Around the Web: December 4, 2014

Here are a few of the noteworthy classical education stories circling the web this week:

If It’s 8:47, We Must Be Learning about Atoms

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has reprinted a section of Anthony Esolen’s excellent work, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. In his biting, satirical style, Esolen exposes the destructive effects of our “tormentarian” bureaucracies upon children. “We ought to rename our planet according to the bureaucratic shackles we place upon our children. We shall call it Tormentaria. It seems quite apt.”

Liberal Arts or Something More “Practical”?

Written by a high school senior, this impressive piece skewers the idea that liberal arts education is “impractical.” Amanda Siegel writes, “Rather than playing the guessing game of what skills will be required in the years to come, we should focus on higher-level abilities: learning to think, reason, write, present arguments, and so on. These skills always have been and always will be important. We don’t need to guess whether they will be of value in the future.”

What America Should and Should Not Learn from Chinese Education

Joy Pullmann, a research fellow for The Heartland Institute, picks up Dr. Gene Veith’s article on the effect of the liberal arts in Hong Kong, applying the lesson to American education. As too many Americans look to the Chinese educational system as a model from which to learn, Pullmann says, “Perhaps there are some things we should learn from China and some we should run away from screaming. A servile, job-based curriculum that intends to dampen the intellect and propagandize the emotions should definitely be out, as it is in Hong Kong.”