Required reading in college can be a source of boredom and delight among students. Regardless of what students think about them, those books are vital in every student's learning experience and are there to stay even in top universities' curriculum in the United States.
The Open Syllabus Project, which is based at the American Assembly at Columbia University, compiled the most taught writing pieces at the top colleges and universities in America. It includes educational institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, MIT, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, University of Pennsylvania. and Brown.
Plato's "The Republic" is the most taught book in the country's top universities, Bustle reported. The Socratic dialogue was written by Plato around 380 B.C. and has been taught 168 times in America's best colleges over the past 15 years.
"The Republic" explores two questions: "What is justice?" and "What is the relation of justice to happiness?" The dialogue's major philosophical concerns are ethical and political, according to IEP.
Plato's "The Republic" was followed by Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" and Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" as the most taught book in top American colleges and universities. "Leviathan" and "The Prince" were both taught 163 times in the last 15 years.
Samuel P. Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations" follows with 158 teachings in American universities. William Strunk's "The Elements of Style" was taught 145 times, Aristotle's "Ethics" for 122 times, Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" for 119 times, Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" for 119 times, Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" for 116 times, and Aristotle's "The Politics" for 113 times, Bustle listed.
Every summer, top colleges in the U.S. advise incoming freshmen students to read important books. Last year, the book choices have genres that range from personal essays to classic fiction that revolves around race, sexuality and climate change. Most universities expect students to be prepared to debate and analyze these reading lists in class, Business Insider reported.
In Princeton University, freshmen are tasked to read Claude Steele's "Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do." Stanford University students, meanwhile, are asked to read Walter Isaacson's "The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution," Tobias Wolff's "This Boy's Life," and Lalita Tademy's "Cane River." Stanford University President John Hennessy said that these books contain stories "about people, the challenges they face, and how they deal with adversity."
Have you read the books mentioned above? Which book resonated the most with you? Share your thoughts below.
