What is classical education?

[temporaryreality]

 The following is from the preface of The Well-Trained Mind (2nd ed), by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise (W. W. Norton, 2004).

 

What is classical education?
It is language-intensive--not image focused. It demands that students use and understand words, not video images.
It is history-intensive, providing students with a comprehensive view of human endeavor* from the beginning until now.
It trains the mind to analyze and draw conclusions.
It demands self-discipline.
It produces, literate, curious, intelligent students who have a wide range of interests and the ability to follow up on them.
(p. xx) 

 

With that in mind, I'll be drawing up a loosely-conceived curriculum for myself based on the suggestions found in this book.

* I intend to modify this to include readings on geological, biological, and ecological processes. Considered as topics under the purview of history, this simply means I'll be adding the geological ages and the evolutionary trajectory of life to the scope of my self-study project.

Comments

[dfr1973]

I'm interested to see what you come up with.

[temporaryreality]

Thanks, me too (still up in the air at this point, but in an exciting way)! :D

I'm glad it's of interest to others and happy to have you along.

[methylethyl]

I'll be keeping tabs on the subject! I am very much in the thick of educating my kids, and am always looking for any tidbits that might help--- I did well in school and still feel my education was deficient, with one exception: my tiny parochial high school always made its young, fresh-out-of-seminary assistant pastors teach us theology and religion. So rather than a canned dumbed-down curricula, we got college-level seminars in church history, theology, the Gospels, and a good survey of other religions. I refer back to what I learned in these classes *constantly* and they gave me a framework for evaluating all sorts of things. It makes me wonder how much more useful my schooling might have been if we'd studied Aristotle and Plutarch as well! It's in my kids' curricula, but we haven't got to it yet, and I'm intimidated. I've made an attempt at Bauer's book myself, and just couldn't manage it at the time. Would love to see your results!

[temporaryreality]

I think the dumbing-down of subjects, like dumbing-down conversations and vocabulary, does kids a huge disservice. I keep hearing the refrain that curricula have to be focused on the bare average capability. What if there were less of a stigma about age-peer groups having to stick together? What if the one-room schoolhouse concept were modified to create small schools within schools, where accountability through the years was assured and where more advanced students could further their understanding through the process of assisting others in their "school" who need it?

I can't be a minority in seeing that this could be a useful idea, but from the looks of things in regular America, nobody thinks the monster we've created in k-12 education is responsible for anything.

Bauer & Wise are reassuring: "You too can do this!" And I'll bet you could!

[methylethyl]

Maybe in another year... I'd love to get back to that project, along with a laundry-list of other things. The toddler throws a big wrench into any plan that requires sustained reading time-- it now takes me months to read a book I would once have finished in three days. I know this state is temporary. But it feels like forever. He's cute, though :)

[temporaryreality]

Oh my gosh a toddler - yeah that requires a completely different state of being. You have my sympathies :D