A Journey Toward Wisdom and Eloquence
Some of the most well-known documents and speeches in history were extraordinarily brief. The Ten Commandments are composed of only 301 words. The Mayflower Compact was but 298 words. The Declaration of Independence was a little more than 1,330 words. On November 19, 1863, minister and politician Edward Everett spoke for two hours at a […]
2 Requests for Providence Parents
I want to make two requests of you, Providence parents. But before I do, let me give thanks for a couple of things. First, thank you, Lord, for protecting us during this season of the pandemic. We have been in school nonstop this school year, with just one small disruption, and though we have had […]
Transformed, Not Conformed
Education is teleological. “Teleological” is a big word that comes from the Greek word telos, which means end, goal, or purpose. To say that education is teleological is to say that it shapes children to be a certain kind of adult, and education always works because it always forms students toward its inherent telos, its end goal. […]
Advent and Education
Happy New Year! Last Sunday marked the first Sunday of Advent, and with it a new church year began. The civil calendar marks the beginning of a new year in a few weeks, but those who follow Christ live by a different rhythm, an ancient yearly cycle that walks us through the incarnation, birth, life, […]
Rededicating Ourselves to a Great Purpose
Here’s your “dog bites mailman,” obvious news bulletin of the day: the world is a dangerous, scary place. And the more things change, the more they stay the same; the world has always been (in the words of Luther) “with devils filled,” “for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe.” The world […]
The End of Education
It’s November, so I am going to talk about the end of school. No, not the end of the school year. I mean the end of school, as in the purpose or goal of education, as in, “Educate to what end?” Why are you educating your children? I’m not asking merely about your immediate goals for your children (learning how to […]
“Stay on the Path!”
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterful tale The Hobbit, the wizard Gandalf accompanies the story’s unlikely hero, Bilbo Baggins, and his dwarf friends on their adventure across the Misty Mountains. As they prepare to enter the forbidding forest of Mirkwood, Gandalf announces that he must leave his friends. Danger awaits them ahead, he assures them, but they will […]
Redeeming the Time
Low standards are a plague. They are a plague on the home, on society, and most certainly on education and youth culture. Teens, it seems, are expected to be vulgar, boorish, self-centered, monosyllabic slackers whose slogan for life is a bored “Whatever” and whose moral standards are shaped by the narcissism and vacuity of social […]
Shaping the Ordo Amoris of Our Children
The Providence Upper School has begun to do some new and exciting things in its morning assembly. Each school day Upper School students and teachers gather in the Great Hall to read the Scriptures, confess our faith, sing, and pray together. It’s such a gift to begin our day with devotion to Christ the Lord. […]
CCE Q&A
Classical Christian education is a new and exotic animal for many Regents Academy parents. I always appreciate finding simple and direct explanations of many of the concepts, otherwise unclear or unknown, associated with our school’s philosophy of education. Below are a few questions and brief answers by Douglas Wilson that get right to the heart […]
