Category: Education

Lewis on Education: Go to the Sources

  

Not all of C. S. Lewis’s writings are explicitly Christian, yet he brings a clarity to any subject that is drawn from his Christian convictions. One of his favorite subjects, naturally, was education, since he spent a lifetime teaching and tutoring students at Oxford and Cambridge. I find this particular Lewis commentary in an essay titled “On the Reading of Old Books,” to ring true. See if you agree. I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if… Read more »

Obama’s Skewed View of Christian Education

  

Earlier this week, when he was in Ireland for the first leg of his European trip, President Obama made a speech that didn’t garner a lot of attention at the time, but now part of that speech has raised some very real concerns among Christians, not only in Ireland but in the U.S. Essentially, the president criticized religious education as divisive and a contributor to violence. That’s startling to those of us who are deeply committed to providing a Biblical… Read more »

Historic Jamestown: The Latest

  

Since last Wednesday, I’ve been in one of my favorite areas of the country: the Historic Triangle of Virginia. Staying just down the road from Colonial Williamsburg, I’ve had the honor and opportunity to show some college students the most significant sites in early American history. Last Thursday and Friday, we focused on Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. There are actually two sites: the re-created settlement to show what it probably looked like and the… Read more »

Educational Trends: Not Good

  

Let’s take today to acknowledge the end of the academic year. Mine actually ended a few weeks ago; those in elementary and secondary schools still have some time left. Overall, though, how would one evaluate the state of American education? I know someone in my position is not supposed to say this, but let’s be honest: we’re in trouble. Our society is doing its best to convince almost everyone who graduates high school that they need to go to college…. Read more »

Lewis: The Learned Life Is a Duty

  

For me, as a university professor, this quote from C. S. Lewis is one I would think of framing and putting on my office wall. Please don’t skip over any of it; each sentence is truly weighty, if you stop and ponder as you should. I’m particularly drawn to phrases about “good philosophy” answering “bad philosophy,” our need for an “intimate knowledge of the past” (well, I am a history professor, you know), those trendy ideas that Lewis terms “temporary… Read more »

My Personal Creed as a Christian & a Historian

  

Caught between two worlds, yet both informed by my Christian faith. What am I talking about? I am a history professor, what you would have to call a “professional historian.” That is one of my worlds. As an academic, I am devoted to research and accuracy in my teaching and writing. Historians generally don’t get involved in commentary on current events, and at least make some attempt at appearing “above politics.” Now, of course, much of that is pretense. For… Read more »

Screwtape’s Education Formula

  

C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters remains one of his most admired and imaginative books. In the later editions, Lewis added a little essay called “Screwtape Proposes a Toast.” In it, the master devil shares his insights into how to undermine the human race. One of his methods is to destroy education. If his formula sounds familiar, there might be a good reason. Here’s a portion of Screwtape’s speech at the “Annual Dinner of the Tempters’ Training College for Young… Read more »