A Great Quote

This quote is so true if you think about it. Enjoy!

"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

The Blithedale Romance and Socialism

I do not know if we are sliding toward socialism or not, but I do know that my insurance has gone up... again, so... I may be ready to try anything once.

All joking aside, socialism is not an issue one should consider flippantly. The issue is dealt with by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his excellent novel, The Blithedale Romance. I love Hawthorne's writing, especially The House of Seven Gables, which is one of my all time favorite novels.

There is an excellent article summarizing the issue of socialism as it relates to The Blithedale Romance by Micah Mattix on The Trinity Forum website. I did not know the history behind Hawthorne's experience with a social community in Massachusetts, and how it may have influenced his writing of this novel.

Whether you agree or disagree with socialism, the article is a great read as it is well written and thought provoking. As a Christian, it made me think deeply about several issues related to socialism and me. I hope it does the same for each of you. Blessings!

My Favorite Comedian... Brian Regan

How Beautiful...

Is there a more beautiful song? This is one of "the" best Twila Paris songs in my opinion. Listen to the words carefully as they will speak directly to your soul. Enjoy!

Lost

I have a good friend who is a pilot. He once told me that flying at night is very dangerous to the inexperienced pilot because you can get upside down in your plane, and it will still feel right side up. You have then hopelessly lost your bearings and without instruments nothing good will happen to you. I think our country has been in this predicament for many many years. We have been flying upside down yet, we are always being told we are right side up, but we are really hopelessly lost and without instruments nothing good is going to happen to us. It is that way in education today as well.

Dr. Joe Renfro offers his view of the public school system in his article, Broken Schools, Broken Economy and Broken Culture. From his article:

"In August 2007, National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” showed public schools were in serious trouble—one-third of American eighth graders couldn’t perform basic math, one-third of all teachers left the profession after the first three years, and by five years, one-half had left."

More from his article:

"The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported that between 1993 and 2003, population growth rates for youth ages five through nineteen was higher in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country. In those ten years, 4.7 million children entered the public schools with sixty-four percent or about 3 million being Hispanic, while white enrollment dropped by 1.2 million. Attached to this, in 2006 NCES reported that our fourth graders are scoring twelfth in the world in math skills after such nations as Singapore, Latvia, and Hungary. Our eighth graders were fifteenth, even below Malaysia and Slovakia. And by the time they reached the tenth grade, they had fallen to twenty-forth place."


The rest of the article is worth reading. Are we lost? Yesterday, I read that the Detroit Public School CFO held a press conference to announce that he could not balance their budget. Our government bails out mismanaged car companies, insurance giants and banks... what about our schools? I am sure that CFO could use some TARP money.

As Democrats and Republicans bicker over health care and cap and trade, our kids suffer. Too many children are taught to memorize and repeat instead of to think and discern. I am sincerely saddened by the state of our schools because even though I oversee a Christian school I am for all children. Last month a 10 year old Christian school closed its doors over enrollment; today we find out that the state of Alabama is cutting another 2% from their already cut public school system budget. Is there nothing else to cut?

I have watched for over 20 years and sincerely believe our country is lost. We are flying upside down and before long we will crash into the ground unless we learn some hard lessons. South Korea has learned some hard lessons and will come out of this recession as the educational leaders in the world. They are already the world leaders as evidenced by this BBC News article. A fellow Head of School running a Christian school in Seoul recently told me that his school had struggled for years in a 6 story building on a small tract of land. A few years ago the government of South Korea came to him with an offer: a brand new state of the art multi-million dollar campus. The catch... keep providing an excellent "Christian" education. Apparently the South Koreans understand that an excellent education takes many forms and morality is a vital part of all education.

What is the answer? For our school, it is to keep striving for excellence and Christ and engaging our culture for Christ. This means that we will continue to be a resource for Christian parents, a friend to other faith-based schools and a good citizen and neighbor. As for our nation, the only instrument ever needed is the truth, and that is not found in a book or an idea, but only in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can only hope that we have not waited to long. Blessings!

Good Schools

What makes a good school? Last week in Michigan a few of us were discussing good schools. In that discussion, I was asked to clarify a statement I made about certain schools not being good. A friend looked across the table and asked, "do you really believe that?" A summary of my response is below.

What constitutes a school being of good quality? How do we define a "good" school? I will define good in regards to schools in two realms: spiritual and educational. These are my opinions and are in reference to those schools contained in my private conversations last week.

