Information Overload

It is always interesting how I seem to run across several items dealing with the same subject in a short time period. This week I found this article: Facebook Users Get Worse Grades in College and was e-mailed an article by one of the teachers at school: Scientists Warn of Dangers of Rapid-Fire Media Dangers. I think there are probably huge holes in some of the assumptions with these articles, but more and more people are noticing that we are raising a generation that has so much information thrown at them on a regular basis that they become numb to new information much faster than previous generations. It also concerns me that much of the information that is presented on the Internet through services like Facebook and Twitter is presented without much context. These leads to an emphasis on a "disembodied life," in which our current circumstances and settings have little impact on what we believe or do. We serve a God who is incarnational in the way that he deals with his people--he does not treat us as just minds or souls, but whole people in need of redemption. Jesus is the Word made flesh--the thought or reason of God given physical context in a real person. As Christians we need to be seeking to model incarnational living for the younger generations so that they see that truth and ideas have to be lived out in real situations with real consequences. They are more "consequential" than a mere tag line or post on a web page. Thoughts?

Reader Survey #1

OK, so we are going to try something new today with the Veritas blog: a reader survey (given the huge amount of readers that this blog has). If you could add one class to the curriculum at Veritas what would it be? Let us know your answer by including it in the comments section.

A Post-literate Society?

I just read this article in World Magazine by Jeanie B. Cheaney. She argues that we are entering a post-literate society full of self-absorbed individuals that are unable and unwilling to think through problems in an intelligent, logical sequence. This is one of the chief reasons that I champion classical education. We strive to train our students to think logically and live wisely in this sinful and fallen world.

Little Red Schoolhouse-The Modern Version

Mr. Meeks recently pointed me to an article about a school in Westminister, Colorado that is attempting to improve the test scores and achievement of its students by doing away with grade levels. There will no longer be 9th, 10th 11th and 12th grades. A student will merely work until he has mastered the material in a particular subject, then move on to the next level. This view is seen as a "radical" change by many, but, in fact, it is merely a return to the way much of education was done prior to the 20th century.

Modern education's emphasis on grades, grade levels and test scores has its philosophical foundation in the scientism and social Darwinism that ruled the day at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century. The belief that if things (people, work habits, schooling) were made more scientific they would be better is a belief more in line with atheistic, progressive thinking than biblical or classical thought. Children are not machines to be fine-tuned and made more "efficient." They are creatures made in the image of God with personality, imagination and reason. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive." Maybe this school in Colorado is heading in the right direction. Let me know what you think!

Growing Up Online

I am in the middle of watching a PBS documentary called "Growing Up Online." The website for this program has a wealth of information that every parent should check out. Most of us over 30 don't realize the vast digital divide that exists between people who were born B.P.C. (before personal computers) and those who were born A.P.C. (after personal computers). The students that we teach have been immersed in a technical and digital world since they were young and many older computer users are merely tourists in the digital world. It is important that we understand the ins and outs of new technology and why our children spend so much time living in a digital world.

Check out the website for this program (but keep in mind that some of the material in the documentary may be offensive to some) and post your thoughts about what you see. For parents, be sure to go to this link that gives advice about parents dealing with their children on the internet. I definitely don't agree with much of the advice that is given, but it provides a helpful conversation starter about the proper place of the internet in the lives of Christian families.

Welcome to the Veritas Blog

Thanks for visiting the official blog of The Veritas School. This blog is a place for administration, teachers, parents and students to communicate with one another about education, school life, helping one another to "take every thought captive to Christ." Feel free to post comments or suggest topics for discussion. If you would like to post a topic to the blog, please e-mail Aaron Gentry, the academic dean. We hope this will be a beneficial tool for the whole Veritas community.