Entries in education (4)
In Defense of Boys
June 23, 2007 in Society Brave parents are standing up against our culture’s recent push to make boys sit down and shut up. While our public schools may be afraid to let them be boys, some parents are doing just that, and looking for ideas on how to restore the natural order of things. Now, a new book helps parents resist the wussification of their boys…
I wrote “The Dangerous Book for Boys” as a handbook for boys with scenes like that from my childhood in mind. I wasn’t trying to please anyone else. I was just trying to free boys to be themselves again, the way we were when my brother and I were growing up. —- It’s about remembering a time when danger wasn’t a dirty word. It’s safer to put a boy in front of a PlayStation for a while, but not in the long run. The irony of making boys’ lives too safe is that later they take worse risks on their own. You only have to push a baby boy hard on a swing and see his face light up. It’s not learned behavior — he’s hardwired to enjoy a little risk. Ask any man for a good memory from childhood and he’ll tell you about testing his courage or getting injured. No one wants to see a child get hurt, but we really did think the bumps and scratches were badges of honor, once.
In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces, Washington Post
The Dangerous Book for Boys
High Wycombe: End of an Era
March 10, 2007 in Society 
The Department of Defense’s European Command has announced the closing of High Wycombe’s school and dorms for American Dependents at the end of the 2006-07 school year.
London Central High School has been located there since 1962. LCHS was located at Bushey Heath from 1952 to 1962. The base, known as USAF High Wycombe, reverts to British ownership as RAF Daws Hill. The eventual disposition of the facility is unclear, covered by the Official Secrets Act. Some facilities there were used as a secure command center during World War II, where Winston Churchill is said to have been present.
I knew students who attended LCHS at High Wycombe from American bases and posts from Oslo to Gibraltar. Now, the wisdom of schooling closer to home has prevailed. Years ago, the choice was between sending kids to local foreign schools or away to the American boarding school. The school system is now suggesting other options 
including local British schools, home study, or private British boarding schools.
London Central school to be shut down at end of academic year, Stars & Stripes
London Central Elementary High School to Close in June 2007, Message from the LCHS Principal, Theresa Barba
Closure of Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) Residential Dormitory and London Central High School, Gen. James L. Jones, Commander, United States European Command
London Central High School, Networking/Reunion Info
Brown University Blocks Reformed Student Group
December 17, 2006 in Faith In a time when the most bizarre student groups are recognized, colleges and universities continue to fight the existence of Christian groups on campus. Brown University is one example of this, suspending Reformed University Fellowship, a Presbyterian Church in America student group from meeting on campus. Brown now says the group may be reinstated with certain conditions, though it is unclear whether these terms and conditions apply equally to all student groups:
[Brown University’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life] OCRL derecognized RUF in September under dubious pretenses. First, OCRL claimed that Trinity Presbyterian Church had withdrawn its support for RUF; this was patently false and Trinity senior pastor David Sherwood immediately e-mailed OCRL to assert the church’s support for RUF. Then OCRL claimed that RUF had not been a recognized student organization since the previous year because RUF’s then-adviser had failed to punctually submit the proper paperwork (even though RUF’s current adviser had turned in this year’s paperwork in a timely manner). OCRL also claimed that RUF’s leadership had created a “culture of contempt and dishonesty,” but never responded to RUF’s request for specific examples of contemptuous and dishonest conduct.
Continue Reading: Brown University Agrees to Reinstate Suspended Religious Organization, But Concerns Remain, The Torch
Why Go To A Christian College?
June 29, 2006 in Faith 
Why go to a Christian college? What are the reasons parents and students alike seek Christian education at the college level?
The Idea of a Christian College (ISBN# 0802802583) is a book I was told to read when I was accepted at Covenant College in the 1970s, and a revision of the book is still in circulation today. Author Arthur Holmes reviews the many reasons people have in mind, usually failing to grasp a Christian College’s primary raison d’etre:
The educated Christian exercises critical judgment and manifests the ability to interpret and to evaluate information, particularly in the light of the Christian revelation. In a word, if [he] is to act creatively and to speak with cogency and clarity to the minds of her fellows, the educated Christian must be at home in the world of ideas and people.
It’s all about having a Christian worldview while living in the real world.
Pearls Before Swine
Day By Day
Cartoons Used With Permission