Classical vs. Conventional Education: the Debate

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What is the purpose of schooling our children? What is the purpose of education? Is it to produce children who are “trade ready”? They finish their education and they are ready to enter into a field…perhaps as an employee? Maybe in some years they have the opportunity to move up or possibly start their own business. Or –I posit– should education mean something more? This is where I enter the debate. I answer my own questions-should education mean something more? Yes, emphatically, yes. Education should mean a whole lot more. Read More …

The Lost Tools Of Learning

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By Dorothy Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957) is a leader in the neo-classical education movement. Neo meaning new–she led the way as a new resurgence of classical educators took up the banner and followed her stride. Today, many look to Sayers for a practical methodology of classical curriculum. Others sneer at the idea of taking the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and turning it into an educational methodology. I fall somewhere in the middle. I have believe that classical education is far more than a methodology. But I also find Read More …

What Do We mean By Liberal Arts?

The Liberal Arts I went to a “liberal arts” college. What about you? Back then the meaning was muddled to me, if it even meant anything at all. Now today the word liberal is almost strictly associated with political parties. But that was not how things always were. There was a time when the word classically meant “wide ranging” or “broad based.” The liberal arts actually encompass seven branches of knowledge that initiate children into a life of learning. This is one of the things that makes classical education uniquely Read More …