John Downes-Angus

Not to be a humanities nerd but how do we think, I dono, Frederick Douglass would feel about the belief that nobody can be convinced of the value of the liberal arts

lol

Am also sympathetic to “creativity is good” and I kinda need to know how someone spends over a thousand pages making that case

I had the same reaction! But I admire Christian Wiman, and I also am interested in weirdly totalizing arguments like the one this source book seems to make—even when I disagree with them—so I do think I’ll at least add it to the shelf.

Adding this to my list of counterpoints to “kids these days” arguments. This list also includes St. Augustine leaving Carthage for Rome because he thought the Carthaginian kids were annoying.

And I mean, by the way, teachers. Not people who tried for a few years. I mean people getting their hands dirty now, seeing everything every day in the rooms we work in.

I’ve been working in schools for 12 years. I frankly don’t think that’s a particularly long time, but it’s been long enough to have witnessed so many versions of this. Wild how much of this work is navigating bad ideas to help give kids what we know they need.

I’m excited for AI to be another thing that’ll vindicate the obvious argument that, when it comes to schooling, we should listen to teachers

The Tune of Things, by Christian Wiman Is consciousness God?

This seemed like something you’d like—spent my Sunday AM reading it

harpers.org/archive/2025...

Bunch of thoughts about poems to read through. “Keats argues that only those who FULLY EMBRACE intensity, those willing to experience joy and melancholy completely — can percieve [sic] this understanding that melancholy gives joy depth”

Love my NYC students, but could imagine a scenario in which they board one of these on their groggy morning commutes and don’t even notice what’s going on

Yep that makes sense. I had one kid excitedly show me she’d made it halfway though her journal on Friday. Couple kids have pressed flowers in theirs. It’s fun.

And when I first started I wanted to do weekly, but that was insane. So scaled it back

It’s not perfect—and kids rarely get below an 8. I don’t want it to be punitive, but do want to incentivize good work, and my kids respond to numbers ha.

Biweekly! Sometimes I just circulate the room while they’re journaling and check things. I do collect, too, and take a more deliberate look. I use this rubric (occasionally, I have assignments for them, so that’s why the language about that)

Had a teacher mentor tell me years ago that other students’ work is “like catnip” to their classmates. Generally, some kid is doing something really interesting in your class—show it to their peers and see the ✨magic happen✨

Seconding journals. Here’s journaling, HS edition

Still counts as an essentially ideological battle over what reading is for

Opinion: DCPS middle-schoolers should be reading novels Many parents like myself were shocked by a recent change to the English curriculum at Alice Deal Middle School.

Oh also: when this happens in red states, we call it book banning; when it happens in blue states, we call it “tailoring instruction to help students navigate the complex literacy needs of the 21st century workforce”

51st.news/opinion-dcps...

Opened with “We often reread works of literature that have taught us something about ourselves.”

Found in this pretty fascinating history of the English Regents, a history of the devaluation of literature—one that tracks w the rest of the country.

srlevine.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/file...

English Regents, 1985:

Choose two texts that you would like to reread because they helped you to understand more about yourself. Explain, with specific references to characters or events, how each work increased your understanding of yourself.

Wow excited for this book!

Can feel a little crazy writing essays with “I think my students should read books” as their theses—just published one, am working on another—but it’s affirming to hear similar arguments from others, especially parents and students.

Thank you, Tom! Your work is such a welcome reminder that the best literary experiments come from a place of genuine curiosity—thanks for this chance to think some things through.

Thank you for reading!

“Broadening access to the humanities…—an effort that gives, for example, a room of public school kids the chance to experience the thrill of something entirely new—is needed now in ways that are difficult to overstate. There’s an essential kind of freedom at stake.” 💙😭🤟

Thanks for reading! And yes the book is a blast

My wife is cooler than me and this book sounds amazing 🤩

Proud of @johndownesangus.bsky.social always, but especially for finding the time to write such a thoughtful review of a pretty heady book on top of his day job teaching kids (and night job putting our toddler back to sleep).