‘Tis the season for commencements: collegiate, high school, elementary school, even kindergarten. Some are silly, some cute, some respectful, some tedious, some beautiful. On Saturday, I was blessed to attend one which, more than anything, was deeply joyful. The school was St. Augustine’s Academy in Ventura, California, which combined high school graduation with eighth grade [...]
For classical educators, developing the human person is the primary goal, and the cultural treasures of the past are the principal means to that goal. Making the thoughts, words, stories, and beauty of Christian civilization a living part of students gives them standards and ideals that direct their maturation into adults who help shape their [...]
The box office records set by James Cameron’s movie, Avatar, tell me that I was not alone in finding the movie’s visual presentation breathtaking. The 3D screen immersed me in the beauty and variety and power of Cameron’s imagined nature and machine. Along with leading character, Jake Sully, I re-discovered the delight of walking and [...]
“Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Readers of The Imaginative Conservative must frequently be tempted to throw up their hands in despair over the state of education today. How can [...]
In the cultural wasteland of the ’70s, where peace and love had degenerated into sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, precious few lights beckoned to youth who met license, pornography, and drugs everywhere. Yet Providence did not wholly abandon us. From time to time, I remember some of those suggestions of a more beautiful life [...]