What Is Classical Education?
A classical education follows the philosophy of education that was developed during the Middle Ages with three stages called the Trivium. At the Grammar Stage, children learned to read. At the Dialectic or Logic Stage, they learned to argue. At the Rhetoric Stage, they learned to persuade. Then they were ready to go to University where they would study the Quadrium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Theology, Music). At University, Master Teachers would stand up and argue in front of the students (only paid if they argued well). Students saved one year’s wages to buy their curriculum of three books. After doing their reading and listening to the debates, students drew their conclusions by wrestling with both sides of the argument.
Children in the dialectic and rhetoric stages are beginning to determine their own worldview. They are asking, “Is my parent’s faith mine? Whom do I want to listen to? Who am I and what do I think about the world around me?”This is the most important stage to home school! They need guidance. They need their parents at their side, helping them talk through things biblically, listening, arguing…And yet this is the age when most families stop home schooling. Why is this? Just when we have given them the tools to study and form convictions, we stop choosing what they will study and who will shape their convictions.
Where do we look for a guide as we delve into the deep water of the classics? The Bible is our guide. There is a real battle going on for the souls of men. We can try to shield our children from it and then they will leave our homes defenceless. When they hit university they will be confused by Darwinian, or Reductionist, or Post-modern philosophies. Or we can take the time that we have now to show them how the wisdom of the Bible is superior to the greatest philosophies of man. As they read the great political and economic theories and study the consequences in our world today, they will be equipped to be nation shapers. As they read moving literature, they will learn how to persuade through narrative. As they listen compassionately to the opponents of the gospel, they will be prepared to give a defence for the hope that is in them before anyone (I Peter 3:15). As they read the great theologians who clarified the truths of the gospel, they will be equipped to combat the same errors that are recycled in our day. The apostle Paul said in II Cor. 10:4,5 “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”Let’s use the Classics to teach our children how to take every thought captive. Let’s use every story to illustrate mankind’s sin and need for a saviour. A Classical Christian Education gives our children the tools they need and the mentoring they need to know and love the truth.
