July 9, 2009
Dear students:
Several of you have asked me this past year why we need to study literature, or if I teach history from any particular viewpoint, or how I select the books for the seminars. Since I will not deliver any formal remarks this year at the student/parent meeting in August, it seemed prudent to put down some brief thoughts here for you.
Great literature speaks to our hearts and minds, and forms within our souls--our very being--the thoughts, emotions, and aspirations of men and women whose shared insights help bring us to the fullness of our humanity. Great literature also allows us to live vicariously, to put ourselves among heroes and scoundrels, saints and scalawags, in a way usually unmatched by life. When we dive into Pride and Prejudice, for instance, we not only see our fellow creatures through the eyes of Jane Austen, but through the eyes of Austen’s creations: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins, Bingley, Charlotte Lucas, and the rest. When we read Crime and Punishment, we experience what Raskolnikov sees, hears and feels, and thereby understand why he commits murder and how he comes to repentance.
Literature grants us insight into that most mysterious of all creatures on this earth: the self.
Conversely, history points us away from the self and to the exterior world. If we are strangers to the past, we are likely to find the times in which we live a swirl of events, chaotic, incomprehensible, even frightening. Studying history can inoculate us against such fear. A knowledge of history, the story of the men and women who have gone before us, allows us to draw some conclusions from the past that are applicable to the present. Through such study we gain perspective on our present circumstances and the ability to face our future with courage and strength.
Many of you will soon sit in classrooms where teachers espouse a particular view of history and literature: Marxist, socialist, neo-conservative, Freudian, Darwinian, and so on. You must learn to identify a teacher’s viewpoint and to take that viewpoint into consideration when drawing your conclusions about the subject studied.
My own point of view regarding history is somewhat old-fashioned (though radical by today’s standards). I believe, for instance, that human beings are fallible creatures capable of great good and great evil. I believe that individuals play a large role in historical events, and that history is at its most interesting when approached through biography. I believe that, with some effort, students of history may learn from the past and apply that learning to the present. I believe that history offers us an imperfect laboratory in which we may study human beings, their beliefs, actions, and institutions.
Latin students: We will discuss the advantages of Latin in class. Besides being the native tongue of the Ancient Romans, suffice it to say that Latin was the language familiar to every educated Westerner from Saint Augustine of Hippo to John Calvin.
Usually at registration some of you inquire as well about my educational background. I graduated from Guilford College, earned a Master’s Degree in European History from Wake Forest University, and studied for a year in the doctoral program at the University of Connecticut. I have taught in a variety of institutions: a semester in college; two years in the NC state prison system; two years in the Haywood County public schools; twenty-two years at home with my own children; and fifteen years teaching home school seminars. For a good number of years, I also studied, like your parents, at the Institute of Hard Knocks, from which I have earned several degrees.
I look forward to meeting you and to our seminars this year. May God bless us all in our endeavor,
Jeff Minick
Dear students:
Several of you have asked me this past year why we need to study literature, or if I teach history from any particular viewpoint, or how I select the books for the seminars. Since I will not deliver any formal remarks this year at the student/parent meeting in August, it seemed prudent to put down some brief thoughts here for you.
Great literature speaks to our hearts and minds, and forms within our souls--our very being--the thoughts, emotions, and aspirations of men and women whose shared insights help bring us to the fullness of our humanity. Great literature also allows us to live vicariously, to put ourselves among heroes and scoundrels, saints and scalawags, in a way usually unmatched by life. When we dive into Pride and Prejudice, for instance, we not only see our fellow creatures through the eyes of Jane Austen, but through the eyes of Austen’s creations: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins, Bingley, Charlotte Lucas, and the rest. When we read Crime and Punishment, we experience what Raskolnikov sees, hears and feels, and thereby understand why he commits murder and how he comes to repentance.
Literature grants us insight into that most mysterious of all creatures on this earth: the self.
Conversely, history points us away from the self and to the exterior world. If we are strangers to the past, we are likely to find the times in which we live a swirl of events, chaotic, incomprehensible, even frightening. Studying history can inoculate us against such fear. A knowledge of history, the story of the men and women who have gone before us, allows us to draw some conclusions from the past that are applicable to the present. Through such study we gain perspective on our present circumstances and the ability to face our future with courage and strength.
Many of you will soon sit in classrooms where teachers espouse a particular view of history and literature: Marxist, socialist, neo-conservative, Freudian, Darwinian, and so on. You must learn to identify a teacher’s viewpoint and to take that viewpoint into consideration when drawing your conclusions about the subject studied.
My own point of view regarding history is somewhat old-fashioned (though radical by today’s standards). I believe, for instance, that human beings are fallible creatures capable of great good and great evil. I believe that individuals play a large role in historical events, and that history is at its most interesting when approached through biography. I believe that, with some effort, students of history may learn from the past and apply that learning to the present. I believe that history offers us an imperfect laboratory in which we may study human beings, their beliefs, actions, and institutions.
Latin students: We will discuss the advantages of Latin in class. Besides being the native tongue of the Ancient Romans, suffice it to say that Latin was the language familiar to every educated Westerner from Saint Augustine of Hippo to John Calvin.
Usually at registration some of you inquire as well about my educational background. I graduated from Guilford College, earned a Master’s Degree in European History from Wake Forest University, and studied for a year in the doctoral program at the University of Connecticut. I have taught in a variety of institutions: a semester in college; two years in the NC state prison system; two years in the Haywood County public schools; twenty-two years at home with my own children; and fifteen years teaching home school seminars. For a good number of years, I also studied, like your parents, at the Institute of Hard Knocks, from which I have earned several degrees.
I look forward to meeting you and to our seminars this year. May God bless us all in our endeavor,
Jeff Minick
posted by Mr. Minick at
1:18 PM
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