Ideas Have Consequences - Chap. 8

It took me a while to get started with this chapter but when everyone else said it was their favorite so far I decided to give it a try.  I was not disappointed. 

As the others have mentioned, the first part is about a philosophic discussion about the role of words and language in our society.  While a defense is necessary, I personally decided this was not my battlefield when I read a little of Wittgenstein and was totally lost.  I am glad to see it might be, in part, because he was trying to accomplish something that really can't be done.  Maybe. 

Definition 

I think the key idea I got from this chapter was the importance of definition.  As a debater (short lived) we learned to define our terms but we had no idea what we were really doing as middle schoolers.  But I did love Lincoln- Douglas debate because of the way it played with ideas.  Although I take good definition for granted, I am learning that I shouldn't.  There are a few educational points that came to mind with this idea of definition: 

1.  In the Montessori classroom one of the first things you do is name EVERYTHING.  You tour the room and name it (not with labels - but aloud).  This is to give students ownership and "power" over their space.  You also always use the proper name - not a babyish name.  This chapter gave reason why this is so important in developing young minds and helping kids to grow.  To teach items not in the classroom you use three part cards - with pictures and names - to help students name the world around them. 

2.  If you have ever read anything about the Principle Approach they talk a LOT about using Websters' 1828 dictionary to define terms and they spend a LOT of time doing it.  Basically, Noah Webster was a linguist extraordinaire (I think he knew about 20) and had a very Biblical worldview.  Current day definitions tend to have some of the drift that Weaver warns against, but the 1828 is quite a standard.  I think it is telling and helpful to use these definitions, with older children especially, so that they can see the way words have changed.  Webster felt called to write a dictionary because he knew the power of language.  

3.  I really enjoyed Andrew Kern's lecture about the 5 topics.  The quick overview tells us that definition - what is it? - is the first topic and comparison the second.  This is basically what Weaver is saying as well.  This is how we make sense of our world and if we can help our students grasp this and internalize it they will be the better for it.  

So, definition or naming may seem trivial but it is essential.  I think this is especially important because our culture and Christian morality once had similar definitions for things.  But we all know that isn't the case any longer.  It is essential that our children understand that there are ideals (even if they can't be met) and that some things are permanent - regardless of current fad.   As he explains "the student will get a training in definition which will compel him to see limitation and contradiction . . . training in thinking, whereas the best that he gets now is a vague admonition to think for himself."   

Language 

Another point that he drives home is that "command of language will prognosticate aptitude" - basically that being able to speak well and understanding language will help you go further.  One of my favorite studies is about preschool students and their language aptitude.  Let's just say that your language facility at 3 can predict your long term aptitude.  This is why I am so passionate about reading aloud to children. 

This is one reason why I like Core Knowledge and its thoughts about cultural literacy.  Basically, they argue that we can teach our kids technically how to read (if we decide to use phonics) but they lack the "background" to understand many of the stories and information once it gets above a 3rd grade level.  This is because they haven't been given the vocabulary, experience and stories to do well.   Although some may naysay against cultural literacy as "elitist" in nature - whose to say what culture we should be teaching - it is just the opposite.  There is a western tradition that has helped form who we are as a nation and all kids should learn about this heritage so they have a chance of understanding where our culture comes from.  This is NOT to belittle other cultures - but to provide them access to a great tradition of language and ideas.  As they say, teaching content is teaching reading. 

I see Core Knowledge as a modern adaptation of Classical Studies in some ways - especially when it comes to literature selections.  There is a need to provide students with access to the best poetry, literature, historical figures and ideas we can give them.   We should "lay the banquet" as Charlotte Mason encourages us with the expectation that children can and will make their own connections when given the chance.  However, if their "cultural literacy" is limited to what you can read about on the check out stand we are all in serious trouble.  

Weaver's chapter also encourages me to keep reading poetry - just like Cindy keeps encouraging us to do.  So although I don't really get poetry all the time - it is my lack of experience - not the poet's problem.  I just need to read more.  Weaver argues

He (the poet) is the greatest teacher of cause and effect in human affairs.  

Finally, this is the quote I will be thinking about the most, by Sir Richard Livingstone, who notes

that the people of the Western world 'do not know the meaning of certain words, which had been assumed to belong to the permanent vocabulary of mankind, certain ideals which, if ignored in practice under pressure, were accepted in theory.  The least important of these words is Freedom.  The most important are Justice, Mercy, and Truth." 

