September 21, 2006

  • BACK TO BASICS

    Many of my friends probably have bigger libraries than I do. I would guess I have somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 books, which isn't huge compared to, oh say, Peter Leithart's library. But I have what I think is a good library - a good selection of the classics from every age, some great sets, decent language references, and lots of random fill-in-the-gap categories. If I never bought another book I'd have good reading for the rest of my life. Er, I will buy more books, I'm just saying.....

    And I'll repeat what I've said before and will continue to say, to everyone's great annoyance, till the day I die. This is the heart of a good education: a small but well-chosen library, a place to sit and study, some friends to do it with, and the time and tranquility to do it in. There's such an immense, mind-bogglingly complicated tangle of extraneous issues attached to the concept of education, it's a wonder anybody ever gets one or even knows what one is. It's not about grades or credits. Those things may be necessary to get into college, but they're not part of education and it's all we can do to keep them from interfering with real education; mostly we fail at that. It's not about getting a job; that's for machines, not men and women created in the image of God. It's not about schedules and buildings and administrations and academic years and budgets and playgrounds and buses and meetings and athletics and art and field trips and curricula and email lists and offices and secretaries and science fairs and trips to the principal's office for misbehavior and lunchroom tables and drama departments and spirit week and community service and field day and school newspapers and multimedia. It's about Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and the student on the other.

    Read the best books and talk about them with like-minded friends. That's been the essence of real education since antiquity, and nothing about our modern world changes that except perhaps the pandemic idiocy that gives this idea even greater urgency and even less chance than ever of being taken seriously.

Comments (18)

  • Amen, Mr. C! And a timely reminder for all of us NSA students who are furiously working on our papers.... =D

    Thank you.

    ~Melissa Dow (Helen's cousin)

  • Amen to that!

  • Thanks for this, Mr. Callihan . . . I really needed to hear it (again:)!

  • Oh, and if you don't mind, I'm sending this on to our little church e-mail loop. There are several people there who will really appreciate your viewpoint.

  • Amen, Mr. Callihan.  I need to go sniffing around in your library again sometime.  I promise I won't steal anything.

  • Wait...you mean it's not about spirit week? 

    Thanks, Wes. Very nice reminder as we find ourselves knee-deep in the new school year.

  • Wow, Wes, you put into words exactly what I have been thinking about lately.  Thanks to Wendy for directing me to your post.  Next time you are in California visiting Wendy you will have to come speak to our group and share your thoughts and ideas.  We all need like-minded people to help us on this narrow road and to help us break out of the modern educational "rationalist virus" mindset that Andrew Kern talks about.  Thank you, thank you!!

    Blessings,

    Sheri Atkinson - CCHE

  • Happy Birthday, Mr. Callihan!

  • Happy Birthday, oh great and wonderful B.D.!! *grovels* *places offerings of books and coffee before you*

  • Happy Birthday, big brother!  *hugs*

    -lil sis

  • Happy Birthday, Mr C!  May you be blessed with additions to that library today, and plenty of time to sit and further your education. 

    Someday - someday, I'll come snif around your library again, and I won't steal anything either, because I'll just join the crowd of students camped out down there. 

  • Hey Wes, check this out.

  • Happy birthday Mr. C!

  • That was a great post Mr. Callihan, and I really appreciate your true view of education. I wish I could quote you!

    Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (belated though my wishes may be, I hope you had a wonderful day--drank lots of delicious coffee and read good books. :)

  • Amen, and amen!  Thanks, Wes, for the reminder of what it is we're really about here at the Wheeler house.

    Oh -- happy birthday, too! 

    Diane for the Wheelers

  • Hello Mr. C!!!!!!  >>>inside joke, y'all<<<

  • *jots it all down in quotebook*

    Thank you for that post, Mr. Callihan!

    *walks away tottering with quotes*

  • *cheers mr. c on from the sidelines*

    rah!

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