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4 Ways Parents Can Encourage Their Children to Read Good Books0
- Culture
- February 24, 2016
As a grade-school child, there was nothing I loved more than burying my nose in a book. Mysteries particularly. I pounded my way through various series, happily ignoring the fact that they all revolved around the same, mind-numbing plot and rarely broadened my knowledge or intellectual ability. Fortunately, my mother recognized this problem better than
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10 Penetrating Quotes on Contemplation from an American Monk0
- Culture
- February 24, 2016
Of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), the Dalai Lama once said, “Merton introduced me to the real meaning of the word ‘Christian.’” Of himself, Merton describes his early journey to becoming a Trappist monk below: “[I] spurned New York, spat on Chicago, and tromped on Louisville, heading for the woods with Thoreau in one pocket, John of
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Why It’s Bad for a Society to Do Away with Shame0
- Culture
- February 23, 2016
In recent years, popular culture has encouraged us to be or do anything we want to in the name of freedom. In fact, it has become acceptable and courageous to defy traditionally-held views of ethics, family, marriage, religion, and political action. But has this rush to stretch our wings, embrace freedom, and ditch shame actually
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Why It’s Harmful to Reward Children for Everything1
- Family
- February 23, 2016
Rewarding children for good behavior has become commonplace in the American family. But in a recent piece for The Atlantic, Psychologist Erica Reischer cautions that reward systems can be surprisingly harmful to children and their families. Using the example of the ubiquitous sticker chart, Reischer writes that the system of children earning their way to
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Hello, Norma Jean. Goodbye great books0
- Education
- February 23, 2016
Students enrolling at a prominent Australian university this week will be able to choose an elective that is likely to leave all the competition for dead. A course designed to tie in with an art exhibition at neighbouring galleries offers La Trobe undergraduates credits for studying the famous blond bombshell of the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe.
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Do Millennials Take Employment for Granted?0
- Culture
- February 23, 2016
By now, you may have heard of Talia Jane, the young woman who posted an open letter to the CEO of Yelp/Eat24 on Medium a few days ago. The letter explained that despite her college education, she found herself a young, starving, twenty-something struggling to live on a Yelp/Eat24 salary of a little more than
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A Philosophical Examination of Porn0
- Philosophy
- February 23, 2016
Some months ago, Intellectual Takeout blogged thus: “From a philosophical standpoint, the following seems to be the case: For those who believe pornography is intrinsically evil, the onus is on them to explain how its use does not accord with the proper telos, or goal, of human sexual activity. For those who believe pornography is a
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4 Reasons Why This Teacher Now Supports Homeschooling0
- Education
- February 23, 2016
Acceptance and recognition of homeschooling has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Yet in spite of overwhelming support, this education practice is not without its skeptics. And oftentimes, traditional schoolteachers are the biggest skeptics. This is understandable, particularly as teachers have received large amounts of training in order to gain their position. The
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Why Political Debate Today is Incoherent0
- Politics
- February 22, 2016
Among political philosophers, the most common critique of “liberalism” (not to be confused with modern “liberalism”) is not its concern for liberty, fairness, tolerance, and related values, but its public promotion of such values without recourse to any underlying, philosophical view of reality. We’re supposed to simply see the kind of open, secular, republican polity
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