Feb 6, 2025
Humane Learning in a Machine Age, A Professor’s Resolutions by Dr. Ben Reinhard at Hearth and Field. A crisis in the humanities is of course nothing new: liberal education has long been on unstable ground in western universities, the soil eroding and the water table rising. But now, with the advent of generative artificial intelligence, we seem to have come to the final deluge, which threatens to sweep away the last embankments and to render all educational policies and procedures obsolete…Properly understood, every crisis is a call to conversion: and in any case, the New Year is a time for reflection and resolution. With this in mind, I offer three educator-focused resolutions in the face of the AI revolution. Read
Catholic Liberal Education: Rediscovering the Church’s Educational Tradition by Emily Kwilinski at National Catholic Register. Many Catholics have heard of the liberal arts movement, but most do not associate it with elementary or high-school-level education. But a growing movement seeks to introduce students to the Church’s rich heritage of the traditional liberal arts before the university level, and programs like the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education and the Augustine Institute’s Master of Arts in Catholic Education are dedicated to preparing schools and teachers for the work of forming students in this tradition. The Register spoke with some of Catholic liberal education’s proponents to better understand how the faith informs this educational approach. Read
In an Unprecedented Move, Ohio Is Funding the Construction of Private Religious Schools by Eli Hager at Pro Publica. While many states have recently enacted sweeping school voucher programs that give parents taxpayer money to spend on private school tuition for their kids, Ohio has cut out the middleman. Under a bill passed by its Legislature this summer, the state is now providing millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, most of them Catholic, to renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more. Read
In Praise of the Book Report by Mary Frances Loughran at Cana Academy. Those of a certain age will remember writing book reports in grade school and middle school. These brief narrative summaries of the books they read ostensibly helped teachers track how much students were reading and how well they were comprehending and retaining what they had read. They have largely fallen out of use, but there is an argument to be made in favor of their restoration. Read
Let’s Raise Our Children to Take Intellectual Risks by Nadya Williams at Institute for Family Studies. Families that have homes filled with books implicitly encourage kids to explore, read widely, and treat knowledge and learning as friends and companions rather than threats or just hurdles to jump through to graduate. A home filled with books of every sort fosters intellectual risk-taking in the same way that a playground without all the extra guardrails might encourage a child to play more boldly. Read
Why Sports Are More than “Just a Game” by Garret van Beek at The Catholic Gentleman. Devoting time to compete well in a particular sport not only expends energy that can be used unproductively, but it also has the function of giving young men the opportunity to develop the virtues necessary in becoming a strong Catholic man. Players should be coached not only in technique, but also in those virtues that will benefit them both in the sports they play and the lives they live. By giving virtue emphasis, sports can give men a real chance of cementing these character strengths into their person long after the season is over. These virtues are Diligence, Discipline, Sacrifice, Focus, and Courage. Read
EXCLUSIVE: White House Roundtable To Highlight School Choice With Top GOP Govs by Mary Margaret Olohan at The Daily Wire. The White House hosted a Friday roundtable on school choice with top Republican governors amid sweeping victories on the issue across the country, The Daily Wire has learned. “The White House is excited to honor National School Choice Week with this roundtable,” a senior White House official told The Daily Wire. “President Donald Trump wants parents throughout the nation to be empowered to direct their children’s education.” Read
Trump Signs Orders to Expand School Choice, End ‘Radical Indoctrination’ by Kate Quiñones at Catholic News Agency. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday directing federal agencies to expand educational freedom and opportunity for families and end “radical indoctrination” in K–12 education. The executive order to expand school choice is designed “to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children” by using federal funding “to support K–12 educational choice initiatives.” Read
Tennessee Bishops Welcome ‘Landmark’ School Choice Voucher Program by Kate Quiñones at Catholic World Report. Tennessee Catholic bishops on Monday lauded the passage of legislation establishing Tennessee’s first-ever universal school choice program, which is set to fund more than 20,000 scholarships to private schools. Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act of 2025, which was passed on Jan. 30, will fund 20,000 scholarships, half of which are income-restricted. The passage of the act shortly followed the Trump-Vance administration’s executive order last week instructing federal agencies to expand school choice. Read
North Texas' Largest Catholic Diocese Supports School Choice Bill to Expand Faith-Based Learning by Amelia Mugavero at CBS News. North Texas' largest Catholic Diocese is reacting to state lawmakers moving closer to passing a bill aimed at legalizing school choice. The superintendent for the diocese spoke exclusively to CBS News Texas to share why she believes school choice will benefit all students across the state. Read
Going On Offense by Kevin Roberts, Ph.D. at The Cardinal Newman Society. For too long Catholic education in the United States has been stuck in a defensive posture, timidly defending its most basic rights while slowly secularizing and giving ground to radical progressives. This diffident approach has produced poor results and only invited further aggressiveness from the enemies of the Church…Catholic educators across the country should use the next four years to aggressively expand their operations, deepen their commitment to Catholic teaching, and fortify themselves against future attacks. Read
Throwback Thursday
Grand Canyon Classroom by Betsy K. Brown at Plough on November 28, 2024. When I first became an English teacher, I imagined all of my most compelling moments with students would happen inside a classroom. However, thanks to the hiking club at my school, conversations and aha moments often cropped up in unexpected places. I discussed Dante’s descent into hell with my twelfth graders while scrambling with them down the edge of the Grand Canyon. I got to teach my ninth graders old Irish folk songs around a campfire near Mount Lemmon in Tucson. When a sixth grader struggled with classroom behavior, I got to bond with his mom while we pitched a tent outside Sedona. While playing by a creek with one of my shy eighth graders, I saw her suddenly jump in the water to rescue a stranger’s toddler. My teaching career has been dustier, sunnier, bloodier, and better than I first imagined. Read