Tag: lifelong learning
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Class of 2020: The Next Greatest Generation
The class of 2020 has felt the full force of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus. Graduation ceremonies have been cancelled, postponed or held virtually online. Nothing about the spring of senior year went according to plan for the class of 2020. It has been described as catastrophic and traumatic by students, parents and teachers.…
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Summertime, and the Learning is Easy
Summertime has arrived. Gershwin’s song from Porgy and Bess is clearly on my mind, if you caught the allusion in my title. If you have a moment, watch Ella Fitzgerald’s soulful performance of “Summertime, and the Livin’ is Easy” in Berlin during the summer of 1968. You could listen to any number of recordings, but…
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Education is Life: A Philosophy on Education
The study of education is the study of life. At least that’s the way it should be. Too often educational thought seeks precision in the use of the techniques and technology brought into the classroom. Have one’s lesson plans fully articulated all of the learning objectives spelled out in the curriculum? What is the new…
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Charlotte Mason and the Power of Ideas
As Charlotte Mason observed, there is nothing quite like the experience of being struck by an idea. The experience is equivalent to being the recipient of some unexpected treasure. Ideas loosen our grip on holding a thin view of the world. They open our minds, especially through narration, to connections previously gone undetected and stir…
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The Flow of Thought, Part 2: The Joy of Memory
In my last article “The Flow of Thought, Part 1: Training the Attention for Happiness’ Sake” I drew a connection between Aristotle’s view that happiness is the chief goal of education and the findings of modern positive psychology. In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, he reports his findings that people report being most…