ost.
(The Plato's Republic thing feels pretty off-topic; I also think it's over-rated fwiw, but if others want to read it more power to them.)