My introduction to logic

Enjoying lunch in Rome

I’ve been a French teacher for years.  When I turned 50, I was looking for a new school where I would be free to implement my ideas for how best to teach French.  The only position I could find was in a classical Christian school that was looking for a history, government and LOGIC TEACHER!!!!!  Since I had a first bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs and Russian History, they hired me.  (talk about  logical!!!)  I wasn’t worried about the history, but what was logic?  I had to google it to even get an idea of what I would be teaching.

Some people have mid-life crises; I had a mid-life love affair – with logic!  Hence my blog site title, “Surprised by Logic”.  If you know CS Lewis, you’ll immediately recognize the reference.  He was surprised by joy in Christ and wrote a book about his discoveries.

Figuring out logic in order to teach it has been one of the best challenges I’ve undertaken.  Logic as a tool has helped me reason, read, and write better.   I now have a framework for thinking about issues and ideas.

My goal for this blog site is to show how one can apply logic in ordinary life to help frame issues, determine what one believes and make decisions.

My premise is that if I, at age 50, can learn logic, then anyone can.  Representing one end of the age spectrum, I want to also assure you that boys and girls as young as 12 and 13 can also benefit. My classes of informal and formal logic for 7th and 8th graders were some of my liveliest ones.  We tackled parental, political, school, cultural and faith issues as we practiced applying the tools of logic to areas relevant to the lives of these young teens.  After teaching 6 years at Summit Christian Academy – a classical school in Yorktown, VA, I maintain that everyone can gain from knowing a few of the basic tools of language-based logic.