Doing my usual Sunday-lesson-planning, I ran across this quote and was deeply moved by it:
"Washington taught the world to know us. Lincoln taught us to know ourselves. The first won for us our independence. The last wrought out our manhood and self respect" (The Expositor).
Somewhere in there is a connection to our our Mission and Vision. I humbly leave that as a thought for the day.
Not everything that can be counted counts, not everything that counts can be counted.
Here is a video produced on behalf of the Starkville, Mississippi, School District for their teachers and the beginning of the school year. The core message of believing is one that any teacher should ascribe to because what is belief? Mental acceptance of a claim as truth? Our theme for the year, Understanding and Living our Ignatian Mission, hints that there is more to it that mere understanding, mere acceptance - there is the living of it.
Do you believe in your students, in yourself, in your fellow teachers, in your Ignatian mission? How will you live that belief this year?
[via nctplarry]
I had sent this out as an email earlier to the Social Science Department, but thought it might be more widely appreciated.
"The Burden of the Humanities" by Wilfred M. McClay appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of the Wilson Quarterly. In reference to the Humanities, we have all heard the same question from our students: "why do I have to learn this?"
McClay's short answer is:
"The humanities, rightly pursued and rightly ordered, can do things, and teach things, and preserve things, and illuminate things, which can be accomplished in no other way. It is the humanities that instruct us in the range and depth of human possibility, including our immense capacity for both goodness and depravity. It is the humanities that nourish and sustain our shared memories, and connect us with our civilization's past and those who have come before us. It is the humanities that teach us how to ask what the good life is for us humans, and guide us in the search for civic ideals and institutions that will make the good life possible."
While we at SI include more than just the Humanities in the curriculum, all of us - regardless of Department - aim to educate our students in a way that guides them toward the good life, for themselves, their families, and their world.
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