Michael Farris:
The typical American student's ability to communicate in written form has ebbed to an all-time low. Some educational theorists insist that form isn't that important, the student's feelings about their writing are all that matter. My guest and I beg to differ. Lene Jaqua is the co-author of the Classical Writing curriculum. Lene, welcome to the program.
Lene Jaqua:
Thank you very much for inviting me, Mike. I'm glad to be here.
Mike:
Lene, tell me why you believe that teaching our children to write well is so important.
Lene:
Writing is the most important form of communication we have. Writing tends to be what lasts beyond us and beyond our own times. And today more than ever, with the advent of the Internet and the age of information, there's a great competition between ideas of all kinds. And most of those ideas are expressed through words. So part of our calling as Christians to evangelize is that we have to be able to articulate what we believe in order to help reveal to the world the gospel of Jesus Christ. Writing is also the foundation for all learning. There isn't a single academic subject that doesn't require some sort of writing. For example, as much as science is based on experimenting with material substances to get data, in order to preserve our discoveries for the next generations, we have to put them in writing.
Mike:
Lene, there is no way to overemphasize the importance of writing. Next time let's talk about what we can gain from a classical approach to writing. Listeners, please plan to join us. I'm Mike Farris.
