What’s Inside?
Article: How Do We Teach Wonder?
Funny Stories
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
One answer to the questions regarding James Madison’s quote referencing the connection between liberty and knowledge
A new quote by Albert Einstein to ponder
Poetry by John Keats
How Do We Teach Wonder?
I like to wonder. I love looking at things, or contemplating things, that are impossible to understand. I like looking at beauty or awesome expressions of God’s creation and simply enjoying them. I know to a certain degree that the physics of the beauty could be figured out, but I do not want to know the physics — I just want to marvel at the splendor. I want to contemplate the kindness, love, or joy that God showed to me through the Holy Spirit or other people and revel in the joy of the experience. I have always known inside that if I did try to figure out the beauty that makes me stand in awe then the moments of bliss that come from wonder would disappear. Despite my enjoyment at wondering all sorts of imponderables and sometimes ponderables:), I have been a closet wonderer all my life:) Why is this? Well, I do not know for sure except that many times when I have expressed my wonder, I usually received one of two responses: cold disinterest or a condescending intellectual explanation that ruined the moment. I have tried expressing wonder with all sorts of people from children up to adults. I have shared my thoughts with individuals and groups, hoping that I might get a different response. Sometimes, I would find a fellow wonderer and we would sit there and wonder together, and I remember feeling so happy that I could engage in wondering with another person. The cold disinterest is not pleasant, because my wonder falls on deaf ears and no enlivening conversation results, but it is the condescending intellectual know-it-all answers that really chafe.
First of all, the know-it-all answers are usually inaccurate, which makes the experience even more painful. Secondly, the moment of wonder is not only discontinued, but it is dismissed by the person providing the pseudo intellectual answer. Even if the answer is accurate, the fact that I prefaced my question with “I wonder . . . “ should be a clear verbal cue that what follows is not intended for intellectual discussion — it is intended for wondering, musing, being amazed, or being joyfully awed into silence!
Do you know what I mean? Have you experienced this before fellow wonderers? I know some of you have, because we have spent time wondering together and I think you must have had similar experiences. So, how did I decide to stop being a muted wonderer? I heard a delightful speech given by Dr. David Whalen at a Hillsdale College teacher training conference in June of 2018. In his speech, he not only regaled the benefits of wonder, but he also made me feel like it was a mature, intellectual pursuit. I attended graduate school and met many diverse types of intellectuals. The one thing I noticed in my classes was that there were two types of budding academics: those who had to make sure everyone in the room knew how smart they were about a seemingly endless array of topics, and those who wanted to always learn, did not have answers for everything, and were fine with it. One thing that was impossible to do in these classes, though, was to wonder. It was a shame, because we were there talking about so many terrific ideas, and we could not wonder. If anyone tried, a know-it-all would condescendingly proffer a half-baked idea intended to make him/her look intelligent and ruin the exercise. I did have one professor who wondered out loud, Dr. Elisabeth Cawthon, who taught legal history at the University of Texas at Arlington, and I appreciated her effort to bring wonder into her seminars. I have tried wondering with my students, but there is always one who pretends to have an answer and treats even the teacher with a note of intellectual disdain. Hmmm . . . so how we do teach our children to wonder?
I do not have a host of experienced answers for this question, but I have figured one thing out — it must be modeled regardless of the consequences. I am still working this out in my classes, but I have been brave and purposefully wondered aloud and I found two things occurred: an intellectual answer delivered in a dismissive tone often appeared, and if I responded with more wonder, the negative answer did not re-emerge. When I modeled wonder and allowed students the opportunity and freedom to wonder, a few would join in. When I made wondering a regular part of class, more students would join and even those who had been previous skeptics would start to wonder. Wonder has a contagious spirit to it that students find hard to resist once they get going. I would provide exercises, such as those in the “Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing” section of my newsletter to encourage pondering and wonder of things impossible to know for sure.
I am grateful to Dr. Whalen for encouraging me to wonder with confidence! The more I think about it, is not wonder really the best way to comprehend the gospel? Do not we need wonder to contemplate God and His beauty, truth, and goodness along with His love, providence, and grace? How else can we understand the Lord without being able to wonder? If wonder is essential in comprehending the author of all of the subjects of the universe, then that makes it crucial that wonder be an active part of a child’s education, right?
Many folks refer to C. S. Lewis's lecture/book The Abolition of Man as an important book to read when considering the purpose of academic learning. Reading the book makes you wonder about your own wondering and whether Lewis is really making a valid point. The focus of the book is to have the reader consider what it means to be fully human. Lewis contends that our ability to feel the sentiments that accompany our experiences of wonder is crucial to understanding what is to be human. When we objectify beauty and splendor and figure out all the intricacies of it in a scientific manner, then we can eventually get to the point that we lose all sense of morality and end up governing ourselves according to scientifically reasoned objectives unassociated with any sentiment. If this occurs, then we will be on the road to abolishing our own humanity. It is in the experience of wondering, standing in awe, being amazed, or being stunned into silence by something extremely joyful that we are fully human.
So, let us wonder away with childlike abandon and train our children to do so as well. How much more joyful and fulfilling will our lives be as a consequence?
Funny Stories
Teaching students about the Russian Revolution is tough. Teaching it to 7th graders is even tougher. Every year, I ask a couple of simple, clarifying questions, and I find out that 90-100% of the students in my classes are little Marxists in their thinking about economics.
