Mortimer Adler, who assembled the Great Books of the Western World collection, wrote a great deal about education. One of his most important contributions is his discussion about the three kinds of teaching. Three Systems of Teaching 1) First is what he calls “Didactic Instruction.” [...]
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins by Oliver DeMille “Somehow it all comes back to coal in school. Besides basic reading and math, most of our instruction is coal-related. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It’s mostly a lot of blather [...]
By Oliver DeMille Today I read a sentence that really impacted me. It made me pause and really consider. I mean, I’ve read a lot of books about the American founding fathers and mothers, but I’ve never read this before. It’s incredibly deep and important. [...]
By Oliver DeMille I was on eBay and Amazon this week looking for a copy of The Complete Madison, a collection of James Madison’s most important writings. I was surprised by what I found. A brand new copy of the book cost $49.99, while a [...]
How to Recognize a Moving Reading and what to Do with It By Oliver DeMille I finished reading the article, and I was deeply moved. It was profound, important, and taught me a number of new things on a topic I had already studied in [...]
By Oliver DeMille Chess, Robert Jordan, and Theoretical Microdynamics It was a brand new freshman class and the first order of business was to help them learn the language of the classics. Most freshmen don’t come with this skill. They know technology very well, [...]
by Oliver DeMille Like everyone, I sometimes make mistakes. Sometimes I'm wrong. Sometimes I make a rash decision or a careless comment. And like everyone, I suppose, my kids are pretty clear on the fact that I'm fallible. And I'm okay with that. Not that [...]
I once read an article by two religious scholars who were very concerned about the qualified and credible scholarship of an individual with what they considered to be a competing religious worldview. It was intriguing to consider the controversy from the point of view of [...]
On October 16, 1854, in Peoria, Illinois, Stephen Douglas finished his 3-hour address and sat down. Abraham Lincoln stood. He “reminded the audience that it was already 5 pm,” and then told them that it would take him at least as long as Mr. Douglas [...]
by Oliver DeMille Eight words can tell us almost everything we need to know about the failures of modern education. More importantly, they can teach us how to drastically improve education personally and as a society. Until we understand these eight words, and reapply their [...]
