I can remember the first time I knew for sure that something had gone wrong with the liberal arts. I had suspected some things were awry in our own public school district. Teachers and administrators didn’t like parents asking even basic questions about curricula. “Our focus in on critical thinking,” one principal said, “not rote learning.” Included in rote learning were penmanship, learning historical facts, memorizing multiplication tables, phonics, and just about anything associated with traditional learning.
But it was when my oldest son’s sixth-grade English teacher sent a note home on some class activity that I knew. The note was filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. When I asked if spelling and grammar were still taught, I was given some vague reference to avoiding harming children’s self-esteem.
We pulled the plug.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.
Some Wednesday Readings
What the BBC leaves out – Jack Flockhart at The Critic Magazine.
Who was he? Read a remarkable Battle of Nashville letter – John Banks’ Civil War Blog.
The keffiyeh crew’s curious silence on Iran – Brendan O’Neill at The Spectator.
“Solitude,” poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Why Contemporary Fiction is Bad – Lucas Smith at The Sprawl of Quality.
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