I am sometimes asked by my extended family members or friends, “so why are you doing this?” referring to the Apprenticeship program through the CiRCE Institute. As I approach my graduation from the three-year program, I thought I’d put down why I did join the Apprenticeship program, and what I have gained from it. When […]
A Reflection on the CiRCE Apprenticeship Read More »
It is a mark of education to abhor the cliché. The educated person, the cultured person, feels repulsed by the outworn attempts at expression that pervade kitschy art, radio hits, social exchanges, and campaign-trail patriotism. These all bear witness to George Orwell’s claim in “Politics and the English Language” that “Modern writing at its worst
Hunting Wisdom in the Culture of Cliché Read More »
Amongst the greatest gifts a classical school can bestow upon its students is the opportunity to become skilled in the use of words. “Opportunity,” not “ability,” for no institution nor teacher nor curriculum can make good writers any more than one man can convert another: the student himself must labor to train his hands for
The Use of Words in the Life Well-Lived Read More »
Any essay has three most-important sentences, I tell my students—and nearly always, as I help them revise their papers, I suggest those three sentences be rewritten. Though good prose throughout an essay bolsters its ability to communicate and persuade, I’d wager many an essay stands or falls on these three sentences alone, for they are
I vividly remember sitting in a dim school auditorium my junior year of high school, pencil positioned to take the PSAT when all test-takers were required to copy out a pledge promising that no cheating would take place. The requirement? The pledge had to be written in cursive. One by one, students’ hands went up
Have you ever googled “quotes on writing?” If so, you probably came away from your search wondering why anyone would choose to be a writer. Consider what Hemingway said: “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Or Robert Frost: “No tears in the writer, no tears
7 Habits of Every Good Writer Read More »
On seeing the other side and loving your neighbor
Rhetoric as Truth-Fishing Read More »
Further thoughts on teaching the Liberal Arts
Writing as a Liberating Art Read More »
I have a very specific process when I approach a writing project. Using the first three canons of Classical Rhetoric, I first write down every idea I have. This is the Invention stage and includes my research stage. Anything that generates an idea—something I read, a conversation I had, a thought that I contemplate, I
Getting Back to Basics: How I Undo My Writer’s Block Read More »
Historically, education has been the means to cultivate the human-ness of the student. People believed that there were distinctly human abilities and potentials that were good because they were human, and it was the duty of a community to see to it that those talents and abilities were developed. Those abilities include music, the fine
Being Educated; Being Human Read More »
A Forma Classic from June 4, 2004
Biblical Aesthetics and Godly Poetry Read More »
The holy grail of classical education is the integrated curriculum. What a chalice that would be! Two things have kept us from finding it. The first is that we’ve been looking in the wrong place. The second is that there hasn’t been an integrating tool. First, we’ve been looking in the wrong place. Put simply,
The Holy Grail of Classical Education Read More »
