Christian scholars and educators understand that Truth is universal and transcendent. As such, we should not be surprised to find traces of Truth in pagan cultures. One interesting example is how Socrates recognized the prophetic nature of rhetoric. His conception of rhetoric is remarkably similar to what one finds...
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I have been teaching Latin now for almost twenty years. Often the parents of my students will lament to me that they did not learn Latin, or any other language, when they were young. I will often ask them a simple question: “Why not start now?” The quick answer...
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“As with government and economics, history helps students understand what it means to be human, and it informs their identity as a member of a particular history. Furthermore, it demands that they ask certain questions and make certain judgements” (Leigh Bortins, The Conversation, p. 159). Last week I saw Cleopatra walking...
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Plutarch famously said, “The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.” Now we, as Christians, know that our faith is also essential, but this famous quote is not without merit. Throughout this speech I hope to explain how my...
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“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” – C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity I don’t know about you, but my moods too often dictate the state of schooling in my house. Right around this time every year,...
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History is where I have learned the most about classical education—well, that and Latin, math, science, literature, and music. Every subject, I suppose, teaches us about classical education, if we study it classically. Every subject becomes an example by which we can compare our different learning experiences. If I...
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Particularly in the midst of a heated U.S. presidential election season, it’s difficult to make the case that debate, as we know it today, is a constructive endeavor. I say that despite—or perhaps because—I debated competitively in high school. My debating experience gave me skills in research, logic, critical...
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Depending on your church tradition, the season of Lent will be of more or less importance to the period of time preceding the celebration of Easter Sunday. Some of us will celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection with no other holidays (holy days) preceding it. From there the spectrum of Lenten...
Read the Full Article“Why do I teach math to students? I teach math so that students might love the Creator of math. But I also teach math so that I will love God and love my children more” (Leigh Bortins, The Conversation, 127). The thing I love most about math is that I...
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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Proverbs 1:5 (KJV) “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” – Henry Ford In Classical Conversations, we often speak of...
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Driving along the moon-shadowed roads out to the grassy football field north of town, I thought about how so many moms I know are consumed by worry. I see it on Facebook, I hear it at church and at community day. I’m not sure why the question got stuck...
Read the Full ArticleHave you ever felt intimidated by a book? Are there any authors who overwhelm you simply by reputation? Tolstoy perhaps? Famous for Anna Karenina and War and Peace, he is not exactly known for brief or immediately accessible literature. How about Nathaniel Hawthorne, Aldous Huxley, or T. S. Eliot? What about Charles...
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