Yearly Archives: 2008

Homeschooling, Tennessee politics

TN House Education Committee passes bill to require state agencies to accept Church-Related School’s high school diplomas as valid

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Longest blog post title ever…

The bill was HB 1652, and you can read the history of how we got here in an earlier post.

The terminology of legislative committees is QUITE confusing… apologies to all. Enacting legislation is messy… today was a little messier than most.

When the problem with the police officer and daycare worker surfaced, the deadline for introducing legislation had already passed, so Rep. Bell made a quick search for already introduced bills which dealt with the appropriate section of state law (sometimes abbreviated as TCA , stands for Tennessee Code Annotated). Rep. Ferguson had originally introduced a bill dealing with the section of state law governing Church-related schools (the so-called “caption” of the bill must state which section of state law will be amended). Rep. Bell and Rep. Ferguson agreed to use his bill to try to amend state law so that diplomas from church-related schools would be accepted by state agencies, regardless of whether the church-related school was accredited. To do that, they needed to take Rep. Ferguson’s original bill and “re-write” it by amending it and stripping out all of the original language and substituting the new draft that they wanted.

So, Rep. Bell and Rep. Ferguson were the co-sponsors of a bill before the House Education Committee today, and their first task was to seek to have the committee approve their amendment which re-wrote the bill to do what they wanted.

In the meantime, the department of Ed’s representative (Dr. Opie?)) had informally circulated an amendment to Rep. Bell’s bill. That amendment would have required CRS’s to only hire instructors with baccalaureate degrees. That amendment was never introduced, although Dr. Obee make some joking references to it having been circulated widely around the state. His logic was that if the state was going to have to accept a CRS Cat IV diploma, then the state should have some oversight over what was taught and who taught it. Topic for more discussion later.

So… Rep. Bell and Rep. Ferguson present their bill to the committee. Their first order of business is to request that the bill be amended with their agreed-on new language (which had been reviewed and recommended by a sub-committee). At that point, the Memphis delegation began their hour-long filibuster and proposal of an “amendment to the amendment” of the bill which would amend existing state law. Everybody still with me?

The Memphis amendment would have directed the State Department of Education to recognize those public school students who completed all their course work but failed the Gateway tests as having valid high school diplomas as well as recognizing category IV diplomas as valid if issued before July 1, 2008. Next year, of course, we’d be back in the same dilemma and fighting with the legislature all over again. The Memphis delegation tactic was to hijack this bill for their own purposes. Gateway tests have already been re-defined to count as only 25% of course grades, rather than being must-pass, but they are valiantly attempting to get high school diplomas for kids who have been unable to pass the Gateway tests in years past.

On the vote on the Memphis amendment, the Chairman (Rep. Les Winningham) originally called for a voice vote and then announced that the Memphis amendment had passed. Rep. Bell asked for a roll call vote. He can’t get one automatically, unless a Rep. on the committee asks for one. When one of the committee members asked for the roll call, the chairman directed the clerk to call the roll. Much to the embarrassment of the chairman, the roll call showed that the amendment had failed by a vote of 7-10.

So the Memphis amendment was defeated… now they were back to Rep. Bell and Rep. Fergusons’s original request to re-write the bill with their agreed-on language. That vote was also done by roll call and it passed, 9-7 with one voting present. It was immediately followed by a vote on the amended bill itself, reporting it out of committee (called “sending it to calendar and rules,” which is the committee which actually schedules bills for the full house of representatives). That vote, also by roll call was identical, 9-7 with one voting present.

Result: Representative Bell’s and Representative Ferguson’s bill came out of the Education Committee exactly the way they wanted it, written the way they wanted, without any amendment that they don’t want.

The Department of Ed amendment which would have required a baccalaureate degree for every instructor in grades 9-12 was never introduced or voted on. The Memphis amendment which would have dealt with prior year Gateway exam stopped public school students AND only recognized CRS diploma’s through July of 2008 was also defeated.

