History of Classical Education

Classical Education’s roots date back centuries.  While some see it beginning with the Ancient Hebrews, most view its origins with the famous Greek masters of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.  These men and many of their students after them began developing a pedagogical approach, which developed their pupil’s ability to think for themselves.  Education in their view was primarily for the purpose of teaching students how to think and learn.  While the acquisition of knowledge was important, it played a secondary role to the more important task of developing the tools of the mind. 

This approach to education remained the primary method used in schools for centuries.  In fact, most of the Founding Fathers of America were educated using this model.  This “Liberal Arts” approach to education has stood the test of time and though recent history has seen efforts aimed at disassembling old models and creating new systems of education, it’s hard to argue against a system that worked for thousands of years.

What is Classical Education?

What is the purpose of receiving an education, and why do we see to it (in America at least) that all children and parents who desire such may obtain one?   While some would argue that education’s purpose is to accumulate knowledge and facts stored away for later, classical education has a slightly different approach. Classical learning views the purpose of education as teaching the student how to think, and eventually learn for themselves.  Learning is an art and in order for us to do so effectively we need certain tools and skill sets.  Recognizing this, classical education places the acquisition of these “tools of learning” as the primary focus of a child’s education while they accumulation of knowledge takes on a secondary role.  Dorothy Sayers, a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, said it well when she said:

“Is not the great defect of our education today . . . that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils "subjects," we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning. It is as though we had taught a child, mechanically and by rule of thumb, to play "The Harmonious Blacksmith" upon the piano, but had never taught him the scale or how to read music; so that, having memorized "The Harmonious Blacksmith," he still had not the faintest notion how to proceed from that to tackle "The Last Rose of Summer.’”

 To recover the recently lost art of teaching tools, the classical education movement and The River Academy in particular seeks to do the following:

1. Provide students with the tools of learning and instill in them a life-long desire to increase in knowledge, understanding and wisdom.

2. Implement the Classical Trivium, (more on this HERE) teaching the grammar, dialectic and rhetoric of all subjects.

3. Immerse students in the history, language and arts of western culture, in a manner that enables them to understand our present age and equips them to wisely build the future.