Thoughts On Homework

“The teacher who does not use class time well—the teacher who only needs five minutes to account for all the material a sick student missed in a sixty minute class—has no right to ever assign homework. Teachers who want their students to live full, rich lives have to steward their class time better than that.”

Register for my December 6 lecture for Classical Academic Press here.

One Good One

It would make for an interesting list: Wretched Bands That Have One Uncharacteristically Lovely Song.

I think “Blackmail” lovely. There’s nothing else in the Swans catalogue that sounds anything like it. The rest is all lip-curlingly awful. But this one, this one is something else.

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.