The New Old School

The protagonist of Tobias Wolff’s shrewdly—and at times devastatingly—observed first novel is a boy at an elite prep school in 1960. He is an outsider who has learned to mimic the negligent manner of his more privileged classmates. Like many of them, he wants more than anything on earth to become a writer. But to do that he must first learn to tell the truth about himself. The agency of revelation is the school literary contest, whose winner will be awarded an audience with the most legendary writer of his time. As the fever of competition infects the boy and his classmates, fraying alliances, exposing weaknesses, Old School explores the ensuing deceptions and betrayals with an unblinking eye and a bottomless store of empathy. The result is further evidence that Wolff is an authentic American master.

O is for Old School takes you on an alphabetical journey through the most iconic words and phrases in hip-hop. You'll soon learn that for new parents these words have new meanings: now Peace comes at naptime, a Hood is worn on a head and when they Flow it’s going to get wet. This book is your chance to become the freshest parent in your playgroup; while your lil' one learns their ABCs like a G.

It's 1960, in America, at a prestigious boys' public school, a place of privilege that places great emphasis on its democratic ideals. A teenage boy in his final year, on a scholarship, has learned to fit in with his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself and his background. Class is ever present, but the only acknowledged snobbery is a literary snobbery. These boys' heroes are writers - Fitzgerald, Cummings, Kerouac. They want to be writers themselves, and the school has a tradition whereby once a term big names from the literary world are invited to visit. A contest takes place with the boys admitting a piece of writing and the winner having a private audience with the visitor. When it is announced that Hemingway will be the next to come to the school, competition among the boys is intense, and the morals the school and the boys hold dear - honour, loyalty and friendship - are tested. No one writes more astutely than Wolff about the process by which character is formed, and here he illuminates the irresistible strength, even the violence, of the self-creative urge. This is a novel that, in its power and its beauty, in its precision and its humanity, is at once contemporary and timeless.

Old School is in session.... You have probably heard the term Old School, but what you might not know is that there is a concentrated effort to tear that school down. It’s a values thing. The anti–Old School forces believe the traditional way of looking at life is oppressive. Not inclusive. The Old School way may harbor microaggressions. Therefore, Old School philosophy must be diminished. Those crusading against Old School now have a name: Snowflakes. You may have seen them on cable TV whining about social injustice and income inequality. You may have heard them cheering Bernie Sanders as he suggested the government pay for almost everything. The Snowflake movement is proud and loud, and they don’t like Old School grads. So where are you in all this? Did you get up this morning knowing there are mountains to climb—and deciding how you are going to climb them? Do you show up on time? Do you still bend over to pick up a penny? If so, you’re Old School. Or did you wake up whining about safe spaces and trigger warnings? Do you feel marginalized by your college’s mascot? Do you look for something to get outraged about, every single day, so you can fire off a tweet defending your exquisitely precious sensibilities? Then you’re a Snowflake. So again, are you drifting frozen precipitation? Or do you matriculate at the Old School fountain of wisdom? This book will explain the looming confrontation so even the ladies on The View can understand it. Time to take a stand. Old School or Snowflake. Which will it be?

Is much of Christian education in America distinctly Christian? Ron Hoch and David Smith say, "No." Instead it is guilty of having adopted an ideology and methodology that strips it of the right to call itself Christian and the ability to fulfill a truly Christian mission. The authors claim that the fundamentally humanistic ideology of the West conditions and controls much of what is labeled "Christian" education. By talking about the need to integrate faith and learning, focusing on teaching methodology, and operating schools in virtually the same way as government-run schools, many Christian academics betray captivity to the dogma that humans are the measure of all things and need to do what God has already done. As a result, much of what controls the conversation and practices in Christian academia echoes the humanistic arrogance of the West, and offers no substantive alternative to it. In Old School, New Clothes, Hoch and Smith issue a call for Christian academics to own up to their own confession--that all reality was created and integrated by God, damaged by sin, and has already been reintegrated in and by Jesus. Thus the emphasis in Christian education ought not to be what Christian educators are doing to redeem the culture, but on what God is bringing to the Church in order to redeem sinners. Only by recognizing that all human knowledge claims in every sphere are inherently theological and that God is truly seen in and experienced through knowledge of all things, will a distinctly Christian education be forged. Christian education must primarily emphasize the reintegration or redemption of teachers brought through right knowledge of Jesus that comes through every subject discipline and expressed in a life balanced on Sabbath, work, and family.

Mothers can learn to worry less and fathers can learn to lead more with the book ?New School Parents-Old School Parenting? by Bryan and Carisma Rush. Does parenting seem harder today than it did in the past? For many new-school parents it definitely feels that way. Bryan and Carisma Rush of Rolla, MO have written a funny, practical and short book that relays the timeless, modest wisdom for parents to get their power back. Moms have more to worry about than ever before and their worry pertains to every facet of their child?s upbringing. Fathers seem to have drifted away from being the servant leaders of their children and risk losing their effectiveness in the home. This book uses humor, humility, and helpful tips to teach old school wisdom for today?s parents. New School Parents-Old School Parenting promotes the belief that time-tested, traditional parenting methods are the most effective way to raise children and keep your sanity. It is a rejection of the overwhelmingly frustrating new-aged ideas and a salute to the traditional parenting. The book empowers parents to lead, relax and raise their children to be adults; not perfect children. The book came together over much conversation with parents, grandparents, adult children and respective leaders about being modern day mommies and daddies. It collects the advice from wise, parents, grandparents and empty-nesters and presents it in a modest way to be helpful to new-school mothers and fathers. Included are hilarious stories, admissions, quotes, complaints, discoveries and solutions from current and graduated parents of young children. Readers will enjoy reading this book and relating to the genuine wisdom being relayed.