I realize for some that might be a jolting statement but I believe it’s absolutely true in 99% of cases. And, frankly, I can’t even think of a scenario where the 1% case would be absolutely necessary.
First, the modern public school system is secular. But that doesn’t mean it’s neutral. Education by definition presupposes a worldview and we all know that worldview is not rooted in gospel truth.
Second, modern public education is designed “to produce a particular kind of citizen.” Their stated goals have less to do with “shaping students to develop their reason and knowledge so they are able to take personal responsibility for shaping themselves as free and independent individuals” (i.e., “thinking through their own views, cultivating their own tastes, developing their own life plans, and becoming unique people”). Instead, public education has employed a method of “education with a known and satisfactory outcome,” because, as Professor Bob Pepperman Taylor explains, “free men and women are often a bit too unpredictable for the civic educator’s taste.”
In a recent article on classical education, Andrew Kern of the CiRCE Institute made the astute observation that confirms this view. He writes, “From the 15th to 17th Centuries a shift in expectations took place that was so total that the Christian classical approach was overthrown for something that doesn’t work but generates many short-term gains.”((Andrew Kern, CiRCE Institute, https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/what-happened-classical-education-part-3, accessed February 9, 2022.)) After offering 11 proofs that demonstrate his assertion, he concludes by explaining, “the cultivation of virtue, was replaced by method while each of the liberal arts were reduced to an inept caricature of what they had been previously understood to be and do.” [Listen to my conversation with Andrew Kern about Classical Education]
As we think about education, it’s important to remember method is about efficiency and conformity. Method is a repeatable process that is used to cultivate laborers and servile workers.
Classical education is about the pursuit of wisdom and virtue. It transcends method and cultivates free men and women by teaching them how to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty.
Unfortunately, the average Christian school falls dangerously close to imitating modern public education when they adopt the Prussian model and merely adorn their schools with biblical baubles (i.e., Bible classes, chapel, etc.). Students need more than this if they are going to flourish in the modern world. Students need more than good grades, a diploma, or job training. Christian students, especially, need more than what method can provide.
Christian students need to be equipped to think well about the complex world in which they live, worship, and conduct their lives. Students equipped for today’s world need to be wise and prudent amidst vacillating contemporary trends. They need to be innovative and imaginative to create things which are true, good, and beautiful. And they need to be taught to be virtuous and eloquent so they can communicate accurately and persuasively in a noisy and distracted world.
Feel free to disagree with me in the comments, but as Galileo urged his contenders, please at least disagree with me on the merits of my actual position; that is, disagree with me having read and understood my arguments concerning classical and public education. I explain some more of my core views on education—very briefly—here and here.
If you agree, I’d love to hear from you how you are educating your children (if you have school-aged children at home, that is).
If you’d like to learn more about the courses I am teaching at Kepler Education in the fall, select one of the course images below—there are numerous other courses you can browse as well.
Kepler Education is classically Christian and provides live, online courses to assist parents in fulfilling their biblical mandate to raise up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). In order to prepare students to live a life characterized by wisdom and eloquence, we read the great books, write rigorously, and engage in Socratic dialogue guided by a master teacher. No more than 12 students participate in a single course at a time so the classes are personal and engaging. These spiritually and intellectually robust courses of study help prepare students for further study and civic life as a Christian citizen. Diploma tracks and dual enrollment is also available.
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