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Blog 3 Columns

Libraries: Not Just For Reading Anymore 0
- February 11, 2016
The days of the library being only for bookworms are long gone. Libraries are branching out (pun intended). And, according to a new piece for The Atlantic, their efforts are making them into community hubs: “There are three areas where libraries function as vibrant centers of America’s towns: technology, education, and community.” The Center for
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Less Freedom and Equality, more Justice?0
- Culture
- February 11, 2016
It goes without saying that Freedom and Equality can both be good principles depending upon how they’re applied. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken on an ideological character over the last few decades. When we look at our political and cultural discourse, many start either with the idea of Freedom or Equality as the highest
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In Defense of Memorizing 1
- February 11, 2016
If you ever read the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace as a kid, you probably know that Betsy and her friends were big fans of producing home-grown entertainment programs. And the entertainment perpetually ran along the same lines: Betsy and Tacy performed the Cat Duet, little Tib did the Baby Dance, talented Julia played
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File This Under ‘Things You Would Never See in America’0
- February 11, 2016
At Intellectual Takeout, we often wish that people would be more passionate about ideas. But this might be taking it a bit too far… In 2014, the Independent reported that a teacher in Russia killed his friend over a dispute about… wait for it… the merits of poetry versus prose. “A Russian teacher allegedly killed
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Cohabitation is Socially Acceptable, But is it Socially Beneficial?0
- Culture
- February 11, 2016
In case you hadn’t noticed, acceptance of cohabitation has seen a rapid increase in recent years. According to NPR, “more than 65 percent of first marriages start out” in cohabitation, and “young adults born after 1980 are more likely to cohabit than any previous generation was at the same stage of life.” But while cohabitation
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C.S. Lewis on “The Essential Evil” of Schools 1
- Education
- February 11, 2016
Author C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) attended school in England between the ages of 9 and 15. During that time, Lewis was for the most part blessed with good teachers. Yet, in reflecting back on his experience, Lewis describes in his autobiography what he also came to see as “the essential evil of public-school life.” (“Public school”
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A Poignant Quote from Will Durant 0
- Culture
- February 11, 2016
Strangely enough, the odd malaise and pessimism that occupies our times isn’t unique to this decade. It has been building for some time now as we of the West have moved further from our roots and the natural order of things. Check out this excerpt from Will Durant’s On the Meaning of Life from 1932: “This
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Why Aren’t Apprenticeships More Popular?0
- Culture
- February 10, 2016
Last night I found myself walking down a hallway at a local private college. As I passed what was presumably the philosophy department, I noticed a couple of posted articles declaring the value of a philosophy degree and decrying the recent rush toward apprenticeships. Apparently the philosophy department was doing some thinking and came to
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Why America Has So Many Laws 0
- February 10, 2016
There are virtue-based societies, and there are rule-based societies. America has become the latter. In a virtue-based society, the people are a particular community that have a shared understanding of human life and a shared goal. The virtues are the behavioral habits that help achieve this goal—such as prudence, justice, courage, and temperance—and the community’s
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