Modern education, explains Verene, “is a quest for certainty in thought and application in practice.” This is why our modern centers for education deplore freedom of speech, the questioning of authority, and the belief that absolute truth can be pursued. Certainty and application are better achieved through social constructs, assertions of power, and job skills training (ideas successfully put to work). Classical or humane education is about ideas and how those ideas relate to the …
Author: Scott Postma
A half-dozen questions for teachers to ask themselves before teaching their next class: What does a grade in my class measure: effort or achievement? What would a successful academic year look like for this particular student? For this particular class? What do I perceive to be my greatest strength and greatest weakness as a teacher? (Idea: Create an anonymous survey in which you asked your students to honestly answer those two questions.) What would a …
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their …
Teaching can be a thankless job. Teachers put in far more hours than just the hours they spend in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, there is the additional time spent in preparation, grading, and counseling students and families—which usually adds up to being greater than the teaching time itself. That not to mention the emotional, mental, and spiritual burden teachers who genuinely care for their students carry with them, day in and day out. …
Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important: how to live …
The laws that govern good teaching can be understood similarly to the way Jesus explained that the entire law could be boiled down to two commandments. In theory, one who loved God fully and accurately and, in a similar manner, loved his neighbor as himself, would fulfill the whole law. Instead of getting bogged down in all the complicated details of how to succeed as a teacher, one can simply establish and continue to develop …