Month: January 2026

The following notes are from Mr. Higgins’ talk at the 2026 Information Night.

I’ve been around school enough of my life to know the joke about what assuming means for you and me, but still, I’m ready to risk it. I assume that every parent wants more for their kid than to grow up to be a rock star at scrolling TikTok. I haven’t seen bumper stickers for that yet: “My kid won Most Cat Videos Watched last month at We Are the World Elementary.” Our household has really benefited from some recipe reels and hair-care tutorials, and I always enjoy a good sports’ fails compilation, but this isn’t the goal, right?

I will also assume that when you imagine your son as an adult, you want him to be able to do more than prompt an AI chatbot to summarize the meaning of life, let alone make himself an AI girlfriend-bot for $20/month. You want your graduated daughter to be able to think more deeply than drafting a three bullet point list to decide whether Netflix or Disney+ is the better streaming service. I guess that means at least she’s trying to follow a budget?

I assume you want them to know how to read, and know how to pick out something that is good to read, and then even want to want to read, not just for their job, or to troubleshoot a broken appliance, but because they enjoy it. I assume you want them to know how to put down their phone at the right time, how to spot when a Taylor Swift song is trying to manipulate their feelings to make selfishness a virtue (and aren’t they all?), and how to avoid the feelings of anxiety and panic over every hourly headline of the imminent apocalypse.

I’ll admit that I really like a Claude commercial from a few months ago. It starts by cycling through scenes of disaster under a dystopian filter while the voiceover keeps repeating, “There’s never been a worse time.” But then the music changes and a new voice says,

“There’s never been a better time…to have a problem, to be stuck, to be overwhelmed, to be impatient, to be out of ideas, or out of your depth….”

The commercial ends with Claude’s tag line: “Keep thinking.” That sounds good. But do we know how to think? Does anyone even think thinking is good?

Here’s the thing, we could call it a meta-problem, as in a systemic or societal problem, and it relates specifically to schooling: who is defining what is the problem, and then, who is willing to care and work to try to solve the problems? Are we going to have to think about it? Is this going to be on the test?

Part of the problem is that it’s easy to misdiagnose the problem. Part of the problem is that we’ve got enough food and strong enough cell signal that we’ll let others deal with the problems, especially the hard ones. Part of the problem is that so many schools are the problem, teaching students that their bodies are the problem, that their country is the problem, that God is the problem.

The future–and for that matter, the present–still belongs to people who know the truth, who can think and write clearly, and who identify what should be done, how to do it, and why. For that matter, heaven and earth belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are His. He is the truth, the way, and the life, and He calls His disciples to care about all that He cares about. Blessed is the man, and the student, who delights in all things because he’s meditating on the law of the Lord.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
(Psalm 1:3 ESV)

At ECS we are trying to equip image bearers to be stout and fruitful. We want them to get a taste for how good it is to work—including working with their minds—to work hard, to do hard things, to solve hard problems. Stated another way, our mission is to help them become such impressive learners that they can carry and advance Christ-honoring culture. This requires developing the skill of laughing, the strength of endurance, and the sacrifices to work at all this with one another.

We follow a teaching model that isn’t delight driven, but it is intended to direct their delights where they should go.

We teach our youngest students that God separated the light from the dark, land from sea, right from wrong, right from left, nouns from verbs, boys from girls. Flowers and bugs and books of the Bible can be distinguished, named, and it doesn’t have to be a chore.

As students mature we teach them that the world, having rejected God, is messy, logic is hard to find, and it takes effort to understand how things fit together and effort to build something great. Cause and effect, and second level consequences, aren’t impossible to think about, but you do have to think.

And as our students get nearer to graduation we teach them that they can create, not just consume. They can speak, not just scroll. They can know the truth and adorn it, make it look good. They can learn to show up, and stand out.

Classical education refers to these emphases as Grammar (distinguishing Truth from Error let alone Lies), Logic (distinguishing Goodness from Evil and Apathy), and Rhetoric (distinguishing Beauty from the Ugly and Envy). The Trivium also seems to fit with certain stages of a student’s development, from Elementary to Junior High toward High School. But they are also gifts from God that help us solve problems.

There are problems: legal problems, political problems, potty-training problems, what’s for dinner problems, what-do-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up problems, novel-writing-character-development problems, classroom problems, financial problems, health and medical problems, language problems, traffic-circle problems.

There is no better time to honor Christ in our thinking. There is no better time to honor Christ by taking agency to think clearly about what’s wrong, resist the inertia of the lukewarm, and work to advance Christ-honoring culture. There’s no better place than ECS to think about it together.

