Re-Thinking Classical Education

Classical education is prolonged exposure to the Good, True, and Beautiful, or what I  prefer, the Great books and Great art. What is the Good? The Good is indicative of the summum bonum but  also ethics (good and evil). What is the True? Besides truth and falsity, it is that which orients as  a compass or the North star. What is the Beautiful? It is, as Aquinas argues, that which pleases  upon being seen. Jonathan Edwards furthermore argues that it is the nature of true virtue. The  Great books are the canon of Western civilization handed down through the ages and writing that  has stood the test of time. Obviously, classical education can be found in non-written items such  as fine art (from Italy, etc) and music (Mozart, etc.). In order to cultivate this more, it will be  important to comment on method, the Liberal Arts, prior background, basic classical resources,  and general school outcomes. 

Classical education is taught through telling, asking, and coaching. Telling is largely  lecturing. Lecturing is dynamic, one-directional pedagogy and andragogy. This tends to be the  way most knowledge is conveyed, though classical education is incomplete with only this  method. The method tends to entail the written essay, taught and cultivated to the dissertation  level. Asking is discussion, seminar, question and answer, call and response. Discussion and  seminar are crucial multi-directional methods of communicating and learning for both children  and adults. There is an art of asking questions to cultivate insight, memory, and knowledge. This  is also a form of learning how to speak and listen, as Mortimer Adler so aptly argues. Coaching  is the application part of the learning method. Tell Sophia how to ride the bicycle, engage in  discussion with her over her questions, and now it’s time to ride the bike. Coaching is most often  in the form of homework and assignments, but the best coaching entails life-on-life mentoring.  

The Trivium is typically used for forming classical education in schools. The trivium is  grammar, logic, and rhetoric, taken primarily from the medieval times and cultivated through  Dorothy Sayers’ Lost Tools of Learning. Grammar turns into grammar school (elementary).  Logic turns into logic school (middle). Rhetoric turns into rhetoric school (high). Besides the  regular form of grade level development, the trivium, representing the “letter” arts of the Liberal  Arts, is typically understood as the development of the child through the normal stages of  knowledge acquisition (memorizing, singing, reciting), understanding (reasoning, questioning,  debating), and wisdom (maturation, crafting, self-governing). Stated differently, grammar gives  blocks, logic teaches how to arrange those blocks, and rhetoric shows how to craft beautiful  buildings out of those blocks. Everything aims at the transcendentals, wisdom, and the Good life. 

The Quadrivium are normally the “numerical” arts worked in along the way. These are  the other four Liberal Arts. Given that the Liberals Arts are designed to set the individual free,  learning Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy play a crucial role in classical education.  Many times classical education revolves only around the humanities or the trivium, leaving out  the math and sciences. However, as mentioned above, when classical education is done well, it is  very difficult to separate the trivium from the quadrivium, or math and science from literature  and history. When reality is taught or discovered, it is complex and full of all kinds of  knowledge, nature, and humanity. That being said, the trivium typically forms the broader  structures in education (the stages), and the quadrivium inform along the way (through subjects).  

It must be stated that I attended St. John’s Graduate Institute. This is a college that does  not believe in the value of lectures (except for formal events) and only believes in the value of the Socratic seminar and original source texts (for classes). There are no departments (History, Philosophy, English, etc). Why? Knowledge is fully integrated in the Classics and Liberal Arts. It is very difficult to place a Great book in a knowledge category, as they all (including Euclid  and Darwin) comment on human nature and the human experience. I have also been honored to  attend the University of Dallas and complete doctoral work there. This is a private, Catholic university that has a core classical canon and is extremely strong in classical writing at all levels.  Pairing that with their emphasis on the American Founding, I have some very high standards for  classical education.  

Another area that should be covered in understanding classical education is some of the  important texts on classical education. First, Plato’s Republic is a must read for anyone in  classical education. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is next. Then, I would move to Rouseau’s Emile for a commentary of how to raise a child from zero to twenty-five, fully preparing them  for marriage and entrance into society (not agreeing with Rousseau, but seeing this work as  distinct in the canon for that outcome). Of course, C.S. Lewis’ Abolition of Man is strong for  modern education and teaching virtue, but I would rather submit a few other shorter works.  Boethius presents wisdom in The Consolation of Philosophy. Machiavelli shows the importance of the ancients in his Prince. Finally, Nietzsche argues like Socrates in Anti-Education. Perhaps  throw in Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death or any other more modern book on the role  of technology and education. These books will begin to identify the most important questions for education and classical education. 

There are many more accessible “modern” books on classical education that have been  alluded to already. I have already mentioned Dorothy Sayers, but the anthology that must be  noted is The Great Tradition by Richard Gamble. It is second to none in what authors it covers  and what topics are cultivated. Finally, I would mention Mortimer Adler’s The Paideia Proposal.  It is helpful in garnering the structure sought in public education.  

Whether it is “American Classical” education, Latin schools, classical academies, or Christian Classical private education, the outcomes are broadly aimed at the same things. There  will be differences in curriculum and methodology, background and emphasis in faculty  members, and perhaps the timing of the sections (50 minutes, etc), but they all will be claiming  to aim at the Good, True, and Beautiful. Some will emphasize foreign language, others the Bible,  still others philosophy or statesmanship. I rarely encounter the same definition of “classical,” but  I always hear the same descriptions. This is very important for accounting for the “kind” of  school(s) one desires, as I would argue there will actually be very different outcomes.  

A final note should be stated on history and its role in classical education. Some classical  schools emphasize history and the scope of Western civilization as the main backbone to  classical education. This is typically done through the training in Greece and Rome, Greek and  Latin. While I would certainly tip my hat to the five cities of Western civilization (Jerusalem,  Athens, Rome, London, Philadelphia), most of what I have encountered in the classical canon is  not neatly outlined through a modern “historical” approach. When a reader/learner/student encounters the great historical texts (Thucydides, Livy, the Bible, Augustine, even Churchill,  etc.), they do not merely encounter history. Even the history of the Founding is an exercise in  understanding human nature. If history in these schools is defined this way, then good, but it  begins to assume philosophy and politics and literature into the discipline of history. Those other  disciplines would disagree with that assumption. I would also disagree, and ask why this last  paragraph is sort of an afterthought to my description of what is classical education.