Fifty years ago anyone hearing the term "classical education" would take it to mean the rigorous study of the most important Greek and Latin authors - poets, dramatists, historians and philosophers - in their original languages. Traditional school curricula long focused closely on those studies. Until well into the nineteenth century the sciences and mathematics were comparative neglected, and (amazingly) English was not regarded as a proper subject for study at all! There could be no better evidence of the prevalence of this kind of education than the unofficial name given to the most prestigious degree at Oxford - Greats! The very word speaks of a world which specially revered the achievements of the great thinkers and writers of past ages almost above all else.
It’s common today to equate rhetoric with the ability to sustain a coherent oral argument. Within contemporary education, particularly as part of higher education certificates, students are routinely expected to articulate and defend a position on a given topic through reasoned and persuasive discourse and, to varying degrees, they are schooled in the techniques necessary to accomplish this task. Yet, such a conception of rhetoric is certainly too simplistic.
For much of Western intellectual history, rhetoric has occupied a far more significant place within a standard education. As the culminating stage of the Trivium, it represented not merely the art of public speaking but the integration of a student’s disciplined thought, moral formation and linguistic mastery, demonstrated through their clear and precise reasoning, critical judgement and sensitivity to audience and context. Of course, these skills were not isolated but embedded within a broader understanding of virtue, civic responsibility and inherited culture.
Modern education tends to underestimate the breadth and sophistication of the classical approach to rhetoric, and it is doubtful whether many secondary school or university graduates could be truly described as accomplished orators in the traditional sense. However, if our goal as educators is to foster the full intellectual, moral and social development of young people, there is much to recommend revisiting one of the most enduring pedagogical practices of antiquity: the progymnasmata.
In a 1980 article titled “Minds, Brains and Programs”, the American philosopher John Searle engaged with the question of whether “strong” artificial intelligence is possible, that is, could computers become truly sentient, conscious and rationally thinking creatures? In tackling this idea, he provided an illustrative thought experiment: “the Chinese room”.
With the growing interest in classical education in Australia, amongst educators and parents, it is only fitting to revisit Mortimer Adler’s seminal work, The Paideia Proposal. Published in 1982, The Paideia Proposal is Adler’s educational manifesto as a solution to America's education system. While referring to the American educational landscape, Adler’s proposal can help to serve the Australian context.
…the culture of Europe has deteriorated visibly within the memory of many who are by no means the oldest among us. And we know, that whether education can foster and improve culture or not, it can surely adulterate and degrade it. For there is no doubt that in our headlong rush to educate everybody, we are lowering our standards, and more and more abandoning the study of those subjects by which the essentials of our culture – of that part of it which is transmissible by education – are transmitted; destroying our ancient edifices to make ready the ground upon which the barbarian nomads of the future will encamp in their mechanised caravans.
In his 1949 book Notes Towards a Definition of Culture, T.S. Eliot argued for a view of culture challenged by many and multifarious voices in post-Second World War Britain. His perspective defending a culture that grew organically from the interplay between the Christian religion and social hierarchy rubbed against the egalitarian, secular voices resounding from Whitehall. While the entire work is a fascinating read that causes one to reminisce somewhat on a bygone era, the main concern of this piece is to reflect on what Eliot has to say regarding education, which comes primarily from the final chapter: “Notes on Education and Culture.”
This paper will concern itself with three teaching techniques for the classical classroom. These three have been selected because they are easy to learn – but difficult to master; they can implemented in all age groups from K to 12. They can be used in almost every subject area. They are high impact: high impact for the students but also high impact for the teacher, in opening one’s eyes to a different way of teaching.
This entry is Part Three of a three-part article. Visit these links for Part One and Part Two.
It’s common today to equate rhetoric with the ability to sustain a coherent oral argument. Within contemporary education, particularly as part of higher education certificates, students are routinely expected to articulate and defend a position on a given topic through reasoned and persuasive discourse and, to varying degrees, they are schooled in the techniques necessary to accomplish this task. Yet, such a conception of rhetoric is certainly too simplistic.