Yes we live in unfavorable circumstances. We’re not yet living in the apocalypse, but we are living in some crazy days that seems to have borrowed major ingredients of every dystopian story ever written. And yeah, the prince of darkness is pretty ticked off at how many blessings God has given to His children. The serpent has been hostile to God’s people from the Garden. But we know the one who crushes the serpent’s head. He’s given us His Spirit, complete copies of His inspired Scriptures, a lot of great books, and fast WiFi.

May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
(Psalm 144:12 ESV)

I’ll end as I began: I assume you’re here tonight because this is what you want for your kids. ECS cannot replace you as parents, we’re not trying to, but we can be a tool you choose to help you. Come think and pull with us in Jesus’ name.

A Faculty Fireside – by Mrs. Bazen Higgins

Here we are, deep in the vast school year with spring break miles away. If your work ethic or attitude isn’t seaworthy by now, you’re going to start taking in water pretty soon. So, here’s a patch kit and repair instructions as you shape things up in the middle of the year.
 

Mr. Higgins, on September 7, 2023, the sunny first day of school, gave us a convocation talk entitled “The Year of the Raggant.” At the end of this talk, he introduced the phrase “high discipline, low drama.” That was almost 3 years ago, and to this day, this phrase is a crucial reminder. High discipline, low drama is something every Christian needs to continually think about in order to be effective in his or her efforts.

High discipline:

Scripture clearly compels and commands us to live a life of self-control and discipline. (Proverbs 25:28): “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” And Paul, when talking about preaching the Gospel, says, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”(1 Corinthians 9:27) These passages are talking about being highly disciplined individuals who are not taken over by intruders or are shown as hypocrites in their faith. High discipline is self-bossing! This is trudging along and completing your reading when you don’t want to. This is repenting of your sin right away. This is getting the grades in and getting out of your warm bed on time. This is eating the sandwich your mom gave you, even if it has tomatoes on it, and making sure to wash your hands when Mrs. Hall asks you to.

Low drama:

When we are dramatic, we are taking ourselves or the situation out of proportion to what is fitting. The book of Ecclesiastes is about the vanity of life and the triviality of our work. We are not the center of the universe, and someone has gone through what you are going through right now. God does whatever He pleases, and He does not need us to finish His work (but by his grace He does use us!) The mood of Ecclesiastes is pretty somber, but it picks up by reminding us how God blesses us and how we are to enjoy the good gifts He’s given. Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 says:

“’Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” 

When you are a child of Christ, you know things are not a big deal because, One: God’s in control. Two: You are going to heaven. Three: you can’t do anything to ruin God’s plans. And number four: He has revealed to you all that He wants you to do, and because of His son’s work, He is already pleased with you! So, yes, there are things in life that are a BIG DEAL, but in Christ, you have no worries and nothing but Christ to boast about.

There are very few people who have both of these virtues, high discipline and low drama, because they are balancing virtues. So you are probably bad at one or the other. When you notice where you are lacking, thank God for the clarity and a dose of humility, and get after it! Don’t freak out, but also, get your stuff done! Take your work more seriously and yourself less seriously. High-Discipline-Low-Drama it up people! God is good, so get after it and go glorify Him!

—Mrs. Bazen Higgins

Recently I was speaking with a female staff member about another Christian school that – though a good school – has experienced more crises than ECS. She immediately quipped back to me, “That’s because of our men.” 

“What do you mean?” I asked. 

“Well, drama just doesn’t gain traction with our men.” She then proceeded to rehearse a couple of recent examples where women were spiraling up drama until it hit one of our men and totally died.  And none of this was crisis-level drama, just run-of-the-mill drama that didn’t get to swell into anything spectacular.

I’m not saying women are the problem any more or less than men.  But when over-masculinization or over-feminization take hold in institutions or cultures, bad things follow. 

In a recent article for Compact Magazine, Helen Andrews argues that the increasing wokeness in our culture is largely owing to the majority feminization of fields like academia, media, law, and medicine.  Some of the stats are rather surprising, and the whole article is worth a read.  Though Andrews does not appear to be a Christian, she’s definitely conservative, and her observations are both compelling and incisive.  

Now, you may be looking ahead at the length of this article and going, “Oh no. Where’s he going with this…?”  Fair question.  The fact that Andrews’ is doing a polka on thin ice says more about the ice than the dancer. Why is this such a hot topic?  Because she’s onto something. 

I sincerely appreciate the women that we have working with us at ECS.  Their presence is both welcome and helpful.  Women with backbone help to promote the right sort of manliness even among the men while also fulfilling a vital role in any culture, including a school.  That’s good!  