This is an important (and surprising) result. The bill which was reported out would require all state agencies to accept CRS diplomas as valid high school diplomas. Period. Regardless of whether the CRS was category II, III, or IV. This was the situation until just this year. In effect, it reverses the new policy of the department this year which began treating non-accredited CRS diplomas as invalid. It would require DHS to accept Cat IV diplomas as valid for work in a day care center, and it would require the Police accreditation commission to accept CRS diplomas as valid for those seeking to be police officers.

Next step: the bill must pass the full house of representatives AND a companion bill must pass the state senate AND then be signed by the Governor. None of these three steps is automatic or easy… though they may be easier than the mountain that had to be climbed today.

UNLESS this bill is passed, the state dept of ed will apparently continue to treat Cat IV diplomas as “worthless.” We need this bill to pass. Ironically, its not so important for homeschooled students who go on to college. Colleges and universities both in TN and nationwide have had NO problems with Cat IV diplomas. They have the ACT/SAT and other criteria to go with them. It’s the jobs that do not require a college degree but DO require a high school diploma where the problems have arisen. You don’t have to have a college degree to be a police officer – but you do have to have a high school diploma. You don’t have to have a college degree to work in a day care center – but you do have to have a high school diploma. It is in precisely those two situations where the problem has arisen. Please stay in touch with your homeschool community over the next two weeks. There is much work still to do in order to get this bill passed.

Footnote: Though the Dept spokesman today did say that they were going to internally review individual cases and would attempt to handle exceptions( like the police officer who had completed the police training academy but was then told he could no longer serve as an officer because his Cat IV high school diploma was not acceptable), I do not find that reassuring. The old homeschool law required a college degree to be able to homeschool your high school student unless you had a waiver from the Commissioner of Education. In 10+ years, despite a number of well-documented and reasonable requests, no Commissioner ever granted a waiver.

– Rob Shearer
Publisher, Greenleaf Press
Director, Schaeffer Study Center

book reviews, children's books, World War Two

Escaping the Nazi’s on bicycle

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No, it’s not a story of a brave young dutch boy… it’s the story of Hans Augusto Reyersbach, a German Jew. He was born in Hamburg in 1898. He loved visiting the zoo with his brother and two sisters. And he loved to draw pictures and paint. And he was good at it. He turned 18 in 1916 and so he joined the German army and fought in Russia. After the war, times were tough in Hamburg. Hans packed up his sketchbooks and paintbrushes and moved to Rio de Janeiro where he managed to make a comfortable living as a commercial artist. While there, he married another German emigre from Hamburg, Margarete.

In 1936, Hans and Margret returned to Europe, and settled in Paris. Margret was a commercial photographer, and her skills complemented Hans’. But their commercial work together wasn’t completely satisfying. They wanted to tell stories. And so, they began writing and drawing illustrations for a children’s book. By 1939, They had several finished stories and several publishers showed interest. In September of that year, World War Two began when the Germans invaded Poland. France and England declared war on Germany, but other than the fighting in Poland, not much happened.

curious george mapIn the spring of 1940, Hans and Margret made a trip to the beaches of Normandy and continued to work on their children’s books. In May, suddenly, things changed. The German army invaded Belgium and the Netherlands and headed for France. Hans and Margret hurried back to Paris and quickly decided they must leave France. They would head first for Brazil (via Portugal), and then perhaps on to the United States. But Paris was in an uproar. By the time Hans had secured the necessary visas, the trains were no longer running from Paris. Hans and Margret didn’t have a car, and besides, the roads were clogged as more than two million Parisians attempted to flee the advancing German armies. Hans managed to find two bicycles, and he and Margret started south. Three days later, they reached Orleans and managed to get on a train headed south. That same day, German troops entered Paris and raised the Nazi flag from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Hans and Margret managed to cross the border into Spain on a train headed for Portugal. Because the military dictator of Spain, Franco had been friendly with Germany, they were uneasy until they crossed the border into Portugal three days later. After two weeks frantic travel, they finally made it to Lisbon, Portugal. A month later, they were on a ship for Rio de Janeiro. Two more months of waiting and they managed to get passage on a ship to the United States. October 14, 1940 – four months after they left Paris – they sailed past the Statue of Liberty into New York harbor.

