The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Paul Spears

  • $138,095 Is Not Enough

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    Paul Spears
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    On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the average stay at home mother if she were paid for her work would earn $138,095 a year. This seems like too low of a number. Women who stay at home are in total charge of the household which in itself is like a small corporation (albeit a small corporation…

  • On Picking a College: A Parental Perspective

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    Paul Spears
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    Yesterday, Dr. John Mark Reynolds posted a letter that he had written to a student who was attempting to make a choice between Biola University and UC Berkeley. Parents should think through the implications of a university choice, and should consider what is the proper criterion by which a student chooses the institute of higher…

  • Understanding and Engagement

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    Paul Spears
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    How does a parent know that their children are being educated? To say that someone is educated necessarily entails assessment but, often in today’s academic institutions much of what turns out to be an attempt at education and assessment turns out to be a mindless comportment to a set of dictated standards. Parents are often…

  • Cursed Cursive

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    Paul Spears
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    I hate writing in cursive. When I have to write with a pen onto paper I print. The last time I wrote anything in cursive other than my signature was when I was taking the GRE to get into graduate school. The ETS testing folks mandate that you rewrite the GRE statement of honesty in…

  • Kiss and Tell

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    Paul Spears
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    Kissing is an interesting thing. When we are young we kiss our parents, our siblings, and sometimes (often under duress) our extended family. When elementary school children discuss kissing technical language is often brought into play. A word like “cooties” (which is defined by the OED as an imaginary germ with which a socially undesirable…

  • Repairing the Ruins

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    Paul Spears
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    In 1644 John Milton of Paradise Lost fame published an eight page pamphlet entitled “Of Education.” In it he stated: The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him,…

  • Coffee and Darwinism

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    Paul Spears
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    This morning I stopped at Starbucks to get a cup of “survival juice.” I had a class to teach, and I need the pick-me-up. If you have ever purchased a cup of coffee at Starbucks you have noticed that for the last few years Starbucks has printed on the sides of their cups thoughts and…

  • With Job’s Eyes

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    Paul Spears
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    As Christians we often feel like God should take care of all of our immediate needs—immediately. I often find myself praying for a quick fix to my little problems. I easily find myself frustrated with the difficulties that are a part of living on this mortal plane. I have been reading the book of Job…

  • Corresponding With Truth

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    Paul Spears
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    CS Lewis believed in what is called the “correspondence theory of truth.” It is not clear that he would have called it that, but it was obvious from the way that he wrote and spoke that he believed in and was devoted to the truth. The correspondence theory of truth holds that truth is an…

  • Bullying and Boldness

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    Paul Spears
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    When I was in my doctoral program I asked a room full of eager, successful and intelligent graduate students if they would like to relive their junior high days—no one raised their hand. We all remember, whether we were popular or not, the hurt that we endured when we were mocked and bullied—no one was…

  • Aristotle and Higher Education

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    Paul Spears
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    The written works of Aristotle, what we have of them, contain ideas that have influenced generation upon generation of thinkers. His philosophical investigations are deep and provocative providing us with work that is the fodder for countless philosophical discussions. He is the intellectual father of thinkers like Averroes and Aquinas. Dante calls him, “The master…

  • Will Smith Gets Jiggy With Plato

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    Paul Spears
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    Is public education helping our children to succeed as adults? Do today’s modern teaching methodologies actually enable our children to develop skills that facilitate their ability to flourish in society? Given that most of today’s educational models have been influenced by modernity I would say that they have been for years developing systems that are…