Featured Essay / Blog
A concerned student recently asked me to use my authority over a friend of theirs (also a student and mentee of mine) to help get them on the right track, for this friend was involved in quite destructive behavior. As we were talking, I was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but when…
Essay / Education
I’ve just finished reading the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Our seniors read it in the Torrey Honors Institute as part of a semester of books on America. Douglass’ is one of hundreds of slave narratives, narratives which played a
Essay / Education
As the school year rolls back around, here are some timely words from John Wesley on the high office of teaching, framed as questions for teachers to answer about their own intentions and actions. Ye venerable men, who are more especially called to form the
Essay / Education
Not long ago my whole family listened to a remarkable audio book. It’s a reading of Evelyn Sibley Lampman’s 1960 The City Under the Back Steps. It’s a great adventure story about two kids who get shrunk to bug size, and spend a few days
Essay / Culture
America has been blessed many times throughout its history with remarkable leaders. Winston Churchill, who many know as the Prime Minster of Great Britain during WWII, was keenly interested in American history. He was interested in American history partly because his mother was an American,
Essay / Education
Here at the beginning of a new academic semester, all the students and professors are full of big plans. We’re going to cover so much material, learn so many new skills, and develop so many relationships. We’ve got a long semester ahead of us, and
Essay / Education
To follow up Fred Sanders’ review of my book, I have posted a short excerpt from Education for Human Flourishing published by IVP Academic. The passage below describes the difference between rhetoric and knowledge, and how important it is for us to be able to
Essay / Education
There’s no easier job in the world than being a bad teacher. It’s a cinch, with short hours and plenty of long vacations. The pay’s not always great, but as long as your standards are low, and all you’re looking for is an easy job,
Essay / Education
Start with a secular social order, and the university system as it stands today, and then ask yourself, “How much would we have to trim our Christian convictions to fit a Christian university into that system?” Given that we absolutely must obey the liberal, democratic
Essay / Education
Two sisters sit at home, talking. The younger sister does needlework and arranges flowers picked from the garden, as she passes the time until her boyfriend comes to visit. The older sister, on the other hand, is trying to make some kind of sense out
Essay / Education
As I look with resignation at my incomplete and overly optimistic list of “Things to Accomplish This Summer,” I am coming to grips with the summer being almost at the end, and that means I am about to become the mentor/advisor to a group of
Essay / Culture
There’s been a controversy this summer over university placement exams in the UK. Apparently the high school students taking the top-level history exam, having been assigned a topic to study and prepare for, were asked on the test day to write an essay analyzing a
Essay / Education
(delivered at the Senior Dinner for Biola’s graduating class, May 15, 2009) Thank you so much for how you have honored me by inviting me to this special dinner and electing me Professor of the Year. It means a lot to me that out of