Spiritually, can any school be a good school if it does not have the truth? Jesus said that He was truth. Ephesians 4:11-16 seems to point to an education rooted in truth that leads one to "speak the truth in love" and "grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ." There are those who will attempt to separate the spiritual from the educational, but I do not believe the two can be separated. When one is engaged in the learning process one is engaged in a building of knowledge and values and morality. The very nature of the process produces some type of morality in students. What kind of morality will be produced if the truth is absent?

Educationally, we will focus on Bloom's Taxonomy because every school these days does. In Bloom's there are three domains of learning: the cognitive, what goes on inside the head, the psychomotor, the role of movement in learning and the affective, the role of morality in learning. Can any school that leaves out one entire domain of the three from its educational approach be considered good?

Our conversations went on but my point here is to make two important statements that are closely related but different: one, defining what is good as it pertains to schools can not be limited to just academics because the nature of learning is not limited to just academics. And, two, we must understand that when students engage in the educational process they are being molded and shaped in many more ways than just academics.

Hard questions all of us must consider at some point in time. Your answers to these questions will determine your educational choices for your children. Scripture is clear... these decisions are yours and rest with you as parents. As a school, our advice is to spend much time in prayer with your family regarding the educational choices for your children. Go with the clarity God provides and avoid the confusing choice as we all know... confusion is not from the Lord.


At Westminster our goal is to be one of the very best options available to Christian parents. We strive to be a school where every student receives an education that is both excellent in every way and rooted in Christ. We have no desire of being good; our goal is to be great! This is Westminster

One more quote...

Before we leave the subject of great quotes, here is another provided by our Head Football Coach, Stephen Hooks. Thanks Stephen!



Alan Redpath

“Conversion is the miracle of the moment….becoming a Saint is the task of a lifetime.”

Another Great Quote

Sir Winston Churchill supplies our next great quote. Enjoy!


An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--hoping it will eat him last.

Time

This past week I was in Grand Rapids, MI as a member of the Van Lunen Fellows Program. Friday morning we were assigned a time of reflection on our conversations and readings from the past week. One of the readings that came to my mind was an article by Dorothy Bass entitled, "Learning to Count Our Days." The article convicted me in many areas of my life. Below I share some of the article with each of you. Enjoy!

"What is the measure of my days, weeks, and years, those I have had so far and those remaining? All of us wonder, naturally, about the quantity of this measure. More important, however, is its quality? Are we living lives that are good, in some large sense? Lives that contribute to the well-being of other people, close at hand and far away, and to our own well-being? Lives that are attuned to the good creation and to the active presence of God?"

In the last three years I have gotten caught up in stuff and not thought this way. What about you? The author has more for us.

"Understanding time as God's gift will make us more, rather than less, dissatisfied with the way in which economic, social, and cultural forces structure time, thereby impelling us to become partners with others in changing unjust structures of time. In The Time Bind, Arlie Russell Hochschild calls for a "time movement," an organized effort to develop economic structures that permit both adults and children to move more humanely within time"

And more...

"Only a dwelling place of the breadth and depth of God can finally count and hold all the days, weeks, and years of humankind. And it is only within this dwelling place that we mortals can ever count our days wisely. To count is to attend to each piece one by one, knowing its true value and acknowledging that the sum will not be infinite. Counting, in this sense, helps us know the true value of a day and attend to the gifts each one bears - just what the practices that guide us in receiving time as a gift of God would have us do."

What is your view of time? My view has changed especially when it comes to my family. Blessings!

Our Past

Whether we want to admit it or not... our past has an effect on who we are as adults. Here are three pictures from my past. I grew up in Monroe Bridge, MA. Here are pictures of my home, my school and my church growing up in Massachusetts. My home and my school were located in Monroe Bridge, MA, and my church was in the next town, Readsboro, VT. Have you thought about your past lately? Blessings!

The 4th of July

This 4th of July my family celebrated with many many others in Coolidge Park on the river in downtown Chattanooga. There was a concert first, then some of the finest fireworks I have seen in a long time. The picture to the left is the grand finale to the fireworks presentation. We cheered and sang old patriotic songs, and I was stirred by the lyrics of these old songs...


You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.


America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,

He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword

His truth is marching on

My country tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died!

Land of the pilgrim’s pride!

From every mountain side,

Let Freedom Ring!

Our fathers’ God, the Thee,

Author of Liberty.

To Thee we sing.

Long may our land be bright

With freedom’s holy light

Protect us by thy might

Great God, our King.

Our history is rich with the presence of the Lord, may He continue to guide us and watch over us!