The Core: An Introduction
The Engineer once read to me a quote that has stayed with me. And I warn you, I might offend you. But really, am I offending you or challenging you?
Smart people talk about ideas. Common people talk about things. Mediocre people talk about people.
What do you talk about?
Once a quarter I sit in a dining room that is loud because of its inhabitants. It never has been silent. We linger over a meal spread out over a table long enough to accommodate Jacob’s sons and fit for a king.
There is constant dialogue.
Continuous banter.
Clashing ideas.
Conversation.
Behind it all, though, is love peppered with respect.
Though the exchange rarely mentions the things of old, like Shakespeare, Tomas Paine, or the decoding of a sentence, it is steeped in wisdom and knowledge . . . often a thorough search of the Scriptures.
I once shied away from volley of ideas. I feared being the dunce. Thinking made my brain hurt.
But discussions that transpire around ideas are the fertilizer for growth. {Tweet this!}
I am embracing growth this year. Struggling with ideas is the lot of mankind. For too long I have shied away from real learning . . . learning that requires me to literally wrestle with it. There is NOTHING wrong with learning being difficult . . . or hard.
I think in tweets. My brain composes thoughts as if life were a blog post.
I struggle to write paragraphs longer than five sentences. By doing so, I am doing you a disservice. Why should I decide whether you finite brain can handle a carefully crafted collection of sentences on one thought? Who am I to question your education or literacy?
God has called me to blog. And it is time to blog in such a way as to glorify Him not with just short, crafty sentences, but with real and heady thoughts. Meat to feed you.
People write as they think and speak. The popular writers of even the recent past like Thoreau, Alcott, and Douglas, are difficult to read by those of us taught to think in tweets. ~ Leigh A. Bortins
I have a list of questions ready to launch today onto my Facebook page. But I recognize that not everyone has a Facebook account or is active on Facebook. Until recently, I appeared to be active on Facebook BUT the secret is that a robot was doing the work for me.
Because I don’t wish to be limited to a Facebook discussion, I have provided the list of questions we will be discussing today.
- Classic describes something as special, important, valuable or authoritative. What images or books come to mind when you think of classic?
- Have parents been eliminated from public education? If yes, why do you think this is?
- Isn’t Classical Education just studying the things of the past? {grin} Why is the past important?
- Why do you or are you using Classical Education as your plumb line?
- How do you think learning about the past, memorizing facts, and studying the original documents facilitates family bonding, or unity if you will?
- How have you seen or what do you hope to see Classical Education do for your family, not JUST your child?
- Leigh Bortins writes that Classical Education is the “gift that keeps on giving.” Do you agree or disagree and why?
- How does Classical Education connect us to one another?
- Share your thoughts on the idea that our modern educational system is run more like a factory to produce skilled workers rather than thoughtful and involved citizens?
- “Let’s resolve to be adults whom children like to spend time with, not because we are ‘fun,’ but because our kids know that we think it is a great privilege and pleasure to be with them.” What do you need to change in your heart, if anything, to espouse this statement?
- What, if anything, scares you to learn along with your children? Me? I worry that I won’t be able to memorize the timeline!
Pick a question . . . or two . . . or three. Answer it. Or reply to someone else’s’ thought.
Hello! I use a variety of styles in the education that goes on around here. I do favor classical education just for the simple reason that I believe it to be most thought provoking. I’ve been in literature classes where a student can read the same book as thirty other students and yet somehow bring to life an original idea from it and bring it to the table. That said, I do not follow a traditional timeline of when topics should be taught. Each child has different windows where interest and capability shine through for a particular topic and I shudder at the idea that I’d be too busy following a lesson plan or moving on to the next book on the list to fertilize the seeds of creativity and excitement over learning something that they are passionate about.
As for the quote, definitely not offensive. I do slightly disagree. People tend to talk about what’s a priority for them. I particularly place relationships at the highest priority even over intelligence, mostly because we can strive for intelligence and God may bless us for great ideas, but we shall always fall short of understanding beyond our human brains. But relationships? Well the most valuable thing we can have is a relationship with our savior. We have the perfect model for an ideal relationship and so much wisdom and love can be gleaned from a good relationship with a great friend. We can love the people that He loved enough to die for. So I suppose what I’m saying is the smartest person, talking about the grandest ideas can fall short in the area of love and his intelligence won’t matter as much as it would seem. But the most “mediocre” person can study another person and learn how to love well, how to think well and how to work… and he will be able to be used by the Lord in huge ways perhaps even impacting God’s kingdom in a bigger way than a genius with amazing ideas. Both are valuable. I just don’t know if I’d put them in the same order of priority as the quote. Clear as mud?
Thank you for the thoughts!
Thanks for such a great and honest reply! Love it!
The quote! Glad I didn’t offend you . . . I think when it refers to people . . . it is the action of gossiping about people — talking about what they are doing, what they said, and our thoughts about them — the conversation that classifies itself as gossip that is sinful. Does that make sense. I have been around people that can’t talk about anything else but a very surface level of people . . . and after any attempts at getting deeper with them, ends back in a surface level conversation that doesn’t get to the heart of anything.
Thumbs up for classical being thought provoking. Though, a lot of my friends do not take a classical approach . . . but their kids are bright!
Gotta run! A kitchen needs cleaning, but thanks so much for your insight and thoughts! I appreciate the time you took to comment!