Big writing assignments that drag on for an entire semester often involve a lot of wasted time and resources.

When you lecture on “servanthood,” students often roll their eyes. Here’s a speech about the subject they might cut through a few layers of cynicism.

What exactly is a classical educator trying to do?

Do graduates come back to chat? How many former students are in your contacts list?

The high school classroom needs to be a place of ritual, tradition, convention, form, and ceremony, all of which are better means of maintaining decorum than a stern eye, even though there’s nothing wrong with a stern eye. When the habits of classroom decorum are formal—standing together, sitting together, reciting together, addressing one another by surnames—they create a mood, an ethos, which is far more effective in regulating and elevating behavior than an abstract credo like, “In this class, we believe our classmates deserve respect.”

The high school classroom needs to be a place of ritual, tradition, convention, form, and ceremony, all of which are better means of maintaining decorum than a stern eye, even though there’s nothing wrong with a stern eye. When the habits of classroom decorum are formal—standing together, sitting together, reciting together, addressing one another by surnames—they create a mood, an ethos, which is far more effective in regulating and elevating behavior than an abstract credo like, “In this class, we believe our classmates deserve respect.”

The high school classroom needs to be a place of ritual, tradition, convention, form, and ceremony, all of which are better means of maintaining decorum than a stern eye, even though there’s nothing wrong with a stern eye. When the habits of classroom decorum are formal—standing together, sitting together, reciting together, addressing one another by surnames—they create a mood, an ethos, which is far more effective in regulating and elevating behavior than an abstract credo like, “In this class, we believe our classmates deserve respect.”

The high school classroom needs to be a place of ritual, tradition, convention, form, and ceremony, all of which are better means of maintaining decorum than a stern eye, even though there’s nothing wrong with a stern eye. When the habits of classroom decorum are formal—standing together, sitting together, reciting together, addressing one another by surnames—they create a mood, an ethos, which is far more effective in regulating and elevating behavior than an abstract credo like, “In this class, we believe our classmates deserve respect.”

The high school classroom needs to be a place of ritual, tradition, convention, form, and ceremony, all of which are better means of maintaining decorum than a stern eye, even though there’s nothing wrong with a stern eye. When the habits of classroom decorum are formal—standing together, sitting together, reciting together, addressing one another by surnames—they create a mood, an ethos, which is far more effective in regulating and elevating behavior than an abstract credo like, “In this class, we believe our classmates deserve respect.”

The question that generally arises is, "How does a school with a humanities-centered curriculum prepare students for STEM programs at the collegiate level?" Let me assure you that what we do here will prepare our students well.

For years, I primarily attributed the high rate at which Christian kids give up the faith in college to the constant onslaught of attacks on Christianity (and sanity) which have become commonplace on college campuses, both in the classroom and on the quad. While this onslaught cannot be ignored, I’ve lately begun to think apostasy rates have more to do with the age at which young Christians are being made to bear the attacks on their faith. Simply put, the problem is the eighteen-ness of it all.

At this point, listening to Taylor Swift is nothing more than an act of obedience to the zeitgeist. The adolescent girl has aptly read the signs of the times and knows that her kind is expected to listen to this music. She has not selected Taylor Swift. Rather the god of this age has chosen Taylor Swift for you—or you for Taylor Swift.