Classical Christian education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through nourishing the soul on truth, goodness and beauty.
What is a wise person?
- A wise person is one who understands the world he lives in.
- A wise person holds standards enabling him to distinguish what is from what ought to be.
- A wise person understands the causes of things and therefore can order things rightly and judge things justly.
What is a virtuous person?
- A virtuous person is one who is disciplined in his thinking and behavior.
- A virtuous person is created by the cultivation of moral, intellectual, and physical virtues.
- A virtuous person brings the virtues learned into harmony together, which results in integrity.
The soul is made wise by feeding on truth, goodness and beauty. The child sees the embodied example, examines it, and strives to imitate it.
The question the classical teacher should be asking is not what can the child do with this learning, but what will this learning do to the child.
- We are forming their taste. A desire for excess is poor taste, and a desire for balance, harmony, unity and beauty is good taste.
- We want students to develop a taste for the joy of focused work.
- We are trying to link all learning to life. Make it personal, and draw their interest to how this learning relates to life.
- Conversation and dialogue are the primary learning tools of the classical classroom.
- We want students to be archeologists of learning, digging for depth and what is under the evident surface.
