Featured

Front view of a pair of black lace-up boots with white shoelaces on a concrete surface.
What’s the Good of a School?
Helping your child flourish means not putting her first.
D. L. Mayfield
Essay
Painting of a jar of peanut butter with a knife on top and a slice of bread with peanut butter spread.
A Debt to Education
Student debt forms us just as radically as a university curriculum does.
John Thornton Jr.
Essay
Group of children entering through a doorway with curious and focused expressions.
Soviet Kindergarten
Kindergarten was a miniature model of real life, where days of glory and success intertwined with periods of failure and bad luck.
Eugene Vodolazkin
Personal History
Illustration of a girl in a dark dress and red hat walking with a bag through a muted forest scene.
The World Is Your Classroom
A grandmother’s advice: Love life and love people, and the world will be your classroom.
Fida Meier
Essay
Young girl in a pink shirt playing a violin indoors, focused on her music.
Orchestras of Change
José Abreu’s model of music instruction for the poorest children has been replicated around the world.
Essay

Insights

Illustration of a girl in a dark dress and red hat walking with a bag through a muted forest scene.
The World Is Your Classroom
A grandmother’s advice: Love life and love people, and the world will be your classroom.
Fida Meier
Essay
Bare branches and twigs casting blue shadows on a white snowy ground with a light blue sky background.
On Praying for Your Children
More is accomplished through prayer by carrying the matter quietly than by using many words.
Johann Christoph Blumhardt
Reading
Three people standing outdoors near trees, two women in colorful dresses and a man in a dark shirt.
How Far Does Forgiveness Reach?
Emmanuel and Cancilde, neighbors on opposite sides of the Rwandan genocide, tell their story.
Denise Uwimana
Reading
White dove with outstretched wings in front of radiant golden and blue sunburst background.
The Blessed Woman of Nazareth
Advent’s holiest consolation is that the angel’s annunciation met with a ready heart in Mary.
Alfred Delp
Reading
A person bungee jumping inside an oversized open book with pages and a red cord.
The Good Reader
Reading virtuously means, first, reading closely.
Karen Swallow Prior
Pawel Kuczynski
Portfolio

Web Exclusives

Blond boy in a red sweater viewed from behind looking at softly lit carousel in the background.
Me and My Drum
The story of a little drummer boy who didn’t belong.

Arts & Letters

Three religious books titled Bread and Wine, The Crucified Is My Love, and Easter Stories on a pastel background.
A Trio of Lenten Readers
In preparing for Lent each year, we find ourselves turning repeatedly to a handful of proven spiritual classics.
Maureen Swinger
Editors’ Pick
Smiling elderly man and woman outdoors with greenery in the background.
Verena Arnold
Saying goodbye to our sharpest proofreader.
Maureen Swinger
Lives
Colorful abstract painting of a girl with braids in a blue jacket and red skirt with vibrant patterns.
My Fearless Future
What was it like to be a girl when time was clocked by jump rope chants?
Another View
Black and white drawing of a person playing violin emitting dark and swirling smoke-like patterns.
The Given Note
A visual interpretation of Seamus Heaney’s poem asks where music comes from.
Julian Peters
Comic
Sketch of an elderly man wearing a cap, sitting on a chair and reading a small book.
Readers Respond: Issue 19
Letters to the editor.
Forum
Close-up of smiling and curious children pressed closely together, some wearing jackets and hats.
The Children of Pyongyang
We are dedicated to establishing the first-ever treatment center for disabled children in North Korea.
The Doers
Empty wooden table and chairs near a window with bright sunlight streaming in.
The Habit of Lack Is Hell to Break
It rained while I was writing this / It rained, and my father died, / and it stopped, and it rained …
Christian Wiman
Poetry