All along the way, Hans had taken great care to make sure that the children’s books they had been working on were kept safe. A year after arriving in New York, Houghton Mifflin published their book. Hans and Margret had titled it The Adventures of Fi-Fi. It was about a monkey and an explorer in a yellow hat who brings him from the jungle to the city. Of course the book needed a new title. Just as Hans and Margret Reyersbach had needed a new name. Reyersbach took too much space on a painting and was too hard for their clients in Rio to remember. And so Hans Reyersbach had taken to signing his artwork as “H.A. Rey.” And their book – well, the editors at Houghton Mifflin had a better name for it, too – Curious George.

And (shamelessly ripping off Paul Harvey), now you know the rest of the story!

Escape of Curious GeorgeThe details of the Rey’s amazing escape across wartime France is told in a delightful book published in December, 2005 by Houghton Mifflin, titled: The Journey That Saved Curious George – The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey. Here’s how the publisher describes it:

The Journey That Saved Curious George introduces elementary and middle school students to a major event of the twentieth century: World War II. Students will learn about the time period from the many primary sources throughout the book, including photographs, passports, and diary pages.

Louise Borden’s text captures the tension in Paris in 1940 and the urgency to escape, the uprooting of lives, and the difficulty of leaving a place you love. At the same time, this story is about the creative process — the inspiration, joy, and constant work that went into creating the curious, lovable monkey.

Houghton-Mifflin also has an online lesson plan to help teachers use the book.

The book is a 72 pages hardback in full color. The price is $17.00 and it can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press.

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

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TN Department of Education declares church-related schools’ diplomas to be “worthless”

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Kay Brooks has a great post summarizing the story so far: Good enough for UT, Vandy, Harvard...

The Tennessee Department of Education seems intent on picking a fight with church-related schools in general and homeschoolers in particular. They’ve been “educating” other state agencies for some time now about the fact that so-called “Category IV Schools” in Tennessee are unaccredited and that their diplomas are “worthless.” This has led to the demotion of a police officer who had completed the police academy with a 4.0 average and the forced firing of a daycare worker (from a daycare run by her grandmother!), lest the daycare lose its state license for hiring a child-care worker without a “valid” high school diploma.

One of the good guys, Rep. Mike Bell, is attempting to reassert legislative control over education policy decisions. He’s co-sponsoring a bill, HB1652, that would require the state to recognize Category IV high school diplomas as valid. Alas, he’s meeting resistance from the Department of Education. They’ve countered with an amendment to the bill that would prohibit private, church-related schools from hiring ANY instructor for grades 9-12 who did not have a baccaluareate degree recognized by the State Board of Education.

Below is the message I just sent to the members of the House Education Committee.

Rep. Bell’s bill is scheduled to be heard by the full Education Committee today at 3:15pm central time.

– Rob Shearer

************************************************************

‘rep.leslie.winningham@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.tommie.brown@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.joe.towns@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.barbara.cooper@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.john.hood@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.ulysses.jones@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.mark.maddox@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.michael.mcdonald@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.larry.turner@legislature.state.tn.us’; ‘rep.john.windle@legislature.state.tn.us’

To: the honorable members of the House Education Committee

cc: Claiborne Thornton, President of THEA, Doug Fraley, President of MTHEA, and other interested parties:

As the Vice President of the Tennessee Association of Church Related Schools (TACRS), I have a few thoughts on the current controversy around Category IV non-accredited privates schools, their diplomas, and the amendment proposed by the Department of Education to HB1652.

This crisis is the result of the Tennessee Department of Education’s decision to arbitrarily treat category IV high school diplomas as “not worth the paper they are printed on.” The decision by the Department to declare thousands of high school diplomas issued over the past sixteen years as invalid for employment or certification is without precedent, without legal foundation, and without any evidence of any problem associated with those diplomas. When a police department and a day care center are told they must discharge good employees, with excellent records and qualifications, because the Department of Education does not deem their diplomas to be valid, we have a real problem.

