Joshua Gibbs

American Christians are quick to believe a proverb about how it’s okay to do a lousy job. I have in mind sayings like: “90% of success in life is just showing up,” and, “Not perfect, just forgiven,” and, “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” The “scruffy hospitality” fad of a decade ago—wherein numerous Christian think pieces […]

Teacher: Can we talk about Oliver?  Principal: What has he done this time?  Teacher: Today, just a lot of the same small stuff.   Principal: Then what’s the problem?  Teacher: I know that re-enrollment contracts are going out in a couple weeks and I wanted to know if you’re planning on inviting Oliver to come

I will begin by directly addressing the administrators who are reading this article: Hello. Because I don’t know you, I’m really in no position to judge how well you do your job, but I am in a position to speak bluntly with you about the standards by which your teachers judge you. Someone needs to

You may have noticed that conservatives tend to not take college majors like Feminist Studies and Queer Studies all that seriously. In fact, conservatives are generally dismissive of all the “Identity Studies” majors that have emerged in the last thirty years. Ask why and you’ll hear, “They’re fake.” They exist because of massive grants that

The growing popularity of classical education has lately prompted some soul-searching within the movement, which means more and more classical educators are rethinking what exactly is drawing so many people in. Is it the uniforms? The test scores? The lack of tampon machines in the boys’ bathroom?  The popularity of classical education cannot be explained

Ask most teachers and they’ll tell you that Teacher Appreciation Week isn’t what it used to be. Many teachers who have been in the classical Christian education industry (it’s no longer a movement) for more than seven or eight years know this is the case. Back in the day, Teacher Appreciation Week was a more

The end of the school year is the right time for a speech. It’s the time for teachers to make speeches to their students and for administrators to make speeches to teachers. You don’t need to take each student or teacher aside individually because the end of the school year calls for the sort of

I’d like to do something a little odd. I’d like to explain why I always have my shirt untucked at school. I’m about to graduate, I don’t have much to lose in speaking plainly with you people, so I’m going to do it. No doubt, you people have wondered why it’s necessary to tell me

At the crucial moment in Shakespeare’s Henry V, the titular king does something that very few “servant leaders” are capable of doing: he delivers a rousing speech. On the morning when the English are to fight the French at Agincourt, Henry overhears his cousin Westmoreland complaining about how few men they have. The English are

It is a more common fear among Christian high school students than you might think. In the last ten years, I have regularly encountered Christian teenagers who worry that heaven will either be boring or that it won’t be nearly as interesting as life on earth. This was also a worry of mine when I

Student: Can we talk about my grade in this class? Gibbs: Sure. Student: I don’t think my grade reflects my understanding of the material we’ve covered this semester. I understand the material quite well, but that’s not reflected in my grade. Gibbs: How do you know you understand the material well? Student: You can see