Cindy, book club hostess, continues to deliver shocks to our synapses even while suffering with a fever. This blogger is dedicated to discipleship, even when she declines your invitation.
We're reading Anthony Esolen's Ten Ways to Destroy Your Child's Imagination.
Yes ;-)
Sociologically, though, we do see patterns, knowing how God does give us the ability to overcome how should we approach the schooling norms of our age?
Set your eyes on a vision, make a plan, execute maneuvers, re-evaluate annually, repeat.
Is it still possible to succeed without traditional schooling?
Yes, read the example of Mr Mission Possible.
(google it)
Why do we worry about it so much?
Mistrust. And worry is entertaining.
Is going to a science museum similar to going to Chuck E Cheeses?
I dont think so, espcially if you go to The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY
http://creationmuseum.org/
Besides I hate Chuck E Cheeses. The gorilla scared me!
What projects have your children done on their own?
In addition to the dreaded annual science project, one spear-headed an a capella singing group at her high school. I will post others as they come to mind.
What did you do as a child along these lines?
Aside from the normal school project, I had a thriving babysitting business as teenager. Then I worked summers as a lifeguard (in additional to a part-time retail clerk). I taught group swimming lessons at our neighborhood pool.
Does a one-legged duck swim in circles?
Only if the sky is blue.
Either than or she's making fun of us ;-)
Have you seen this article: Narcissus Regards a Book?
ReplyDeleteA blogger I read linked it this week. There's a place in there where the author says the point of reading is to be inspired, and naturally I read that thinking about this book and Pieper's Leisure, and others we've talked about over the years.
Cindy's first question -- whether the human spirit is resiliant enough to overcome the dangers of modernity -- reminded me of that article. Obviously the answer is Yes, but that doesn't mean that every individual WILL overcome the dangers. I know people who really don't know how to read, and I can tell how stunted they are by the way they were brought up. They have no imagination, and when I say that, I mean they have no idea that they need to aspire to anything more than temporal well-being and getting to Heaven when they die. They don't aspire to nobility, for example. They don't really even know what Virtue looks like, let alone how to become virtuous themselves.
I always think that if they would just read the right stories it would help them, but then some people (and I'm speaking generically, but I've known a couple of these personally), even if they read the right stories, are so stunted that they get don't get any Ideas out of the stories -- that is, they aren't inspired by them.
So, I'm wondering if those people, those adults who were cheated in their own up-bringing to the extent that they can't learn from stories, I'm wondering if these other methods (or, rather, their inverse) would be other avenues for correcting what's missing, for nourishing their souls. Taking up a hobby that gets them out-of-doors, or that involves creating useful things with their own hands, for example.
No, Kelly, I hadnt seen that particular article, but will read it. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteI do think that non-readers suffer, but possibly only from the perspective of the reader ;-)
And I hope, as you suggested, that non-readers can pick up things in other avenues.
But being a reader and writer myself, I'm thinking those skills make a huge difference in the long run (not salvation-wise, but in the marketplace).
Loved all your answers, Dana, and it motivates me to think up good questions.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the Creation Museum even though I have yet to go to it. My dad is wanting to take us one of these non-crisis times. This week I was supposed to attend my last grandmother's funeral in that part of the country but the flu kept me away.
Kelly,
I think you make an excellent point. Are there people who lack imagination naturally or is it a product of a poor education? I do think some people have been permanently harmed and I think those are the people who are endangered by a Facebook kind of life. But I digress.