Classical Education
Q. There's
a "classical Christian academy" being started near us. The word "classical"
must mean that it's different than the usual Christian school. What's the
difference between a "classical" school and other schooling options?
Most schools today, public and
private, secular and Christian, follow the "progressive" philosophy of
education. Teachers and administrators have been steeped in educational
psychology in teachers' college, and believe that contemporary ideas, books and
teaching methods are the best. Almost all curriculum sold in mass markets
follows this style, too.
Although of course schools still teach
history, the accent is on contemporary methods and ideas -- the present and the
future. It is said that, because this is the "Knowledge Generation," it is
better to know HOW to learn than to amass a huge brainload of facts, which
could just as easily be stored on computer and accessed when needed.
In most schools, then, the process
of learning is emphasized over the content of what is to be learned. Learning
is presented as "play." Students are encouraged to do hands-on science
experiments for the discovery and experience that activity provides, without a
thorough grounding in the scientific principles and theories behind them. They
paint pictures to express themselves, though they aren't taught the basics of
art appreciation or art history.
The trouble is, "progressivism" narrows
a student's overall knowledge base, and does not turn out as well-rounded and
well-educated a person as the "classical" style of schooling does.
The "classical" style is literally
"old school" because it follows the educational structure of the ancient Greeks
and Romans, which is (1) grammar, (2) logic and (3) rhetoric. This is called
the "trivium." In "grammar" school, approximately K-6, students acquire basic
facts in each of their school subjects. In middle school, they are taught to
reason clearly, using those facts. And in high school, they are taught to apply
what they know effectively and persuasively.
Homework: See the book, "Classical Education: Towards the Revival of
American Schooling," by Gene Edward Veith Jr., and Andrew Kern, and the website
of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, www.accsedu.org
Copyright 2005
• Susan Darst Williams, www.DailySusan.org, is a writer, wife and mother of four who lives
at the base of Mount Laundry, Neb.