This outrageous decision by the Department of Education MUST be (and can only be) overturned by the legislature. The legislature has a duty to correct foolish, capricious, and wicked policy decisions. Make no mistake, the Department has engaged in a raw bureaucratic power grab. There was no act by the legislature adopting this policy. The legislature must act to rein in the Department and reassert its role as the proper policy maker.

For all these reasons, the amended version of HB1652 proposed by Rep. Mike Bell deserves swift passage by the legislature. If the legislature does not act, then a gross injustice will continue to be done to thousands of Tennesseans. The legislature must act to reassert the principle that the department does not make education policy, the legislature does.

As to the draft amendment which has been circulated by the Department of Education, which seeks to impose departmental oversight over teacher hiring by Category IV schools – it too is a raw bureaucratic power grab. There is no crisis. But the Department is suddenly and unilaterally seeking to assert oversight over who can be hired by church-related schools.

The Department, in its proposed amendment, asserts that ALL instructors for grades 9-12 should have a baccalaureate degree from a college recognized by the State Board of Education. Leaving aside the bureaucratic nightmare of the State Board of Education reviewing college diplomas from schools around the country, this assertion is also bad public policy.

Why should ALL teachers instructing grades 9-12 have to possess a college diploma?

Does the Department have statistical, anecdotal, or research evidence to support this policy change?

What evidence does the Department have of any problems which have arisen as a result of instruction in grades 9-12 by private school teachers without a college degree?

A) Is there a problem? If so, can it be defined?

B) Is their proposed solution the right one? Will it fix the problem? How do they know?

If questions A and B above cannot be answered in some detail, then the Department’s amendment is suspect for being arbitrary and capricious.

I can think of dozens of examples of excellent high school instruction which has been and is being given to high school students by teachers who do not have a college degree.

What about a shop class by a skilled artisan/mechanic who does not have a college degree?

What about an art class given by a gifted and accomplished artist who does not have a college degree?

What about a creative writing class being taught by a published author who does not have a college degree?

What about a home economics class being taught by a master chef who does not have a college degree?

What about a computer programming class being taught by a highly skilled and highly paid programmer who does not have a college degree?

What about a course in personal finance being taught by a successful local business owner / entrepreneur who does not have a college degree?

What about a course in military history being taught by a military veteran (also a published military historian) who does not have a college degree?

What about a course in a foreign language being taught by a bilingual instructor, whose native tongue is the language being taught, but who does not have a college degree?

I could go on, but I think you get my drift…

Parents who choose a category IV school for their children’s education know what they are choosing. The legislature has rightly separated private church-related schools from the oversight of the state Department of Education. The Department is prohibited by state law from regulating church-related schools with respect to “the selection of faculty or textbooks or the establishment of a curriculum.” I see no reason to breach that separation, especially on this issue.

If passed, the Department’s amendment would entail a requirement for reporting to and inspection by the Department of all church-related schools. The Department of Education will necessarily want to see detailed records of all classes and all instructors at all private schools in Tennessee to insure that no one without an approved baccalaureate degree has done any instruction. It does not take much imagination to think of the many points of contention and conflict which will result.

On behalf of TACRS, let me state unequivocally that we are strongly opposed to the amendment proposed by the Department of Education.

And, on behalf of TACRS, let me state unequivocally that we strongly urge the legislature to reverse the Department’s arrogant stance that Category IV high school diplomas are “not worth the paper they are written on.” I urge you to pass Rep. Bell’s amended version of HB 1652.

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you choose. I ask only that the email be sent in its entirety and unedited.

I am willing to meet with any member of the Department of Education or the Legislature and/or testify before the House Education Committee, if you think it would be helpful.

– Rob Shearer

Vice President, Tennessee Association of Church Related Schools

Director, Schaeffer Study Center
www.schaefferstudycenter.org
1000 Woodridge Place
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

“There is only one good reason to be a Christian – because it’s true.” – Francis Schaeffer

book reviews, children's books

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

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I spent last night re-reading the 1933 Newbery Medal Winner, Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. I don’t think I can improve on the judgment of Katherine Paterson: “Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze won the Newbery Medal in 1933, not only because it was historically and culturally accurate, but because it was and is a really good read.”

