One of the great challenges faced by classical and Christian schools is the challenge of growth swamping that which is the cause of the growth. If there is one three-man lifeboat in the water, and a hundred people also in the water, the thing that makes the lifeboat an object of desire is the same …
Abiding the Results
Being clever, or smart, or sophisticated, or educated, is not the same thing as being wise. Being wise includes, fundamentally, submission to a standard outside your own opinions. It means a willingness to take the test, and to abide the results. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is …
Cousins
These are my remarks for the NSA Convocation 2013 Just over a decade ago, I spoke at convocation, much as I am doing now, and gave a mock convocation address for the year 2022, now just nine years away from us. In that address, among many other cogent observations, I said this: “We continue to …
Pedagogical Traffic Jam
I read a book some decades ago the title of which, The Dilemma of Education in a Democracy, expresses the problem perfectly. But allow me to explain. A few weeks ago, I took issue with the idea that “age- segregated” education was a Prussian invention, and as such, a pedagogical corruption to be steered away …
Not All Cake
Levi Heiple has graciously interacted with my post on technology and education here. As he notes, we have a good bit of common ground — and so what follows here is simply what I believe to be a necessary voice of caution. There are principles involved in education, and there are methods, and whenever you …
Chasing the Laser Pointer Dot
If I may, I would like to urge all Christians interested in the future of education reform to continue their hot pursuit of said reform, but not to do so like a kitten pursuing a laser pointer dot on the rug. We live in exciting pedagogical times, and the arrival of many more options in …
Spooky Levels
Remarks I gave for the Seattle Classical Christian School on March 7, 2013. Thank you very much for the kind invitation to address you all. Nancy and I really enjoy coming to Seattle, and it is even better when we have a good reason for doing it. It was well said by somebody, somewhere, that …
Insoucient Hair Gel
This is the outline of the comments I made to the students at Annapolis Christian Academy in Corpus Christi. The apostle Paul tells us to be transformed in the renewing of our minds, and so to prove what is the good and acceptable will of God. Because an apostle told us this, we know it …
Hypocrisy and the Young
One of our stock characters in literature and film, and in other parts of our imagination as well, is that of the old hypocrite. This is fueled by a number of things including, but not limited to, the actual existence of old hypocrites, the shock value of suddenly revealed old hypocrisies, and the fact that …
A Graduate Degree in Hivebuzz
One of our great modern diseases is the inability to see the big picture. We specialize in our tasks, which Adam Smith described as the source of our wealth. But we also put our heads down and specialize in our thoughts. And this is how it comes about that we can be easily robbed of …