The War of Words
Sometimes understanding what a classical school is can seem somewhat like the men who follow orders in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. Like you’re charging forward on the battlefield of education and hoping the leaders don’t blunder. Unlike the men in the poem, we welcome questions from parents who seek […]
Not just a ‘break’
“So, what are you doing over the break?” I hear this question often. I confess, I’m frequently the one asking it. So, what’s the problem? Well, remember how the term ‘holiday’ used to mean a day of sacred observance…and now it usually just means a day off work or school? It turns out that the loss […]
A Good Grade is an Accurate One
It is exam time for the upper school. I wonder, have you ever met anybody who enjoys exams? I suspect probably not; and if so, chances are they are a gifted student who expects to ace all the tests. But this attitude is not really about exams; it is about grades. It regards the purpose […]
Holidays: Recreation or Consecration?
Well, we’re a week out from break. I imagine your mind is tempted to head off to vacation early, though there is much to do before we’re done. Let me encourage you to stay focused for just a bit longer. But, if you do find yourself thinking about the upcoming holiday season, you might at […]
Is a paradox true or false?
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement that has some apparent validity. Was that hard to follow? Let’s try a few examples: “A flying arrow never reaches its target.” False—many arrows reach their target. But also true—the arrow that reaches its target is not a flying arrow. Or how about, “This sentence is false.” If […]
Does it pay to be good?
Have you ever heard the story of Job? He “was blameless and upright one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Job was blessed with riches, a large family, good health, and more. But, with God’s permission, Satan caused Job to lose everything—his money, his children, his health—in order to test whether Job’s faith was genuine. But after he was tested and proved faithful, […]
The fool’s dilemma?
This week, rather than offer my own thoughts, I am going to pose some questions that I hope will prompt you to think for yourselves. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” But […]
The loving response to mistakes is correction
A final question as we consider our mistakes: If everybody makes them, and they can be a source of knowledge, something we can learn from, then why do we have to be punished for our mistakes? Or even be left to bear the consequences of them? When we break a rule, fail to complete our […]
No such thing as a mistake?
A modern author reflecting the spirit of the age has written: “There’s no such thing as a mistake. There are only experiences. Some are good, and some are bad. Either way, it is an experience we learn from.” Do you think she’s right? It is tempting to agree with the idea that, since we learn […]
Mistakes, the foundations of truth…?
Everybody likes to say how important it is that we learn from our mistakes. But isn’t the best evidence of learning the fact that we get the answers right, not wrong? Isn’t a wrong answer worthless? After all, we don’t get any points for it. Well, Carl Jung said that “Mistakes are, after all, the […]