The story is set in and around Chunking, China in the 1920s. There is a reference to the death of Sun Yat Sen (which occurred in 1925) midway through Fu’s three-year apprenticeship. Our protagonist is Fu, and the story begins as he and his mother are moving from the countryside to the city of Chungking. Fu is an only child, and his father has recently died. He is fourteen. His mother, seeing only poor prospects for them in the country, has arranged for him to be apprenticed to the coppersmith Tang. Tang proves to be both a skilled craftsmen and a shrewd businessman. He is also wise in his dealings with the apprentices and journeymen who work for him.

The story arc of the book is Fu’s growth from an impulsive youth of fourteen to a confident and skilled journeyman of eighteen. The three anchors in his life are Tang, his mother, and the scholar Wang who lives in the room above and kindly agrees to teach Fu. Together they practice the difficult skills of reading and writing the characters of Chinese by studying the teachings of Confucius. Fu grows through a series of small but significant incidents that test his handling of money and time, his control of his temper and tongue, and his self-discipline in mastering the skills of a coppersmith. Some tasks he revels in, some he finds tedious. Tang watches and misses nothing and helps Fu to face his own tasks with discipline.

Also playing a significant part in the story is an un-named “foreign lady” – who works in the foreigner’s hospital in Chungking. Fu bravely helps in fighting a fire at the hospital when others are fearful and superstitious. His friendship with the “foreign lady” helps him in two subsequent incidents – once when his best friend among the other apprentices becomes ill – and can only be saved by the foreigners medicine; and once when Fu is seeking refuge for himself and an older couple from a sudden flash flood of the unpredictable Yangtze River.

It IS a really good read. It is a classic tale of growing up. Fu, his mother, the coppersmith, and the scholar are all richly drawn. We learn the details of their lives and we understand why and how they are able to help Fu. The ending is upbeat and quite satisfying.

This particular Newbery winner was unavailable for some years. Last year, a hardback edition was re-released. And just last month, a new paperback edition was published by Square Fish, an imprint of MacMillan. The continued publishing history of Young Fu, in print again 75 years after its first release is testimony to the quality of all the Newbery Medal winners. The paperback edition has a number of nice additions. In addition to the new foreword by Katherine Paterson (who is also a Newbery winning author born in China) there is the original introduction by Pearl S. Buck. At the end of the book are 18 pages of cultural notes by Professor Daniel J. Meissner of Marquette University. And not to be missed is Elizabeth Foreman Lewis’ Newbery Medal Acceptance Speech from 1933 – worth reading in its own right.

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze is a 306 page paperback, $7.95. It can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press (along with all of the other Newbery Medal winners through the years).

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

book reviews, children's books

The World Made New

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The World Made NewI always approach books about the age of exploration with a great deal of caution. Political correctness, the scourge of our age, often infects these books to such a degree as to make them useless. Yes, I know that the Europeans were not always kind and benevolent, but neither were they devils (at least only a few were). I know that the native Americans had a more developed culture than the Europeans gave them credit for, but they were not the noble savages of Rousseau’s fantasy.

So, I was impressed as I was reading The World Made New, published late last year by The National Geographic Society. The World Made New manages to steer a fairly steady middle course and accurately report the virtues and faults of all the players in the dramatic encounter between the new world and the old world in the 1500s. Here’s a representative paragraph from the last page of the text:

“The Spaniards with their sailing ships, horse, muskets, and germs were no less foreign to the peoples of the Americas than space aliens would be to us. All the more remarkable, then, that the Aztec noblewoman Malinche quickly learned Spanish and could translate for Cortés. All the more astonishing that Africans ripped out of their homelands and dropped into the Americas invented ways to live and propser. All the more inspiring that men of conscience, such as the Spanish priest Bartoleme De Las Casas, devoted themselves to defending the Americans from other Spaniards.”

