Quote:
Originally Posted by py3ak  So Lewis' prediction of the death of civilization was accurate. |
Well, yes and no. When Lewis matriculated at Oxon it wasn't a monastic community any longer. I'm sure there are monks who rued the day that laity would enter their sacred precincts.
Our students come to us with a great deal of enthusiasm and native ability and they are quite gifted in areas where, perhaps, earlier generations of students were not. The students I'm teaching seem a little more well rounded, less angry, happier, and better able to relate to people than I remember my classmates (no offense guys!) being. Speaking for myself, I was a bit of a fundy still in 1984. Generally I find our students ready to learn. The tragic thing is that so few teachers/schools have been able to teach them or inspire them until now. Doubtless the students themselves are complicit in this. Frequently sem students seem to become more focused in university/undergrad studies when they gain some sense of vocation. Students often do better in sem than they did in their undergrad work and we push them harder than they've ever been pushed before.
There are disturbing warning signs, some of which I've already mentioned in this thread. Neither our Christian nor our secular undergraduate schools (in the generic, American, non-Lewisian sense) seem to be willing to challenge students to become learners (in the Lewisian sense). The hardest thing I do is force my students to think for themselves.
At the same time, I recently gave a talk to a local Classical Christian Academy about the "Role of Dialectic in the Trivium" and parents actually showed up! These were parents of kindergartners and toddlers who are trying to recover classical educational models for their children. This is very encouraging. These children are learning Mandarin! I know 16 year olds studying French at the upper-division undergraduate level and preparing to study Arabic in their off time this summer.
There are encouraging signs amidst the apparent chaos of contemporary education.