But I also appreciate our men.  When a little boy scrapes his knee at recess, it’s often a big girl who ushers him to the office where a woman (probably) will help patch him up.  When that same little boy throws a pine cone at that same big girl at the following recess, it’s usually a man who privately counsels him on how to honor women.  Both are important! If the men did all of this work it would not be as good as when the ladies share the load.  Sometimes a boy needs some Neosporin and a band-aid, but sometimes he just needs to rub some dirt on it and get back to the game.  

What Andrews is talking about is not the physical presence of men or women in the institutions as much as the over-feminization of these institutions (of which the female majority population is a symptom). When institutions are marked by feminine virtues, they are often institutionally frustrated. If institutions are a plant, women are water for the plant and men are the soil.  While the illustration only goes so far, what happens when you have no soil? Nutrient-poor soil? No water? Too much water? Right. It doesn’t work. 

I agree with Andrews that over-feminization in our culture is a big problem. In fact, it’s actually worse that Andrews suggests, because she makes no mention at all of the feminization of the Church which is perhaps a more harrowing example than all her examples put together.  Still, acknowledging these issues does not require that I hate women (like Mrs. Andrews. Ha.). 

But what about ECS?  Glad you asked. 

We are trying to provide a context for the flourishing of our students.  If they can flourish in our walls, receiving an excellent academic education from an unapologetically Christian worldview punctuated with rich music, deep fellowship, playful laughter, and appropriately rough handling, they will do well when they leave.  Those who have developed an appetite for meat are not easily satisfied with milk.  Likewise, we are wanting for our students to flourish and then to pass that cultural baton to their own children.   

Keeping the peace is a “peace” of cake compared to fellowship.  All you have to do is establish who is afflicted and submit to her.  Easy! There’s no need for repentance or figuring out who is actually right or wrong.  This is a terrible and dysfunctional inheritance to hand our children.  

Consider another example you could see in a school like ours.  In a freshman Omnibus class, Janet declares that she’s offended by something thought-provoking suggested by Susie, demanding that Susie apologize.  Susie has a choice: She can A) apologize, keep the peace, and tread lightly from now on, or she can B) respond that it was but a suggestion to provoke thought, which it evidently did.

And by the way, the rest of the class is paying rapt attention to this, taking notes for future reference.

But fortunately, the teacher in our scenario is not easily manipulated and puts the ball back in Janet’s court.  His shepherd’s crook is ready for Janet:

• Janet, what do you find offensive about Susie’s comment? 
• Should Susie’s aim be to not offend you, or to pursue the truth? 
• If Jesus was offensive, should our aim be to avoid giving offense, or to avoid giving needless offense? 
• Is Susie’s comment causing you or anyone else injury?  
• How would you refute her comment using reason and Scripture?

If feminization held sway in this class, Susie would need to apologize for causing offense before any forward movement occurred.  Rather, in this class, the masculine engagement in civil debate evidences that the pursuit of truth is the aim, and everyone is better for it. 

Let me reiterate: institutions, fields, and communities need both masculine and feminine contributions by men and women. I could easily write an article about the abuses of over-masculinization, and the problems to follow would be dire…but that is definitely not our problem, no matter what the feminists say.  Our problem is not too much initiative, nor too much sacrifice, nor too much rigorous debate in the interest of the truth and a way forward. No, our problem is the omission of these ingredients, as they’ve been replaced with emotionally-driven decision making and women who step into the void left by lazy men.  These women are bearing a load different from what they’ve been designed to carry, and it’s as sensible as a man carrying a baby under his T-shirt.  

As image-bearers (and especially as Christians), we get to glory in the uniqueness of manliness and womanliness as a display of God’s glory in creation.  When one is neglected and the other is over-emphasized, things get out of whack.

What we see in today’s woke culture is a great example.  Andrews says this: “Everything you think of as ‘wokeness’ is simply an epiphenomenon of demographic feminization.”  She later remarks, “Everything you think of as wokeness involves prioritizing the feminine over the masculine: empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition.”  

Andrews is right: We must get our priorities straight or we too will suffer the consequences.  It may not be the case that the masculine nerve our ECS is entirely owing to the presence of men on our teaching staff, but it sure helps! Having our men standing at the gates during recess or at the doors during lockdown drills brings a sort of sacrificial stability that is a good example for our younger men as well as a context in which all the students can be secure.  

Even if we need to keep getting better, may ECS feature both godly masculinity and femininity.

Risus est bellum.
Jonathan