When Is A Standing Ovation Warranted?

“When the standing ovation is thought permissible for any and every performance which wins the heart of the audience—even a lot of first graders doing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”—the performers are likely to be disappointed and even insulted in the future when a more reasonable audience offers more modest praise. But great praise ought to be reserved for great performances of great art, which is a difficult lesson for the audience to learn, as well. If the standing ovation is reserved for Hamlet and Beethoven, the theatergoer who only enjoys new works must admit to himself that he doesn’t have taste which is good enough to stand for anything. And yet, his desire to stand for something may drive him to develop better taste and thus help keep classics alive.”

-from my latest for CiRCE, When Is A Standing Ovation Warranted?

Dear

In the last several years, it seems that the conventional greeting “Dear” has become stigmatized, and so emails now begin, “Hey Josh,” “Hi Josh,” “Hey there,” “Hey,” “Hi ya Josh,” and so forth.

Really, though, we should all use “Dear.” Unless you’re in fourth grade, “Dear So-and-So” isn’t a sign you’re in love. It is fitting when speaking to a man or a woman, young or old. “Dear” isn’t meaningless. It’s fond, formal, dignified.

The Growing Use Of Classroom Catechisms

The use of classroom catechisms has become widespread enough, my name is no longer attached to the idea. I learned the other day that there are classical institutions out there offering tutorials on authoring and implementing catechisms. Apparently, there is sufficient demand for catechism-oriented consultation that others are offering it.

For what it’s worth, I was positively delighted to hear this. In the event you would like to speak with me about it, I do offer hour long and day long consultations. But really, catechisms aren’t my idea. They’re just an old Christian idea.

Karl Marx On “Fiscally Liberal, But Socially Conservative”

“The Communist revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional property relations; no wonder that its development involves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas.”

-Karl Marx, The Communist Revolution (Penguin, p 243)

In other words, Marx didn’t believe a man could be “fiscally liberal, but socially conservative.” If you’re game for a new way of distributing wealth, you’re game for a new way of doing everything. “Where your money is, there your heart will be also.”

A Proposition For Fellow Teachers

One of the reasons there is so much acrimony about grades is because a 0 to 100 scale is way too broad. If you hate grades as they are, and I know you do, imagine how much less you would hate them if every grade was issued on a 1 to 3 scale. Suppose also that the final grade a student received (for the year) was not an average of all the earlier grades, but determined separately on a 1 to 3 scale.