These articles are absolutely delightful and I look forward to reading them. The fact that you discerned how dysfunctional the West has become and were able to make a new life in Ukraine is to your credit.
Regarding the war I also follow Gonzalo Lira a bit and I can’t really process who’s right and who’s not. Maybe you’re both right.
Excellent education for Eddie! My late Aunt taught middle school English, French and Latin. In her classroom she had a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition that was quite well used. Her teaching years were 1944-1975. She fully expected her students to look up things in those books and they were regular edition, not children's editions. She encouraged me to read and to read all sorts of books. She made sure I was familiar with the public library as I'm sure she encouraged her students. We do children harm by not challenging them. They need to read and read topics well beyond the children's books. We now don't really need the encyclopedia, but they do need dictionaries to supplement on-line lookup. In this case Google correcting spelling is not a friend, IMHO.
What does seem true is the lack of expectation for children. Their curiosity needs stimulation and challenge. To think the US founding fathers were well read in various philosophical topics at a fairly young age. Pick an average 25 year old, even one in college and ask if they had read Plato. I could name more but the ancients understood a lot about we humans and our foibles.
Not that Eddie is quite ready for the deeper stuff but one thing builds on another.
These articles are absolutely delightful and I look forward to reading them. The fact that you discerned how dysfunctional the West has become and were able to make a new life in Ukraine is to your credit.
Regarding the war I also follow Gonzalo Lira a bit and I can’t really process who’s right and who’s not. Maybe you’re both right.
May your family remain safe and happy.
Excellent education for Eddie! My late Aunt taught middle school English, French and Latin. In her classroom she had a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition that was quite well used. Her teaching years were 1944-1975. She fully expected her students to look up things in those books and they were regular edition, not children's editions. She encouraged me to read and to read all sorts of books. She made sure I was familiar with the public library as I'm sure she encouraged her students. We do children harm by not challenging them. They need to read and read topics well beyond the children's books. We now don't really need the encyclopedia, but they do need dictionaries to supplement on-line lookup. In this case Google correcting spelling is not a friend, IMHO.
What does seem true is the lack of expectation for children. Their curiosity needs stimulation and challenge. To think the US founding fathers were well read in various philosophical topics at a fairly young age. Pick an average 25 year old, even one in college and ask if they had read Plato. I could name more but the ancients understood a lot about we humans and our foibles.
Not that Eddie is quite ready for the deeper stuff but one thing builds on another.