We Need Stories
Once upon a time there was a horse that couldn’t be tamed. He was young and strong, nervous and rangy. King Philip wanted to ride him in battle, and every man of the king’s army looked on that beautiful horse with admiration. But man after man could not tame him; with wild, frantic energy he started and bucked at every battle-hardened solder that tried to get close to him. After many men had failed they were about to declare him untamable and send him back into the wild, when the king’s young son stepped forward and said, “Father, I can tame … Continue Reading “We Need Stories”
Why Old Western Culture has no self-graded quizzes
Several years ago we produced self-grading quizzes for a unit of Old Western Culture as a trial. They worked great, and demonstrated that students were paying attention to the material. But we decided not to publish them. Here is why. While self-grading quizzes can be very useful, especially for subjects like math and language, we wanted to emphasize the “recitation,” or Socratic dialogue use of the workbooks for Old Western Culture. Ideally, the workbooks shouldn’t be used for mere comprehension, even if they accomplish that, but as a jumping point for discussion. Grappling with the questions from the lectures and readings … Continue Reading “Why Old Western Culture has no self-graded quizzes”
Eucatastrophe
“This emotional rollercoaster that Tolkien puts us on – puts Éomer on – this swinging us from one extreme of Éomer’s sense of despair and impending defeat, to the thrill of discovering that what you thought was your enemy coming to kill you was in fact your friends and allies coming to rescue you. That’s what Tolkien calls “Eucatastrophe,” and that’s how Tolkien would have us read, and to feel, and to experience, the Gospel.” – Jonathan McIntosh, Old Western Culture, The Novels. Christ’s death and resurrection was the ultimate eucatastrophe in the history of mankind. The darkest moment, greatest … Continue Reading “Eucatastrophe”
What Does Jesus Have to Do with STEM? – Dr. Mitch Stokes
This article originally appeared in Digressio Magazine, Vol. 4. Listen to the audio version of this article. Stephen Hawking, who recently passed away, was the most famous physicist since Albert Einstein. And rightly so: he held the same Cambridge professorship that Sir Isaac Newton held, the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics. But, unlike Newton, Hawking was an atheist. Similarly, Richard Dawkins, an emeritus fellow at Oxford and the world’s most famous biologist, is an outspoken opponent of religion. Hawking and Dawkins both say that their respective sciences show that there is no God. To many people, this seems like pretty good … Continue Reading “What Does Jesus Have to Do with STEM? – Dr. Mitch Stokes”
Advent & Christmas Traditions – Francis Foucachon
What are Traditions? Traditions give us anchors to hold onto as time passes and as the pages of the calendar turn. Traditions are constants we can look forward to. Traditions connect groups and communities. They are the instruments to transmit beliefs from one generation to another, helping to tie the past to the present. In France, the open-air Christmas market is one of these traditions that ties both old and young together, as from year-to-year, grandparents, children, and grandchildren make their annual pilgrimage to a concentration of many sellers’ booths that constitute a real little village called the marché de … Continue Reading “Advent & Christmas Traditions – Francis Foucachon”
Fight Like an Amateur: Affirmation as Cultural Warfare
[dropcap]G[/dropcap].K. Chesterton once said that the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him. I believe that it is increasingly difficult for our culture to understand what Chesterton means. To understand why love is a more powerful motivator than hate, we must grasp that there are ultimate commitments involved in either posture: One fights out of a fundamental desire to destroy and dominate and the other fights because it is compelled by love to defend the good of the beloved. Think for a moment about all the … Continue Reading “Fight Like an Amateur: Affirmation as Cultural Warfare”
We’ve Been Schooled: A Short Film on American Education
We’ve Been Schooled: A Short Film on American Education By Scott Postma, of Kepler Education
The Precious Advantage of a Tutor in Home Education | James Adams
The Education of John Quincy Adams In this letter (full letter below), John Adams is writing to his son about his education, its importance, and the subjects that should be the focus of his attention, which were “Your exercises in Latin and Greek” which “must not be omitted a single day…”. He also encourages him to plod steadily, staying that “a regular distribution of your time is of great importance.” The Precious Advantage of a Tutor Adams was very personally invested in his son’s education and upbringing, and in this letter and others references his library, pointing his son to … Continue Reading “The Precious Advantage of a Tutor in Home Education | James Adams”
“Lend me your ears.”
“Lend me your ears” is probably the most famous phrase associated with rhetoric. They are the words of Marc Antony as told by Shakespeare to an unruly crowd in Rome following the assassination of Julius Caesar. Starting with those words he proceeded to quiet the crowd, then artfully persuaded the crowd to turn their wrath towards those who assassinated Caesar. Words are powerful. Words change the course of nations, as well as homes and relationships. They can do great good, and great harm. Words wield so much power that it is a common impulse to avoid the formal study of … Continue Reading ““Lend me your ears.””
Complete Lecture List for Old Western Culture
Old Western Culture is our literature curriculum which guides students through the great books of Western civilization from the ancient Greeks to the Early Modern period. It is divided into four years (The Greeks, The Romans, Christendom, and Early Moderns), and each year has four units. We publish details about each year and unit on their own pages, but below is all 192 lectures from Old Western Culture in one place! COMPLETE LECTURE LIST FOR THE GREEKS THE EPICS:Lecture 1 – Introduction to Old Western CultureLecture 2 – The Backdrop to the Iliad.Lecture 3 – The Anger of Achilleus. (Iliad … Continue Reading “Complete Lecture List for Old Western Culture”