OUCH!!

Ideas Have Consequences: Chap. 7 (Part 2)

In the last post we talked about truth and virtue and Weaver is on the brink of revealing how we can turn back the clock.  His solution: private property.

I was VERY surprised by his choice but he explains it clearly and the gist of it is "that it does not depend on any test of social usefulness" - it can't be turned into something that is utilitarian.   He also clearly explains that he is discussing real property and small businesses not large corporations, stocks or even intellectual property.  He is really advocating small farms and local businesses.  How does this fit in with virtue?

Providence 

Weaver believes that private property develops what he terms providence or foresight.  He is talking about how it

takes into account the nonpresent that it calls for the exercise of reason and imagination.  That I reap now the reward of my past industry or sloth, that what I do today will be felt in that future now potential - these require play of mind.

At the end of the last chapter his final question was "Where can it find a source of discipline?"  His answer is that private property has an ability to help discipline us.  He gives two helpful examples of how private property or industry used to develop virtue.

First he discusses that "it was the practice of a maker to give his name to the product, and pride of family was linked up with maintenance of quality."   Companies are rarely family enterprises anymore and with name branding - there is little honor any longer.  

He then talks about the difference between a man building a house for his family and a man buying a house for his family.  Those who built their own homes took pride in their work and intended it to shelter their family for generations - and they do.  In our current world we buy houses that are not built to last and there is no thought that our children will live there - we might not even live there for more than a few years.  Saving for a future, planning ahead for those who come after us, are an important part of how private property can develop virtue.

Private Gone Public 

Weaver does realize that private property is under attack and he has some strong words about what may happen as a result.

for, when properties are vast and integrated, on a scale now frequently seen, it requires but a slight step to transfer them to state control.   

Indeed, it is a commonplace that the trend toward monopoly is a trend toward state ownership; and, if we continued the analysis further, we should discover that business develops a bureaucracy which can be quite easily merged with that of government.  

no society is healthful which tells its members to take no thought of the morrow because the state underwrites their future.

Where popular majorities may, on a plea of present need, override these rights earned by past effort, the tendency is for all persons to become politicians.  In other words, they come to feel that manipulation is a greater source of reward than is production.  This is the essence of corruption.  

Just one quick comment.  Once again, Weaver draws together two things that we normally put on opposite ends: big business and government.

I now have a much better appreciation for the role private property can play in developing virtue, discipline and encouraging us to exercise our freedom - who knew?

Ideas Have Consequences: Chapter 7 (Part 1)

As I read the first two pages of this chapter it connected with so many other things I have been reading recently.  In this chapter Weaver turns a corner.  He has been documenting the decline of culture and in these last few chapters will talk about a way to help stop the drift.

First, an aside.  Last fall I read Letters to a Young Calvinist.  Tucked in this little book was a short chapter about how the author viewed reading and it rang true with me.  Smith explained that he feels like God puts books in his path to help him in his growth.  He discusses used bookstores having just the right book for the moment.  I have never heard anyone talk about this before but it is exactly how I feel about my reading and why I am constantly in used book stores and goodwill.   That's one reason I feel I am in a good place because I am hearing similar thoughts from many sources.  Now, that alone does not make it true - but we will talk about that next.

Okay, now to the actual text.  Weaver begins by asserting "that man both can know and can will".  He recognizes that this is a bold assertion in this day and age, but if you don't believe these two things he believes that there is no hope for change. When Andrew Kern compares our modern educational system with the more classical tradition it is here that he starts.

Conventional education is based on three principles and one application.
1. There is no truth
2. If there is Truth, you can’ t know it
3. If you could know Truth, you couldn’t communicate it.
4. Therefore, there is no point teaching children how to seek truth and wisdom, only power.

On the other hand, Christian classical education is based on three different principles and one application.
1. Truth is
2. Truth is knowable
3. Truth can be communicated.
4. Therefore, the arts of truth seeking define our curriculum and pedagogy. 

Is this really the key to turning around our current situation?   Is truth really so important?  Does it make THAT much of a difference?  So I started thinking a little more about truth and realized that if you are a Christian truth isn't just a set of propositions or beliefs - it is a person.  Jesus says in red letters "I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life."  No wonder our modern situation claims there is no truth - how could you if you won't believe in the one who is Truth.