A central theme of the text is that the voyages of the 1500s affected the entire globe. The impact was not one-sided, nor confined to the new world. The final third of the book is entitled “A World Joined,” and it is the most valuable (and thought-provoking) part of the book. The authors explore the ways in which contact between cultures changed everyone. Diseases were exchanged (with disastrous consequences all over the world); Plants and animals were exported and transplanted; Populations emigrated, exploded, and collapsed; Diets changed; New World gold and silver flooded the old world economy – with dramatic economic effects. Again, a sentence from the text will illustrate its originality, thoughtfulness, and balance:

“In 1491 no one in North or South America had ever seen a horse, cow, or gun; not a single person living in Europe, Asia, or Africa had ever eaten a tomato, a potato, or an ear of corn.”

Anyone studying or teaching the 1500s, the Age of Exploration (which occurs simultaneously with the Protestant Reformation) would be well served by reading this book. The text is targeted for the upper elementary grades (probably 5th-8th), but high school students and adults will find the information arresting and thought-provoking.

The World Made New is a 64 page hardback, 10.4″ x 9.75″ with color illustrations and maps throughout. The price is $17.95 and it can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press.

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

Modern History

The Outstanding Event of Modern Times. . .

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“. . . modern times did not develop in ways the generation of 1920 would have considered ‘logical.’

[. . .]

“The outstanding event of modern times was the failure of religious belief to disappear.”

[. . .]

“What looked antiquated, even risible, in the 1990s was not religious belief but the confident prediction of its demise once provided by Feuerbach and Marx, Durkheim and Frazer, Lenin, Wells, Shaw, Gide, Sartre and many others.”

  • Paul Johnson, Modern Times, page 700 in Chapter 20 on “The Recovery of Freedom“

Today’s Western Civ Four class concluded with a discussion of the last chapter of Johnson’s book. Twenty-five years after its first publication, and 17 years after he added the more upbeat, concluding chapter, Johnson’s work holds up extremely well.

Johnson’s overarching thesis is that the 20th century saw politics replace religion as the “one legitimate form of moral activity.” The results were a tragedy of world historical proportions. Now, as we look back on the bloody excesses of the 20th century, there is hope that mankind may be regaining some perspective. The state cannot reshape human nature. The state cannot usher in a utopia. The state, given free reign, turns out to be a murderous tyrant.

Mankind was saved from the twin evils of politics and statism by the arrival, sequentially, of Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Reagan.

I have a message of hope and good cheer for you, gentle reader: The 21st century, like the 20th, will NOT develop in predictable ways – certainly not in ways foreseen by the pundits of the dying liberal intelligentsia. There IS hope. There ARE signs that God continues to build his kingdom. The vibrancy of the church in China and in Africa gives hope. The collapse of the liberal elites (both secular and religious) in the West proceeds and even in some cases appears to be accelerating.

Keep watching. Keep praying. Keep following Jesus. And wait and see what God will do.

book reviews, children's books

The Hero Schliemann

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SchliemannThe Hero Schliemann
The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy
by Laura Amy Schlitz

I found this delightful biography after Schlitz won this year’s Newbery Medal for her Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Laura Amy Schlitz is a delightful writer, with a real knack for making historical figures real by sketching them with the details of their lives that help us understand who they really were.

In Heinrich Schliemann, she has a fascinating subject. Schliemann was born in 1822 in Germany and has been variously described as a brilliant archaeologist, a liar, a fraud, a treasure-hunter, and an astute, self-taught classical scholar. There’s evidence that he was all of those things.