In order to understand the Russian Revolution, the students must learn the theory of Marxism. After they have learned the basic principles of Marxism and we have discussed how they ostensibly work in a practical sense, I take a class day and execute a powerful object lesson. I surprise the students first thing and tell them that their recent exam is going to be averaged to a 70 (I set it to 70, because it is still passing, but aggravating to those who made much higher grades, because the exam was hard!:) I explain that everyone needs to be treated equally and fairly in the class and averaging the grade is the best way to show equality to everyone. One by one, students begin to raise their hands with questions and I answer each question from a Marxist point of view. To the students who claim that they studied hard for their grade on the exam and that they deserve it, I counter argue that they are selfish, and they care nothing for their fellow human beings. Over time, a huge debate rages in the class with students making laudable arguments in favor of keeping the grades they earned. I respond with ever increasing absurd arguments, such as the ones heard in popular culture today, and students begin to wonder if Dr. McIntyre really believes what she is saying. One student will be brave enough and claim that I am not arguing what I truly believe, and as I continue to get more absurd, more and more students get on the bandwagon until enough become convinced that I am putting them on. We end up discussing the fact that as human beings made in the image of God, we should never be classified according to our economic circumstances. We are children of the most high God — that is our true classification. I also emphasize that private property is a God-given gift and that all human beings should receive the reward for their labors. More ideas are discussed, but that is not the point of this story.
A few years ago, I happened to have two seventh grade classes that were separated only by a PE class, in which they all participated. The class after PE had more of the high achievers in the grade. In an attempt to keep my little game from the next class, I asked the first class not to say anything during PE. I really doubted their ability to keep quiet. Someone would surely blab. As the second class came in, I met them at the door, and we greeted one another, and everyone was polite and gave no indication that they knew what was coming. I started into my spiel and after only a few minutes, a girl who was always one of the happiest and politest of students, slammed her hand on her desk, stood up, claimed politely, but indignantly, that my decision was not fair and that she was going to speak with the headmaster about it! I was shocked and taken aback. This object lesson normally lasted about 30 minutes and we were only about 3 minutes into it, so I attempted to keep it going. I told her she could speak to the headmaster, but not at that moment. She obediently sat back down.
More students began to raise their hands and argue against the averaging, and I noticed they seemed particularly angry. A student who had failed the exam miserably raised his hand and declared boldly that he would benefit from the 70, but that it was not fair to the students who had studied. I was impressed with his candor, and I wanted to say something to him, but as I looked around the room at all of the angry faces, I began to feel like things might soon get out of hand. As I was contemplating what to do, I noticed for the first time that students in various parts of the room were crying inconsolably. How could this be? Surely, they knew this was a joke — the other class must have spilled the beans during PE class. Just as children wept uncontrollably throughout the class and others spoke in angry, albeit respectful tones, the school secretary came into my classroom with a group of potential parents on a school tour! I could not believe what was happening. She quickly noticed things were amiss and I explained as lightheartedly as possible that I was conducting an object lesson, and everything was just fine. (lie, lie, lie;) She left quickly, I shut the door, and told the class that nothing I was saying was true and I was just trying to teach them how Marxism worked practically. I promised that their grades were not going to change and that I would never implement such a policy.
Most students quickly believed me, although a few students were still crying even after class ended. When I asked the class if anyone in the earlier class had let the secret out, they cried,” No!” In fact, the other class had done just the opposite. They had convinced the second class that I was averaging the grades to a 70 and had egged them on for an hour. By the time they got to my class, they were steaming mad! What a credit to their upbringing that they were so polite and respectful in the face of such indignity and unfairness. For the rest of the year, the second class plotted ways to get back at the first class. I considered a few plans, but the crying faces I encountered that day deterred any plans for payback.
*Do you have any funny stories that you would like to share with our community? Please write to The Classical Teacher.
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
Previous Question in September 26 Newsletter
“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
James Madison
2.Rewrite the quote:
Proceeding and propagating that which is of truth and fact is the only real way to secure from injury the natural liberty that is only abridged and restrained for the safety and interest of the nation.
3.Answer the following questions in one or two paragraphs:
Madison’s quote may have been true at one point, but is it still true today with the diffusion of knowledge through the internet? Is the diffusion of knowledge still the true guardian of liberty?
To what knowledge was Madison referring? The knowledge of the gospel, the knowledge of the Biblical principles that govern the liberal arts subjects, the trivium and the quadrivium, and the knowledge of the fallenness of human beings.
Is the diffusion of knowledge still the true guardian of liberty? In the thinking of the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and those who followed and planted British colonies in North America, the spiritual liberty individuals received, according to Reformation doctrine, when they trusted in Christ was expanded to the civil sphere. They believed that if men had spiritual liberty through Christ, then their belief in God and willingness to let the the Holy Spirit guide their lives could also result in the maximum amount of civil liberty in government. Thus, the knowledge of the Gospel and the Biblical principles underpinning classical academic subject would be the true guardians of liberty.
New Question
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” — Albert Einstein
1.Define the key terms:
— Creativity
— Intelligence
2. Rewrite the quote.
3.Answer the following questions:
Is creativity an extension of intelligence? Why or why not?
— If no, from where does creativity originate?
Do you have a quote or an answer you would like to share with the community? Please share.
To Autumn
John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.