“Consider the very buildings where we send these children. We used to build schools that were relatively small, on a scale to meet and welcome the small people who would learn things there. The schools resembled homes or modest town halls or churches. They were not therefore puny and silly; their very cupolas and arches suggested that the small people were being invited into company with great and holy things. Why did we give that up? Because we are no longer sensitive to the priceless innocence of children; we think instead of efficiency and mass production and bureaucratic oil, and when that breeds anonymity and social dysfunction, when the most disturbed children find one another out and set down a sick school within the school, what do we do? The human thing, which would mean bringing schools back down to the scale of the child? No, we stock it with surveillance cameras and armed guards.”
Welcome new subscribers! Forgive the Sunday post, but just wanted to share, for those who don’t know, that the best thing on the internet, let alone Substack, is Word and Song. The above excerpt is from a must-listen talk Prof Esolen posted this week. I can’t “re-stack” it because it’s for paying subscribers, but here is the link, it is one of the best talks on education, childhood, and literature you’ll ever hear. More than worth the price of a subscription, and my understanding is that there is a limited time Labor Day weekend offer for a major, once-in-a-blue-moon discount, so do yourself and your kids a favor and hurry on over to sign up if you haven’t already.
Thank you!
Just read your Federalist piece, Adrian. Hold off on citizenship as long as you can and avoid the shots. I can’t believe we let people waltz across the border without it but they’re mandating them for legal citizenship? This 🤡🤡 country never fails to disappoint me.
That was wonderful, nurturing food for thought. Thank you for the recommendation.