As to training the will or developing virtue - shouldn't we just start preaching it?  Weaver warns us that "we must avoid, however, the temptation of trying to teach virtue directly".  This is in keeping with what Cindy is constantly counseling us at Ordo Amoris.  Weaver says that we must drive "the wedge between the material and the transcendental".  I am not sure exactly what this means - but I think it means that we need to acknowledge that there is good/bad and justice/injustice that is beyond our own personal definition.  There is a standard that is steady and unchanging.

I really like Charlotte Mason's saying

I am a child of God, I ought to do his will, I can do what He says and by His grace, I will. 

This points both to will and truth.  If we believe what He says is the truth then we ought to be doing it.  I have a friend who used to say "don't 'should' on me" - meaning don't make judgments or tell me what I should and should not be doing.  I understand the sentiment, but at the same time there are things we "ought" or "should" be doing - if we claim to live in light of the truth. I also appreciate it because it acknowledges that doing what we ought is NOT easy and requires His grace to do it.  It requires an act of our will but just "trying harder" and "doing better" isn't enough.  We must trust we are his children and lean into His grace as we learn from His word.

So, this covers my thoughts from the first two pages!  He takes a very interesting turn as we shall see in the next post.

This is part of the book club being sponsored at Simply Convivial.  Check out what others are saying about this chapter.

Training: This is tough

I have been negligent about this topic.  Originally this idea was part of a 5 am brainstorm - so I hadn't totally thought it through.  Plus, my mom was cooking all my meals and letting me take naps which gave me more time to think.  Then I returned home and just realized I am introducing solids, starting potty training and beginning school with my oldest - all at the same time.  Real life has put training on hold - which is sort of the general paradox I face.  I want things to be just right to begin something - and they never will be.  I also want to make everything into a big to-do instead of focusing on the little habits of everyday.  So, I guess I am training - it just doesn't seem as exciting as I had hoped.

So, I wrote one post about lofty goals and realized that I am too much of a utilitarian and believe in formulas.  Fortunately, I read the post at Ordo Amoris and at Circe to help renew my mind.  I am trying to undo this thinking - repent - so I will have to wait on that post for a while.  For now, I think I can safely discuss the strains of thought that I tend to fall victim to - more easily than I expected apparently.

Comfort 

One of the strongest themes I am trying to combat is what Weaver rails against - this idea that comfort brings happiness.  It sounds so nice and pleasant.  It just isn't true.  The sad thing is that, at times, the church even promotes its own version of this lie.  Reading the Bible will show you that the life of ease is not what we are called to.  Not that we seek difficulty intentionally, but that following God's order will not bring us into harmony with the world around us.  When orders clash issues arise but we need to remember

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.   John 16:33

Jane of all trades 

I have also been thinking about the idea of mastery.  In general, our schools promote a wide and shallow curriculum.  There are so many things to know and they come at students in a very disjointed way.  You come out with a smattering of information but no real organization or habits of mind to help you process and use what you have learned.  I am drawn by the Latin Centered Curriculum because it believes in learning a few things to mastery.   I am trying to figure out how to pare down and trust that this is "enough".  It seemed to work for generations before this century - can I trust it though?

The End

Finally, I am thinking about the whole idea of success.  I am constantly struggling with the American ideal of the good life and what a "successful" Christian looks like.  I listened to Steve Breedlove's conference talk "Exhaustion through Rigor" and I identified with it (it is the 4th from the bottom of the list).  He basically wondered why our schools are running after the same goals as every other school - SAT scores, "good" colleges, etc.  Is that what success looks like to God?   Are we all climbing a ladder leaning against the wrong building? How would we re-orient our lives if we were to look like "successful" Christians?  Paul admonishes and says confidently in 2 Timothy

⁵ But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.⁶ For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.⁷ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

To train well you do have to begin with the end in mind -right?  I am brought back to N.T. Wright's book After you Believe.  He speaks extensively of how our "forever" occupations will be as priests and kings.  We will worship and we will rule with Christ.  He encourages us to consider how we can begin these vocations now.  Are we training in righteousness?  Are we exploring what it means to worship the King?  Are we willing to be offered?

So, I guess I came back to the big ideas after all - but originally I sounded like I had the answers and I REALLY don't.  I feel like I am asking the right questions but not sure how to make some of the answers play out in my everyday life.  In one of Christopher Perrin's talk he mentioned that very few of us had a real "classical" upbringing and education so we all feel a little at a loss.  That is encouraging. I need to stop moping about what I didn't have (in part because I was given SOO much), buck up and do my best to make that education available to my children.