7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 79)
I’ll be on EWTN Radio again tomorrow (Saturday, May 8th) from 2pm – 4pm EDT to chat with the wonderful Barbara McGuigan on her show The Good Fight. You can find a local station here or listen online here. We’ll be talking about motherhood and how I see my vocation differently now that I’m a Christian. Should be fun!
Last week I was caught off guard when I got a really strong response to a passing comment I made in my “advice from a dead man” post. I’d said that in that book I was talking about, Francis de Sales offered advice for how to pray during the exhaustion of pregnancy. I’d included it in a list of examples of what he wrote about, only to illustrate that he dealt with the concrete concerns of everyday life. I was surprised when I got a whole bunch of emails asking “WHAT DID HE SAY?!?!?!” (I’m paraphrasing there.) I take that as a post request, and will try to put together a collection of Francis’ wisdom on prayer during pregnancy soon.
Speaking of that post, a big thanks to Geomama of Thrifty Mystics who left a comment pointing me to the St. Francis de Sales Association, an organization for women who want to live their faith more fully in everyday life. Neat idea! (As a web developer nerd, I have to note that they have a very well designed, beautiful website.)
I saw Faith and Family editor Danielle Bean give a wonderful speech a few weeks ago, and one of the things that really stuck with me was when she shared a simple life motto that a friend once told her: GTH BYB – Get to Heaven, Bring Your Brother. She powerfully hit home the point that we should remember every single day that that is our final aim in life.
I was so inspired that I wrote GTH BYB on a notecard on my desk. The only problem has been that, being the spiritual giant that I am, I keep misreading the last part as “BYOB” (the famous college party acronym for “bring your own beer.”) Which leaves me glancing at the note and having this gut reaction of, “Aw, man, heaven is BYOB?”
This is a bad juxtaposition, but I recently did an interview for the National Catholic Register about conversion and evangelization, which you can read here. (I’m sure the author is wishing that I didn’t mention that right after announcing that I misread my spiritual inspiration cards to think that heaven is BYOB.)
I’ve developed a fascination with the history of education. I recently had an interesting discussion with my husband about this “One Day Academy” school I just heard about. He excerpted the part on their About page where they said that “each teacher has the freedom to set registration, materials, and tuition costs. All fees for a particular teacher are found on his or her faculty page.” He pointed out that this is actually very similar to the way the earliest universities worked, where teachers charged their own rates and traveled from city to city, renting cheap space to hold classes. I’m interested in studying different educational models, especially looking at changing ideas about education throughout history. Anyone have any good books to recommend on that subject?
If any of you fellow procrastinators are still looking for Mother’s Day ideas, we had a great discussion last year about how to make it a special day for the moms in your life. There were a lot of creative suggestions, and many of them involved spending little or no money.
Happy Mother’s Day!
I look forward to reading your posts!
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Thanks again for hosting this!
This week my Quick Takes are mostly some great videos I came across.
FWIW – The St. Frances de Sales Association website is a Joomla 1.5 instance. They do have a nice template and design.
This is my first post here, and I am looking forward to seeing the other posts.
I'm retired, in a country town, and I see that you have wide experiences over your week, we have a fairly quiet, but enjoyable, life.
Have a lovely week,
Blessings,
Jan
Happy Mother's Day!
BYOB in heaven?! Funny stuff, Jennifer!
#4 made me laugh. A lot. Thanks for sharing it!
Congratulations regarding #1, and regarding #4 when I was in Inter-Varsity in college it signified: Bring Your own Bible.
I love the GTH BYB thing — thanks, Jen! (And your comment on it is hilarious…)
That is so funny about BYOB!
#4 Made me laugh! BYOB would be a bummer.
Oh, I'll try to tune in to EWTN! Also, I would love to read your thoughts on education and how it's evolved. So once you read the books people suggest, please consider posting on the topic!
Ooo. I am headed over to check out the link you posted for Mom's Day. Thanks! If anyone is looking for a fun gift, I posted about Mary Garden's in a Basket my kids made for their special moms last year at http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/2010/05/works-for-me-wednesday-mothers-day-mary.html
Have a blessed weekend!
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto is the definitive book on our educational system. It is not for the faint of heart, though. It will probably erase any doubts that you have about homeschooling.
Have you read any of Jonathan Taylor Gatto's books on education? "The Underground History of American Education" is the most recent, I think. It's available online. I first read his "Dumbing Us Down" years ago. I think of his ideas all the time. While mainly about the history of American education, his theories and ideas include historical educational trends and ideas. Also, Susan Wise Bauer's "The Well Trained Mind" and "The Well Educated Mind" are gems of wisdom about classical education and if I remember correctly include some ed history.
The most vivid account of life in those early universities (actually still properly "cathedral schools") is Abelard's Historia Calamitatum. There is a good translation by Betty Radice available through Penguin Books. Stephen Jaeger's The Envy of Angels has a good discussion of the ideals of these cathedral schools, particularly their emphasis on education in mores or "morals."
I forget that the linky thing 'remembers' whatever you write on your last link up, and I couldn't see it in the little window…so disregard the "cakes, icing, beans, & beef"…those are not my Quick Takes topics, but rather my Freezer Cooking Day results..ha! I hope the link was to the right page!?!?
