Category: Article

At the beginning of every year in physics, I start out with an overview of Aristotle’s ten categories of being: This diagram shows that the most fundamental category is “substance”: It “stands under” the other nine accidents, supporting them. It cannot be directly sensed by any of the five senses. Impossible to directly see, hear, touch, smell or taste a substance (we only see, hear, touch, smell or taste the accidents) The substance is only grasped by the intellect as the intellect abstracts from the information we receive from our…

The Story, As It Happened A few months back, I met an empty seltzer box in the kitchen. It was intriguingly green and not to be recklessly discarded. I just didn’t know what it was yet. So here’s what happened, one thing at a time:  My daughters thought it was pretty, and therefore to be cut up with scissors. I watched little bright shapes happen. Green was what? Grass, lawn, meadow. We glued green pieces to the rest of the box to make little lawns or rolling hills. Such a…

Introduction Science has done some remarkable things. From Thales’ prediction of a solar eclipse in 585 BC to the detection of gravitational waves in September 2015, from enabling heart transplants to enabling of the atomic bomb, science has made many impressive, useful, and powerful contributions that sometimes change history. Science also influences our day-to-day life in ways we rarely notice. Every time you turn on the lights, run the dishwasher, use your phone, or drive your car down the highway, it is an incarnation of multiple scientific theories. But what…

Many years ago I read two articles on what parents want from schools as it relates to their children. Both studies surveyed parents, and the topic was this: Do you want your child coming home from school happy every day or do you want your child to be challenged, even if the result is that he may come home feeling uncomfortable? This was fifteen years ago, and a majority of parents wanted their children to come home happy. Recently, I reviewed a more general survey of parents, and 72% of…

In 1984, film director Philip Gröning wrote the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse asking to make a documentary about their life at the monastery. Sixteen years – yes, years – later, they responded, and the result was the beautiful film Into the Great Silence. Most of us, if offered a movie deal, would consider ourselves restrained if we waited sixteen seconds before responding.  In sports, the phrase “speed kills” is popular. It means that the player or team that is quickest, fastest to act or react, is the winner….

Teaching students the nature of science My former student Finn, when asked the cause of some chemical property or reaction, would often answer by saying, “SCIENCE!” This was pronounced in stentorian tones with expansive gestures, which, together with his jumbo-sized hairdo, created an impression.  It was tongue-in-cheek, of course; he did not literally believe that Science was some sort of mysterious and powerful agent causing physical phenomena–it was just a humorous way of admitting he didn’t know an answer. We sometimes do encounter, though, people who speak of Science as…

I taught middle school for thirteen years before moving full-time to the upper school here. In that time, I noticed that interest would ebb among students and reach what I thought was an all-time low in eighth grade. This was in part caused by a new-found awareness of freedom: the boys had the choice about what homework they would do, what readings they would do, what notes they would take. The motivation had to become their own, and many would choose to take a pass.  In the high school, I…

 All worthwhile courses try at some level to explain why things are the way they are. What’s distinctive about history is that the answer takes the form of a story: Once things were a certain way, and then certain things happened, and then in response certain people made certain choices, until eventually people were living differently than before. Even historical determinists, who are inclined to think of historical acts and events as caused rather than chosen, are obliged to support their theories by showing how their alleged causes match up…

…all roads point at last to an ultimate inn, where we shall meet Dickens and all his characters; and when we drink again it shall be from the great flagons in the tavern at the end of the world. —G.K. Chesterton Don’t Forget the Laughter This essay is on laughter, an often-crucial note in application essays self-forgetfully awake to the magical joy of falling on your face, and living to laugh about it. Laughing at yourself shows maturity, an ability to see a situation from another’s perspective, one that isn’t…

The first several days… Mr. B starts the course in a way similar to his friend Mr. P, the eighth grade Physical Science teacher (first reading at least the introductory part of the article A Sound Beginning: Mr. P and Physical Science is recommended). He greets the students as they meander into his Biology class. Administrative details take up about half the first class and then the real teaching begins. The logical starting place is for Mr. B to explain what Biology is and why it is worthwhile to study…