Classical Pedagogy

Education (Paideia in Greek) aims at forming the human person to a standard of excellence. This concept first emerged in ancient Greece. According to Plato and Aristotle, the “standard of excellence” requires development of the virtues. A virtuous person is one who has a tendency both to act rightly and to feel rightly, to take joy in right action. A virtuous person develops the cardinal virtues – fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence – as well as the intellectual virtues, those virtues that enable us to come to know truth more clearly and with less error, and to apply truth apprehended to particular things.

This bears much in common with the Greek goals, but with the addition of supernatural grace, the theological virtues – faith, hope, and love – and communion with God. Christians know that a human person is a body-soul composite, formed in the image and likeness of God. A human person’s ultimate end is to know, love, and serve God, and to love his neighbor as himself. An educated person, then, is one who, not only loves, but loves rightly. It is for this end that we are created. As the Baltimore Catechism states: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.” The standard of excellence expressed by the Greeks and by Christians is the same standard for classical education: the development of the virtuous person.

This is the reality that there is an order to creation that bears the image of its Creator. We can come to know that order – how it truly is – and to love it as a reflection of God. Classical education emphasizes the direct observation of nature by the senses. For example, astronomy by stargazing and natural history by experiencing the seasons. From encountering reality sensibly, we move towards understanding the transcendent order of the cosmos.

Modern education emphasizes the ability to look up information and analyze it critically. However, this treats knowledge as something fleeting, to be part-way assimilated and discarded to make room for the next thing. Ancient and medieval education instead emphasized a deep encounter with texts through memorization and recitation. The text becomes a permanent companion, guide, and point of reference. It forms the way we think and use language.