Schlitz does an excellent job of presenting the contradictions and faults in his life, while at the same time celebrating his remarkable achievements. Schliemann is the man who found Troy. While archaeologists and classical historians were skeptical over whether such a place actually existed, Schliemann took his dog-eared copy of Homer, went to Turkey, and started digging. He found Troy. In the process, he probably clumsily obliterated a great deal of what he was looking for, but almost everyone now admits that he found Troy. He was quick to label the jewels and gold he found as Priam’s Treasure. It probably wasn’t. And Schliemann undoubtedly committed a crime when he smuggled it out of Turkey, but what he found remains remarkable. For many years, Priam’s Treasure was on display at the Pergamon museum in Berlin. It disappeared at the end of World War II, and in 1993 it went on display at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

One such find in a lifetime would make an archaeologist famous. But Schliemann moved from Turkey to Greece and began searching for the tomb of Agamemnon – and found it, of course. The site of Mycenae was well-known, but a reference in a classical Greek text to the tombs being within the city walls had been ignored because the space was thought to be too small. Schliemann got permission to dig in the city – and found the tombs. Here’s how Schlitz describes it:

“As Heinrich had hoped, the graves were royal tombs, and they were magnificently rich. Fifteen royal corpses were heaped with gold. The men wore gold death masks and breastplates decorated with sunbursts and rosettes. The women were adorned with gold jewelry. All around the bodies were bronze swords and dagggers inlaid with gold and silver, drinking cups made of precious stones, boxes of gold and sliver and ivory. Once again, Heinrich was half-mad with enthusiasm. “I have found an unparalleled treasure,” he wrote. “All the museums in the world put together do not possess one fifth of it. Unfortunately nothing but the glory is mine.” The tombs of Mycenae were even more spectacular than Priam’s treasure.” The artifacts were exquisite, but that was not all – many of the artifacts matched exactly the descriptions found in Homer’s Iliad. Wine cups, swords, jewels, bracelets, helmets – everything was in keeping with Homer’s Bronze Age world.”

Can you see why I really enjoyed this biography? It works on two levels – as an account of how the historical reality of Homer’s world was confirmed by nineteenth century archeology, AND as an account of a fascinating, bold, entrepreneurial amateur – part huckster, part con-man, but highly intelligent, larger than life and favored by fortune.

The book is a 6.5″ x 9.25″ hardback, 72 pages with black & white illustrations throughout. Reading level is upper elementary / junior high – but high school and adult will find the information quite interesting and the narrative style very engaging.

The Hero Schliemann can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press for $17.99

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

Ancient history, book reviews, children's books

Pharaoh and The Roman Army

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The Roman ArmyDavid Kennett is an Australian artist with a strikingly original illustration style. His historical drawings are an arresting mix of light and dark, impressionistic depictions of individuals and groups, and fascinating historical detail. His first book, on The Roman Army (subtitled The Legendary Soldiers Who Created an Empire) was published in 2004. Just this month, his second book, Pharaoh: Life and Afterlife of a God has been released. Each is 48 pages, hardback, full color, 8.5″ x 11″ format.

The Roman Army goes well beyond the standard depiction of the legionary. The inside flyleaves include detailed drawings of 28 “Enemies of Rome” mounted, and on foot. The text and interior illustrations make an compelling case that the Roman soldier (and his equipment, training, supplies, camps, and support corps) were responsible for the rise of Rome as the most powerful nation on earth.

There are detailed illustrations of officers, enlisted men, and auxiliaries. There is a full page devoted to the standard equipment of a legionary. Roman engineering abilities – especially their skill at building bridges, roads and camps is carefully portrayed. The heavy weapons, battle tactics, and siege engines of the Roman army all get full treatment.

The final 2-page spread shows a Roman triumph making it’s way through the forum. The Roman Army is a 48 page hardback, and sells for $17.95.

The text is written for upper-elementary readers through junior high, but even your older students will find the information quite interesting and useful as part of a study of Rome.

PharaohKennett’s second book, Pharaoh, is equally stunning. The dark tones of his drawings depicting the interior decoration of Egyptian tombs contrast sharply with the brighter colors (yellows, blues, & greens) of the scenes set in Egyptian cities and temples.

Pharaoh, as Kennett depicts him, is an imposing and intimidating figure – whether seated on the golden throne, decorated with hieroglyphs and lion’s heads, or standing on a leopard-skin rug holding his staff and glowering. The text focuses on the New Kingdom pharaohs, Seti I and Ramesses II. Their elaborate tombs were prepared (and hidden) in man-made caves carved into the rock floor of the Valley of the Kings.

