May 15, 2025
Teachers, Not Tablets: School Screen Time Is Harming Our Kids by Emily Harrison at Institute for Family Studies. Students today are struggling to achieve proficiency in basic reading and math skills. According to the latest data from the Nation’s Report card, one-third of 8th graders “are not even reading at the NAEP Basic level—a greater percentage than ever before.” Even Harvard now offers a remedial math course for students who possess a “lack of foundational algebra skills.”… Research by Psychologist Jean Twenge has shown that the learning loss began in the early 2010's. Not only is this the same time frame that smartphones became ubiquitous for the under 18 crowd, but it is also the start of 1:1 programs (one device to one student) in schools nationwide. Read
The Real No Fear Shakespeare: 6 Tips by Jeannette DeCelles-Zwerneman at Cana Academy. Just this past month, we celebrated the astonishing achievements of William Shakespeare. He lived from April 1564–April 1616, and, despite its brevity, a more productive literary life can scarcely be imagined. Playwright, producer, actor, and poet, he wrote some of the most magnificent poetry written in the English language …Unfortunately, it may be that his language poses the greatest obstacle to reading his work with students, especially in a modern world that eschews sophisticated language and complex characters; the diminished vocabulary of contemporary students doesn’t help. How can we lead our students into Shakespeare’s glorious language? Here are six tips. Read
Sacramental Books That Are Good Reads for Catholic Kids by Patricia A. Crawford and Kerry Crawford at National Catholic Register. Shine the light on the sacraments! This fun, interactive book lets kids do just that. The rhyming text introduces each of the seven sacraments (“Over our heads holy water is poured, / Washing us clean with the grace of our Lord / White garments show that God cleansed us of sin. / Candles are lit and Christ shines deep within.”). Each sacrament is paired with a full-page illustration that comes with a surprise. By placing a flashlight, phone light, or even a sunny window behind it, hidden images appear, rounding out readers’ understanding of these special gifts of faith. Engaging in every way. Ages: 4-12. Read
Returning to the First Principles of American Education with Jason Bedrick at Anchored by The Classical Learning Test. On this episode of Anchored, Soren is joined by Jason Bedrick, Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. The two discuss the Phoenix Declaration, a document espousing an American vision for education. Together, they explore the outlined principles of the document, including the role of parents as primary educators, the reality of objective truth, and the vital importance of passing on cultural heritage. Listen
Human Reason: An Attentiveness to Reality featuring Fr. Gregory Pine at The HeightsCast. Human reason: what is it? How does it cooperate with faith and the will? How can we distinguish between authentic reason and its counterfeits—particularly in an age of relativism, pluralism, scientism, and artificial intelligence? Here to unpack a heavy topic is Fr. Gregory Pine, a Dominican friar, instructor at Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. Listen
Insulating Yourself from Critique by Randall Smith at The Catholic Thing. Whatever “philosophy” you may have studied, two dollars plus two dollars does not equal ten dollars. And statements can’t be both true and false at the same time in the same respect. These aren’t just made-up “rules” that you can bypass like the rule against chewing gum in school. They are expressions of reality. What’s at stake here isn’t merely an abstract “academic” debate about “logic.” The tragic result of rejecting logic is that it insulates you from taking seriously any meaningful critique of your views. One can always take refuge in the claim, “Oh, that’s just logic.” But that’s like saying: “Oh, so you think statements should make sense?” Well, yes, actually, I do. And quite frankly, so does everyone else! Read
A Book Not to Forget by Elizabeth Black at Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. Joshua Gibbs’ Something They Will Not Forget is a book not to forget. This small volume wrestles with that age-old dragon of every teacher: how do I ensure my students remember the material? Gibbs is not content with the simpler question of how to ensure students remember for long enough to score well on a test; he wrestles with the much more fundamental issue of retention beyond the test, reminding us “what is not retained is not learned”. In fact, Gibbs dedicates the entire first chapter to really unpacking the urgency and seriousness of this issue. Read
Two Cheers for Parental Rights by Scott Yenor at Humanum Review. Parental rights are strongest when they are connected to deep truths about human nature. If human nature is up for grabs, if the definition of marriage is loosened, if technology circumvents natural pregnancy, if gender is fluid, if sexual norms are subverted, then the idea of “parental rights” is not going to preserve the traditional privileges and immunities of the family or protect children from predation. The regime informing parental rights makes all the difference. Read
Why Are So Many Young Adults Becoming Catholic? by Dr. Christopher Kaczor at Word on Fire. This Easter, the University of Notre Dame saw a record number of students enter the Catholic Church. This trend is happening not just at Notre Dame but around the country. Los Angeles welcomed more than 5,500 new Catholics. The New York Post ran an essay entitled “Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse [. . .]” As reporter Matthew McDonald wrote in another article, “Dioceses are reporting increases of 30%, 40%, 50% and even more than 70%.” Read
Throwback Thursday
Liberal Education, the Wasting of Time, & Human Happiness by Tiffany Schubert at The Imaginative Conservative on August 11, 2022. The liberally educated person has a rich inner life that allows him to waste time well, to waste time contemplating the beauty of a Shakespearean sonnet or musing over a Thomistic essay. That kind of contemplation replenishes our minds and contributes to our happiness. How does liberal education do this? Certainly, those in institutions dedicated to liberal education work. They read and write; they have assignments and deadlines; they produce. But all these matters are in service to the cultivation of the soul, to what John Henry Newman calls “the philosophical habit of mind” and Simone Weil calls “attention.” Read |