THE CLASSICAL APPROACH
What is Classical Education?
“Classical education is like a very large museum with many beautiful, wonder-filled rooms that could be studied over a lifetime. It is a long tradition of education that has emphasized the seeking after of truth, goodness, and beauty and the study of the liberal arts and the great books.
What are the liberal arts? They are grammar, logic, rhetoric (the verbal arts of the trivium), arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy (the mathematical arts of the quadrivium). This approach to education also includes the study of Latin. The classical approach teaches students how to learn and how to think.” — Classical Academic Press
The classical approach trains the mind in three stages called the Trivium (which means, “the place where three roads meet”). These phases wisely leverage the natural stages of a child’s development, resulting in joyful learning that invites curiosity.
These three phases include:
Why does Classical Education Matter?
Classical education is more than simply a pattern of learning; it’s a holistic learning approach that is focused on forming a well-trained mind that can discern goodness, truth, and beauty – and act accordingly.
To the classical mind, all knowledge is interrelated. Curriculum uses history as its organizing principle, beginning with the ancients and progressing forward to the moderns in history, science, literature, art and music. This time-tested framework results in a more comprehensive understanding of subject matters and the valuable skill of making connections between past events and current information.
It emphasizes virtue, defined as a disposition which inclines us to the good for which we are made. Classical education understands that character and virtue are of paramount importance—they influence every aspect of a person’s life. Teaching with wisdom and virtue in mind (rather than knowledge alone), alters the focus of education to who we become, not simply what we know.
The end goal is not that students would simply acquire information, but that they would gain the tools of learning and aspire to wisdom – and that they would enjoy doing so! Classically educated students emerge as critical thinkers who can serve in whatever capacity they are called and in whatever area most interests them.
The benefits of Classical Christian Education
