Like, I Mean, You Know. Right?

Like, I Mean, You Know. Right? by Jeannette DeCelles-Zwerneman at Cana Academy. As teachers and students return to campus, this is a good time to renew our dedication to the proper use of language in discussions and seminars. Sloppy speech begets sloppy thinking. The most persistent and tenacious of sloppy speech patterns involves the improper use of the word “like.” If the students are permitted to employ this word incorrectly, you will find the discussion rapidly diminishing in quality and content. Read

Failure Is a Great Tutor—Don’t Fire Him by Alvaro de Vicente at The Heights Forum. It is a common myth that educating boys is mainly about telling them the right things. Effective parenting or teaching, many think, is about formulating the right lecture and delivering it with skill. Experienced educators will recognize this as misguided—having learned the lesson firsthand through the frustration of thinking all depended on them. Read

Ōsweald Bera Review by Andrew Ellison at ClassicalEd Review. Dr. Colin Gorrie’s Ōsweald Bera is the very first such book of its kind: a graded reader for learning Old English (Late West Saxon, to be precise) according to the natural method. Published under the auspices of the Ancient Language Institute, and used in the first two semesters of the Institute’s affordable and accessible online, non-credit-yielding courses in Old English (the current catalogue lists 9 total OE offerings, with the most advanced being a course in verse composition), it is a revolutionary text with a revolutionary purpose. Read

CNA Explains: When Can Catholic Employers Fire Employees for Not Following the Church? by Daniel Payne at Catholic News Agency. A New Jersey teacher’s dismissal from her Catholic school classroom over her role as a surrogate mother has raised the question of just when Catholic employers can dismiss workers for not adhering to the faith. The teacher, Jadira Bonilla, was put on paid administrative leave after school officials discovered that she had agreed to serve as a surrogate for another couple. She told a Philadelphia news station that she had previously served as a surrogate for the same couple without incident while working at another Catholic school. Read

Texas Boys School Establishes Policy to Destroy Smartphones by Amira Abuzeid at Catholic News Agency. After years of boys (and their parents) repeatedly ignoring the rules, a private boys school in Houston is taking a novel approach to its smartphone and digital device policy: Bring it to school, and “we will destroy it.” Western Academy, an independent, liberal arts school that states its goal is to educate young men “in the good, the true, and the beautiful,” has never allowed students to bring electronic devices to school. Read

Colorado Court Rules Against Catholic Preschools in School Choice Program by Kate Quiñones at Catholic News Agency. After years of court battles over the Colorado government’s exclusion of two Catholic preschools from its Universal Preschool Program, a U.S. appeals court ruled against the parishes on Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals of the 10th Circuit, in a 54-page decision, ruled that Colorado may continue to exclude the Catholic preschools because of their religious beliefs. Read

Not Your Grandfather’s Trade School by Robert Brennan at National Catholic Register. The path San Damiano College for the Trades has sprung from is 150 years in the making. The school occupies buildings in Springfield, Illinois, opening its doors and representing a hybrid of the Catholic influences that came before it: The Sisters of St. Francis’ commitment to prayer and the Eucharist, the Franciscans’ history of making the trades and sound theology available to all, and the Ursuline zeal for higher education at the associate level. Read

A Spiritual Backpack: Inspiration for the School Year by St. Josemaria Institute. A Spiritual Backpack: Inspiration for the School Year is a selection of resources for students, families, and teachers from the St. Josemaria Institute to help maintain a happy spiritual life throughout the school year. Learn More

Featured: Go and Make Disciples: The Mission of the Family and the School Webinar by Elisabeth Sullivan at Institute for Catholic Liberal Education on October 22. The Catholic School is a privileged place that in the eyes of the Church exists to support parents in their role as the primary educators of their children. When rightly-ordered, both family and school are united in mission, working toward the good of the child—which is, ultimately, sanctity. How can the school community and parents work in partnership to foster the intellectual, moral, and theological virtues that are the foundation of human flourishing? Join us to learn how the renewal of Catholic education is boosting that relationship. Learn More

Throwback Thursday

“Awaking Wonder”: Sally Clarkson and Joy Clarkson on the Domestic Church by Dr. Holly Ordway at Word on Fire on October 26, 2020. Capturing a student’s sense of wonder in education actively engages his involvement in knowing, discovering, synthesizing what he is learning. A child fashioned by a wonder-filled life will cultivate inner strength, a confidence in his own ability to think, evaluate, and know. Wonder is the engine that drives curiosity and shapes a robust intellect. When a child is driven to understand and to know, it gives him a sort of power and confidence to become a part of knowing and exploring his world. Rather than just giving rote facts and details to memorize, we engage our children in a broader, more beautiful imagining of their intellectual world. Read