Thanks for this St. Francis DeSales link! I think he's been more actual, practical help to me in my adult life than any person living or dead. The more I can know about and from him the better!
Love the BYOB! I would have the same issue. As for Mother's Day, I just spent $56.00 at UPS yesterday because of my procrastination. When will I learn?!
I love how you misread it to "BYOB" because that's what I first did!
Happy Mother's Day, Jennifer!
Jennifer,
Your BYOB made me laugh and reminded me of a song a Navy friend of mine used to sing: "In Heaven there is no beer." (That's why we drink it here.) The lyrics are a bit off-color but make me laugh.
And I heard a recent podcast about U.S. education. Once I get my iPhone recharged, I'll come back and post the link …
I recommend John Taylor Gatto's Underground History of American Education too. It's a good one.
NO WAY are we gonna have to bring our own beer to heaven!! It wouldn't be heaven then. 😀
The BYOB thing made me laugh – we'd joked about sending my brother off with several bottles perhaps he's waiting for them?
BYOB makes perfect sense.
BYOB in Heaven?! Priceless stuff! Haha, love it!
Bernard Lonergan has some helpful things to say about the philosophy of education. He points out the distinction between traditionalists and modernists and tries to show the good and bad aspects of each. Then he tries to speak of a Catholic way that is sufficiently critical but also tied to the tradition, articulating traditional education in a positive manner.
Like liberals and conservatives, the problem for both sides is that they have an insufficient understanding of history. Modernists tend to reduce everything to empirical science and experience, which at first glance seems to throw out the possibility of eternal truth. Traditionalists are skeptical of this modern worldview and so hold out for the way things used to be. The problem with that is that it becomes merely a negative principle, without a positive vision.
I think this text is useful because it is a compilation of lectures offered to Catholic educators in the 60's. My husband and I are exploring different educational theories for our children, but we are pretty sure Lonergan's principles are the way to go. Liberals throw out the continuity of history; hyper-orthodoxy is in danger of circling the wagons and re-establishing Catholic ghettos. We feel that neither is helpful for authentic human progress.
This book offers a robust perspective on the reductionist public school/home school dichotomy. I suspect the instinctive apprehensions you are feeling toward the public school (and traditional Catholic school as it is now), are the same that Lonergan talks about here.
"Topics in Education" by Bernard Lonergan
http://books.google.com/books?id=8Vqa4_4mCTQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=lonergan+topics+in+education&source=bl&ots=6VXmQrU_DM&sig=4fg7deKSW6xqv2N4u6_BVWNiFSo&hl=en&ei=pvvaS7qeM8T38Aai64FR&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Book recommendation:
Montessori: The Science behind the Genius by Lillard
It's not primarily about history, but the author describes the 'factory model' of education (and some of how that arose, in America) and how Montessori's model of education was opposed to that factory model.
I don't know if you've ever looked into what Montessori was about, but a lot of her terminology can sound very strange. This book did a very good job of making sense of Montessori's ideas for me, as well as making a strong case for those ideas being supported by modern research. I plan to try to adapt those ideas to homeschooling my kids.
I left something special for you on my blog …. 😉
So happy to be doing a 7 quick takes this week! Thanks!
St. Francis de Sales is the patron saint of my church. I had no idea all of this information about him – thank-you!
Happy Mother's Day!
Regarding different school systems, you might look at this book that I read while getting an MAed. Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform. It is about the shifting focus of public education in the US. It is not, however, an unbiased view.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743203267/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0684844176&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1AP6GBKFGW8BW64CJXCP
#80–wow am I ever late this week! I almost had "Saturday Quick Takes" this week.
Have a great Mother's Day!
Christ is risen!
Regarding reading about the history of education, if you go to the link below (which is the parish homepage of a priest friend of ours) & click on "Re-thinking Catholic Education" to the right, you will find some interesting info./links on this topic:
http://www.saintmarychurch.us/
Happy Mother's Day!
God bless–
I heard you today on the radio, you were great! The funny thing is I had no idea it was you and I kept listening (having come in roughly 2/3 of the way through the show) thinking "I have to find out who this is, if only she would just give the person's last name, maybe she wrote a book or something…" and lo and behold when I heard who it was and about your BLOG(!!!!) I got chills. I read your blog all the time!
The End of Education, by Neil Postman, was interesting and talked about education history. Religious Literacy, by Stephen Prothero, was also good. And then I have to recommend The Well Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer, and The Latin Centered Curriculum, by Andrew Campbell, which are mostly just about educating children, not so much history, but very good.
Laughed at the BYOB take! Very funny.
A book recommendation- The Risk of Education by Luigi Giussani
I took an educational policy course in college, and one book we read that was very enlightening was called The One Best System. It explains how the Industrial Revolution mindset of having an overarching, standardized system for everything transferred to education and where some of the ideas now firmly established (esp. in American high schools) came from.
BYOB heaven! 😀 Probably there is some profound meaning in that concept which you have not yet discerned.
Read The Underground History of American Education, by John Taylor Gatto. Fascinating! Actually, read anything by John Taylor Gatto!
I would recommend How Children Learn by John Holt. Or anything by John Holt, really.