Humanity can be characterized as a tool-using and tool-creating species. The tools we create or borrow can obviously give us enormous power, for good or ill: they will, however, always do so at a cost. We sometimes mark that cost ahead of time and choose to pay it; at other times, we don’t fully appreciate… Continue reading Words and Things
Category: Language
Names
They are one of the first repeated sounds that a baby hears and learns – and arguably the one vocalization that you hear more than any other in life. Names are central to how we think of ourselves – that’s the underlying import of the verse in the Revelation to Saint John that God will… Continue reading Names
A Rhetorical Superhero
I’ve learned many useful things from my students through the years. Last fall, Peter Jackson from my Senior English class drew my attention to the the term “Steel Man”. I’d understood the concept it represented, but not encountered the term; as often, however, having a name for something makes it easier to handle and promote.… Continue reading A Rhetorical Superhero
The Sherlock Holmes Law
I rather like Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. I should also admit that I’m not a hard-core devotee of mysteries in general. If I were, I probably would find the frequent plot holes in the Holmes corpus more annoying than I do. I enjoy them mostly for the period atmosphere, the prickly character of… Continue reading The Sherlock Holmes Law
Crafting a Literature Program
The liberal arts are, to great measure, founded on written remains, from the earliest times to our own. Literature (broadly construed to take in both fiction and non-fiction) encompasses a bewildering variety of texts, genres, attitudes, belief systems, and just about everything else. Like history (which can reasonably be construed to cover everything we know,… Continue reading Crafting a Literature Program
Failure as a good thing
People tout many different goals in the educational enterprise, but not all goals are created equal. They require a good deal of sifting, and some should be discarded. Many of them seem to be either obvious on the one hand or, on the other, completely wrong-headed (to my way of thinking, at least). One of… Continue reading Failure as a good thing
A Fine Thing
Nearly two years ago, disquieting rumors hit my work group: our jobs were moving out of the area, across the country. I did not want to move out of my home, away from my friends and family, or face restarting our home business in another state, especially since I would just be trading one earthquake… Continue reading A Fine Thing
STEMs and Roots
Everywhere we see extravagant public handwringing about education. Something is not working. The economy seems to be the symptom that garners the most attention, and there are people across the political spectrum who want to fix it directly; but most seem to agree that education is at least an important piece of the solution. We… Continue reading STEMs and Roots
News — Spring 2015
National French Teachers Examination Congratulations to Mrs. Mary Catherine Lavissière’s students Katie Cruse, Alana Ross, Micah Wittenberg, and Moriah Wittenberg! These four Scholars Online students placed with honors in the National French Test Le Grand Concours 2015. The test is offered annually by the American Association of Teachers of French to identify and recognize students… Continue reading News — Spring 2015
Why Study Greek?
I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat. — Winston Churchill (somewhat out of context). A few years ago I wrote an entry on this blog entitled “Why Study Latin?” It was a distillation of my own thoughts… Continue reading Why Study Greek?