Conventional wisdom would seem to support the proposition that if you raise a child’s self- esteem, then she will get better grades, she will be more likely to treat others with kindness and respect, and she will not be so prone to… Continue Reading
The First Reading War Early in our nation’s history, most children learned to read phonically. They first learned the alphabet and a common corresponding sound for each letter. Then, they practiced reading simple two-letter combinations… Continue Reading
So what is on your list of books to read?” This is my perennial question to my college students as I prepare to send them out into the periods of time out from under my supervision. In the season of curriculum review, it is also a good… Continue Reading
Educators must necessarily spend a lot of time assembling and mastering the content of their lessons. In addition to what is being taught, teachers must also attend to matters of educational method. The best teachers go a step further and… Continue Reading
Colin Gunton, late professor of Christian Doctrine at King’s College in London, undertakes a monumental task in The One, the Three, and the Many. Gunton wrote the book to “illumine both the gospel and the modern condition, so that a… Continue Reading
I am starting to feel sorry for some of the younger students in classical schools. They sit in rows, laboring through stacks of information, occasionally standing to chant or recite in chorus. They are not unhappy, but the big kids get to… Continue Reading
A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins and me, of the propriety of educating the female sex in learning, and their abilities for study. He was of opinion that it was improper, and that they were naturally unequal to… Continue Reading
Ironically named, physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) worked on the Manhattan Project. during his later years, he conceived of dialogue groups as a way to deal with problems threatening mankind. David Bohm’s On Dialogue is not merely about… Continue Reading
If the three subjects of the Trivium are the presentable sisters of the liberal arts, astronomy is the humble stepsister (of the Quadrivial clan) who doesn’t get out much. Yet hidden under that maidservant’s garb is the smash of the ball… Continue Reading
For more than forty years, except for an occasional recess, I have played pool frequently and with serious intent. In early 2003, I found myself in a game of “straight pool” – the game Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman (“Minnesota Fats” and… Continue Reading
The other day I stopped briefly to read a stray blog post, where I can’t remember. I do remember that the post asserted forthrightly that there will never be another Johnny Cash. America will not produce an icon of this order for several… Continue Reading
The Arts and the Liberal Arts The traditional seven liberal arts are part of the wealth we have inherited from the classical world. The divisions of our school—Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric—bear the name of the first three of these liberal… Continue Reading
