Pearson College was delighted to welcome Mr. Lewis H. Lapham as the inaugural speaker in the James A Coutts Lecture Series on April 23rd. James Coutts was also in attendance and introduced Lewis Lapham to the full house of nearly 300 lecture attendees.

Lewis H. Lapham is Editor of Lapham's Quarterly. He also serves as editor emeritus and national correspondent for Harper's Magazine. Mr. Lapham is the author of numerous books, including Money and Class in America, Theater of War, Gag Rule, and, most recently, Pretensions to Empire.
The New York Times has likened him to H.L. Mencken; Vanity Fair has suggested a strong resemblance to Mark Twain, and Tom Wolfe compared him to Montaigne.

Lapham recently published an edition of Lapham’s Quarterly themed around “The Ways of Learning.” He drew from his research into “The Ways of Learning,” his extensive review of the Pearson College curriculum and a life long passion with learning to deliver a thought provoking lecture.

He told the audience that, “The truth isn’t about a collection of facts or the acquisition of dogma, not even about the discovery of liars in Washington or terrorists in Islamabad. What makes men and women free is the learning to value their own minds and speak in their voices.” Lapham told the audience, “Possess the courage of your own thought, and you can make of the future what you will.”

Lapham also paid tribute to Pearson College learning model: “From what I know of Pearson College you’re lucky enough to be blessed with teachers who hold to the view that the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. It doesn’t matter how or when the mind achieves the spark of ignition – in an old rhyme or a new equation, in the course of chasing a butterfly or dredging a tide pool.”

Lapham strongly advocated for the study and understanding of history, exclaiming that “Cicero made the point fifty years before the birth of Christ: “Not to know what happened before one was born,” he said, “is always to be a child.”

The thirty minute question and answer period following the lecture stretched to nearly 50 minutes before College Director David Hawley rose to thank Mr. Lapham and remind students that Mr. Lapham would be in attendance at several Theory of Knowledge classes the next morning. With this, the audience adjourned to a reception in honour of Mr. James Coutts.

Mr. Coutts has been involved with Pearson College from the early 1970s. He played a key role in fulfilling the dream of former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson to establish a unique school on Canada’s west coast with a focus on academics, service and the pursuit of peace.