Kimberly Jahn, a current CiRCE apprentice, was kind enough to post on her Facebook page a catalog of things she heard during last week’s spring apprenticeship retreat. She graciously gave us permission to share it.
Here’s a little of taste of the discussion in which a CiRCE apprentice might take part:
Upon that which I am still thinking, or What I Heard, or Some of my Favorite Re-Presentations at the Retreat
“I want a deeper understanding of Classical Education.”
“To try and fail is okay for teacher and student.”
“Rigor is not time-consuming busyness.”
“We should capture affections; live, discern, articulate truth.”
“Rigor is diligent discipline; it is a commitment to the will of skill-building.”
“We should think about making connections.”
“Rigor is creative tension, between what we can’t do and what we should try to do.”
“We should push beyond what we are capable… and there is accountability to agreed upon standards.”
“Rigor works hard but it doesn’t strive anxiously.”
“A person who is truly classically educated can put anyone at ease.”
“Rigor is focus, diligent labor; diligent labor is always focused.”
“Reason is warm rationality, it is musical, it aims at harmony.”
“Order is purposeful.”
“What word should I use and where should I put it?”
“Translation is writing in slow motion.”
“A great book is a great idea greatly expressed.”
“We know the world because we think grammatically.”
“LTW is only part of becoming a good writer.”
“Live a little.”
“Do you think you need to give a love of learning? No, we are all born with a love of learning.”
“You just lived the first stanza.”
“Human nature yearns for enchantment, for boundless acceptance.”
“Humans are artists by nature, because we are the image of the creator.”
“To contemplate art is an act of faith. To listen to a teacher is an act of faith.”
“What is learning?”
“Learning is dynamic interaction with the whole being.”
“Active Perception brings the will and the senses together.”
“The will is leading. The will should lead.”
“Adam attends, then plays, then contemplates.”
“Recollection is the act of collecting order and bringing it back to the mind.”
“Recollection is the ability to go into your mind and get what you are looking for.”
“Contemplation is the ability to compare.”
“Three things priests do: teach, bless, offer”
“How well you can re-present depends on: attentive perception, recollection, organization, and skills.”
“A person without skills eventually commits intellectual suicide.”
“The fundamental function of a teacher is to cultivate the faculties of judgment.”
“Apprehension is the eureka moment.”
“Abstraction happens; it is not what you do.”
“Anytime we turn away from the one thing needful we are walking the way of Cain.”
“What is sophistry?”
“What is rhetoric?”
“Should we commit ourselves to the art of politics?”
“Think of the form of learning.”
“Classical music embodies the harmony that is interwoven into the universe.”
“The greatest artist is the one who can bring diversity into university.”
“Great music is rooted in enchantment and boundless acceptance.”
“Let your discretion be your tutor.”
“Your discretion must be your tutor.”
“He to whom I bow only knows to whom I bow.”
“God sets the pattern—It was good.”
“To think is to assess.”
“We should judge, not according to our own measure, but by God’s standards.”
“You don’t have authority over many people.”
“If you are rightly assessing, you will be looking rightly at nature, purpose, and propriety.”
“Theory is to behold.”
“Falsehood can only exist in words.”
“False assessment brings brokenness.”
“To say I’m shameful is a good starting point.”
“God is wooing him back, God never stops teaching.”
“The purpose of assessment is to set free.”
“Learn to judge your own work.”
“Our goal is to teach them to judge their own work.”
“Determine the level of readiness.”
“Assessment must be in the bounds of nature.”
“Assessment must be done to the purpose.”
“What is honored is cultivated; that which has no honor is neglected.”
“False standards are destroying us, as a church, as a country, as a people.”
“Liberty is the ability to make decisions.”
“The answer to almost every should question has to do with circumstances.
“Curriculum is the course you run.”
“Teaching is the art that nurtures the soul.”
“Facts, Truths, and Virtues are assessed differently.”
“Do not loose sight of the Ideal Type.”
“Organization is not order.”
“All of my favorite people are broken”
