February 2025

Latin’s death and immortality

Daniel Gibson
February 28, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

One of the dangers of language is that the meanings of words often change with usage. People used to call God “awful,” because He inspired a sense of awe and wonder—now it means really bad; a “nice” person used to...

Latin, well worth the price

Daniel Gibson
February 25, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

I suspect most of your peers at other schools probably don’t take Latin. But, did you know that Latin used to be common in American schools? In fact, there was a time when getting into college required fluency in Latin...

Latin, our linguistic grandparent

Daniel Gibson
February 24, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

We concluded last week’s consideration of physical education with the ASICS motto, an acronym from Latin: Anima sana in corpore sano. But, you may wonder, why do we make such a big deal of Latin here? Why do you study Greek...

Mind and strength, think and do

Daniel Gibson
February 21, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

We conclude our week considering physical education with the motto of the sports company ASICS. If you’ve ever worn a pair of ASICS shoes or athletic wear, you may have noticed that the brand is in all capital letters. That’s...

The virtue of physical education

Daniel Gibson
February 20, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

Ever wonder why PE class is part of school at all? I mean, let the athletic kids join the sports teams—but for the scholar, why the need for physical education in the first place? “Every sport,” said John Paul II,...

The one, the many, and the team

Daniel Gibson
February 19, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

The ancient Greeks were fascinated by the problem of the one and the many: Is the world really one big unified thing, or a bunch of separate things? This may seem like a purely philosophical question for intellectual speculation—but it...

Chase perfection, catch excellence

Daniel Gibson
February 18, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

When guests come to visit CCA, I often take them to the wall over there, with the posted results of your fitness testing. The Presidential Fitness Test, which Mr. Buller and Mrs. Blecke have you perform, used to be a...

Of music and meaning

Daniel Gibson
February 12, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

Suppose you read all that has ever been written about Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—all of the reviews of performances, descriptions of its greatness, analyses of its composition. Suppose you even read the sheet music itself, and studied everything about it. But...

“Music creates order out of chaos”

Daniel Gibson
February 11, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

When does a collection of mere sounds become music? Have you ever heard an orchestra warming up before a performance? All the musicians are playing their instruments, tuning them, practicing a few measures of the piece. You might catch a...

Be careful little ears what you hear

Daniel Gibson
February 10, 2025

Head of School, Morning Reflections

Ever notice how a song gets stuck in your head? How a catchy beat makes you start moving? Or the way certain songs affect your mood? There’s something about music that gets inside of you, takes hold of you, makes...

Veritas et Virtus