College students and their parents often question the “return on investment” from humanities courses, but Boston College Professor of English Carlo Rotella says that misses the point of what’s going on in the classroom. He contends that teaching—particularly an English-lit course—is not about a clean transfer of knowledge. His new book, What Can I Get Out of This? Teaching and Learning in a Classroom Full of Skeptics (University of California Press, 2025), offers an eloquent and moving story about the value and the pleasures of intellectual exploration, and why it matters beyond the classroom. What Can I Get Out of This? provides an intimate look at teaching and learning from the perspective of Rotella and the 33 BC students in his course. He demonstrates how the students’ reluctance—”How does this get me a job?”—transforms into insight as they wrestle with challenging books, share ideas, discover how to think critically, and form a community. They learn how to extract meaning from the world around them, revealing the truth of what students actually experience in college. Learn more: WBZ Radio |  WWOD New Hampshire | WGTD Wisconsin | Q&A with Deborah Kalb. A regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Rotella has written books about cities, boxing, music, and literature, including The World Is Always Coming to an End, Cut Time, and Playing in Time.