We are not a STEM school because we don’t treat science, technology, engineering, and mathematics equally—or even close to equally. It would be more accurate to say we are a math and science school, in that order. Our goal is not to graduate trained engineers, programmers , or technologists. Our job, as a K-12 school, […]
Thanks to a misunderstood statement made by Saint Augustine in De Genesi ad Litteram, which condemned, not mathematics as we define it today, but rather astrology (the popular application of math in his day), many early Christians were strongly opposed to the study of mathematics. But Augustine, in fact, had the highest view of mathematics. […]
Some children struggle with math. Proposed solutions abound, such as limiting struggling students’ math adventures to cooking, measuring, calculating money, and other “real-life” pursuits. But if we assume such a pragmatic approach, what do our children miss? Is there more to math than “useful” application? In a classical education we view arithmetic and mathematics as […]
The fine arts are tied into every facet of the human experience. Among these interconnected facets mathematics and science are prime, even when their links to art are not immediately apparent. Discovering and enjoying these connections can empower teachers to place the arts deeper into the core of teaching and learning. No matter the historical […]
Several years ago, I was asked by a lady who was starting a classical school if I would come give a speech to an education group in her community. I had planned my usual talk in which I discuss the advantages of a classical Christian education, but on the way there found out that this […]
The study of the material world reaps great benefits for the material welfare of mankind: food, fabrics, energy-saving devices, heating and cooling, transportation,luxuries of every kind, cures for diseases and pain. Science and technology have transformed our world into one of unimaginable wealth, comfort, and blessings for which we must give thanks and gratitude to […]
Herman Melville’s (very) short story, “The Lightning-Rod Man,” should be required reading for anyone who consumes the daily news. It rings with modern relevance despite being published in 1854. In the story, we meet a homeowner who lives in a mountain region in Albania known since ancient times as Cape Thunder. He is enjoying a […]
We classical educators tend to be a bookish lot. We like Cicero and Shakespeare. We like Latin and Greek. We like musty bookstores with alleyway entrances in Edinburgh. We use a picture of the library at Trinity College Dublin as the desktop background on our computers. We like traditional school uniforms and Gothic arches. We […]
In 1704, Jonathan Swift wrote a tongue-in-cheek story about the battle between ancient and modern books— between the proponents of a broad education that includes literature and history on one side, and the proponents of what would be the equivalent today of an education focusing on science and math and engineering and technology. The quarrel […]
Literature stands in intimate relationship with each of the arts, but its closest relationship is with music. The purest form of this relationship involves a composer’s timeless desire to take a poem, wrestle with it, and turn it into a song. Yet what about the novel? Can a complex narrative be transformed into music? The […]