The Roman philosopher Boethius once wrote, “To understand the lofty Thunderer’s laws with true insight and objectivity, lift your eyes to the highest rooftop of the heavens.”  But of course, he wrote it in Latin, not English. His work, On the...

On Monday, I asked why we would bother studying a dead language like Latin.  Well, it was sort of trick question: Latin isn’t dead at all. Yes, it is worth studying to make your mind stronger; and it is worth...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” This is especially true of Latin for those of us in what is called “the West,” precisely because of how it has influenced...

Those of you in 4th and 5th grade are learning Greek and Latin roots.  The entire upper school takes a course in Latin each year, at least through 9th grade.  Perhaps you have wondered why we do this?  After all, Latin is a...

Shortly before he died at age 75, Roger Scruton, the British philosopher and social critic, reflected on his music education as a child in this way: “Some sixty years ago I was introduced to classical music by teachers who did...

Twice a Week the Winter Thorough by A. E. Housman Twice a week the winter thoroughHere stood I to keep the goal:Football then was fighting sorrowFor the young man’s soul. Now in Maytime to the wicketOut I march with bat...

Music is not just for concert halls and car radios.  Don’t always look for your songs on iTunes.  Like the mysteries of mathematics or the beauty of color, music is written into creation. A Minor Bird, by Robert Frost I...

Some of you don’t like to sing or make music.  You’re quiet during our morning assembly song and in music class you do the minimum required.  That may be because you’re grumpy and don’t feel like participating.  Or it may...

The great composer Georg Frideric Handel once said, “I should be sorry if I only entertained them.  I wish to make them better.”  The purpose of his music was not pleasure; it was virtue—the elevation of the soul. But how...