Education secretary's book offers roadmap for post-pandemic education

Secretary Joe Graves leans on Stoicism to re-approach education

Nearly four decades in the field of education for South Dakota Secretary of Education Joe Graves has been poured into 186 pages about lessons learned along the way. 

But it was observations made and insights he gleaned during the COVID-19 pandemic that compelled the lifelong educator to publish his thoughts for a wider audience.

Graves published his first book “Renewing the Joys of Teaching: How the Principles of Stoicism can Return Fulfillment to the Classroom,” which became available in hard copy earlier this year. It’s the culmination of about three months of work.

A student of history himself, Graves reinforces his book’s hypothesis, borne out in the title, with the likes of philosophers Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and Epictetus. He uses their works to argue that worn out educators can rediscover their sense of purpose through the lens of stoicism.

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