Life Under Compulsion: The Itch
Thee let old men, Thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the...
Everywhere at Once, Nowhere at All
“Right now, the main thing I’m taking from this conference is that PowerPoint is destroying the educational process.”
The conference, organized around the theme of...
Monday Morning Brass Spittoon: Roundtable on a Liberal Arts Education
Higher education in America has many challenges, and in many ways has become a rather strange place. The satirical novel, such as Richard Russo’s...
Getting the Garden Going, One Baby-Step at a Time
This academic year Friends University found itself wondering what to do with a plot of land, directly beside and behind some student dormitories. Through...
Growing Up Stoic
For our home-schooling lessons my daughter and I have been reading Greek and Roman philosophers, and she has taken a shine to the Stoics...
Whither the Liberal Arts College? Or, Why Bloom’s Critique Doesn’t Matter
One sees signs of dètente in the academic wars that were highlighted by Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind. At a more reflective...
Protestants and Western Civ.
Hillsdale, Michigan. Which is more surprising? To read that a Great Booksy curriculum—which you, a fairly committed Protestant who tries to keep faith under...
Life Under Compulsion: The Dehumanities
Imagine a new father looking into the eyes of his child. A wisp of blond hair curls about the scalp. The fingers, wrinkled like...
What Does the Boss Really Do? Business Education and the Liberal...
An address given to the Ciceronian Society at Mount St. Mary's University, March 3.
At the start of each semester, I ask my MBA students,...
Life Under Compulsion: If Teachers Were Plumbers
This is Part IV of a series of essays. For previous installments of "Life Under Compulsion," see Part I, Part II, and Part III.
“Good morning,...