Ramesses is shown in his roles as priest at the great temple to Amun at Karnak, as the overseer and organizer of Egyptian agriculture in the flood-zone of the Nile valley, as the merchant-prince who controls the import and export of Egyptian goods, and as the commander in chief of the Egyptian army – leading his division of chariots across the desert.

One of the most stunning illustrations is a two-page spread showing the great temple to Ramesses carved into the cliffside above the Nile at Abu Simbel. But Kennett shows us, not the faded sandstone colossi that are still to be seen, but the bright, red-and-white painted figures of pharaoh with a colorful procession of chariots arriving to pay him tribute.

Kennett’s drawings do an excellent job of helping us to imagine what ancient Egypt was really like. The imagines are arresting, and it makes it easy for us to understand why the Greeks and the Romans were so impressed. It also helps us to understand the impact of the Exodus as Moses led his people out of the wealth and comfort of Egypt into the desert and wilderness of Sinai.

The Roman Army is $17.95. Pharaoh is $18.95. Each can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press.

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center
Publisher, Greenleaf Press

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Elizabeth Lee Clarkson Waitt Shearer, 1920-2008

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Elizabeth Lee Clarkson Waitt Shearer 1920-2008

Elizabeth Lee Clarkson Waitt Shearer

Elizabeth Lee Clarkson Waitt Shearer, 87, of Lexington, died Monday, April 7, 2008.

She was born in Washington, D.C., the first-born child of the late Bessie Virginia Clarkson and Lee Massey Clarkson. Lee Massey Clarkson was director of Public Health for the State of Georgia, and later taught public health at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Betty (aka “Betty Lee”) grew up in Atlanta, Ga., graduating from Girls High School in 1938. She attended Agnes Scott College, and worked for Southern Bell Telephone Company.

In June of 1941, she married Robert Graham Waitt, who had just graduated from the United States Military Academy. Graham was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation and four years later, in 1945 had attained the rank of Lt. Colonel, and was serving as the Executive Officer of the 652nd Engineering Battalion (topographic) attached to General George Patton’s Third Army. He later served on General MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo during the occupation of Japan. Betty and Graham were very active at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, where they served as co-superintendents of the Sunday school. Betty was also very active in St. Hilda’s Circle. She enjoyed playing bridge with her friends and volunteering in the community. Mr. and Mrs. Waitt had four children: Virginia, Elizabeth, Robert, & Miriam. Graham died in 1960.

In 1964, Betty married Vernon Hill Shearer (Don), after which she became an active member of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Shearer died in 1997. In 2000, Betty moved to the Kendal at Lexington retirement community where she quickly made many friends and led an active social life.

Betty enjoyed and excelled at creating a home for her family and was devoted to her children. She took great delight in entertaining her many friends and the friends of her family.

She is survived by her children, Virginia Atkinson Waitt Saunders, Elizabeth Graham Waitt Tomlinson, Robert Graham Waitt Shearer, and Miriam Clarkson Waitt Shearer; two sisters, Jean Theodosia Clarkson Rogers of Atlanta, and Charlotte Sayre Clarkson Jones of Memphis, Tenn.; 19 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Friday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m., at the Lexington Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Virginia. A second memorial service will be held on Monday, April 21st at 12:00 noon in the Atlanta area at St. James Episcopal Church, 105 Church St., Marietta, Ga. A graveside service will follow at Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of choice, Rockbridge Area Hospice, the Lexington Presbyterian Church, or Habitat for Humanity.

This obituary appeared as part of the April 9, 2008 online edition of The Lexington News-Gazette.

And also in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 13, 2008.

Here’s a link to the guest book (which will stay online for a year) for Elizabeth Shearer.

Here is a photostory of photographs from her childhood in Atlanta, marriage to Graham Waitt, raising Virginia, Elizabeth, Robert, & Miriam; second marriage to Don Shearer; and her final years in Lexington VA. that I have also placed on Youtube.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKIoynIaUoc
Elizabeth Lee Clarkson Waitt Shearer 1920-2008