Only Connect - Lessons from Howard's End and Queens College

"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die." - E.M. Forster from Howard's End (chapter 22)


I attended Queens College, now Queens University of Charlotte, as an undergraduate student. This passage from Howard's Ends served as the mission statement for the core classes referred to by the institution as "Liberal Learning." 


Liberal Learning was an innovative approach to a liberal arts education. It combined team teaching of faculty and staff with an interwoven, interdisciplinary course. As a student, you were required to take this course each semester for the first two years of college and then for one semester the junior and senior years.


The first semester began with the birth of civilization and the capstone course examined contemporary ethics. Each small cohort of students was assigned a section leader for breakout discussions and then met in the lecture hall with all LL students for a team taught lecture.


We students often resented the five day a week schedule, often at 8 am, which seemed like a crucible for the college student!


BUT the comprehensive examination of studies linked music, arts, literature, history and politics with the common themes and struggles of humanity. The result was that one came to see the interconnectedness of life and the intricate knowledge that the arts were expressions of social, political and ethical themes embedded in our civilizations. Conversely, the social, political and ethical themes were influenced by the artistic expressions for community change.


As an academic myself now, I relish the unique approach to intellectual development and endeavor to embed a similar appreciation for "only connect" to my philosophy of teaching and learning.


I often swell with memories of slides of Cubist painters expressing the multifaceted perspectives of societies from the individual's point of view at the turn of the 20th century, Dr. Charles Reed wearing fly fishing boots and a lure ridden hat which jumping on the desk to portray the deep social theory we were examining, and listening to collaboration of Duran Duran and Milton Nascimento in "Breath after Breath" to dissect the thematic influence of styles and beats in South American music.


So, how does this book - Sinn Fein Women - "only connect?" 


As Bobby Sands said: 


Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small; no one is too old or too young to do something. 

The connection is yours. I hope the reader will find some personal application to play a particular part in their community. No role is too small and no one is too old or young to do so.


"Only connect" the passion and the prose to inspire and transform that which is around you.