The growth of a seed into a healthy plant depends upon good soil, sunshine, and sufficient water. Likewise, the healthy growth of our children depends upon positive experiences at an early age.
The environment in which we navigate as young children deeply impacts the way we handle stress and challenges as adults. Our early childhood experiences set the stage for who we are as adults. This is because, at a young age, our brain development is at its busiest. It’s during this time that our minds are absorbing everything around us and creating emotional memories that will later direct our adult responses to certain events.
Thus, during our preschool and elementary school years, we’re greatly influenced by the teaching methods utilized in our education processes. Most children are shaped by the public school system with its state-guided curricula broken down by subject matter. Here, goals, objectives, assessments, and teaching sequences are all published in a curriculum guide for public district schools.
Contrast this with the classical education approach to teaching. Based upon the trivium, which is Latin for “meeting of the three ways,” this method originated with the ancient philosopher Boethius (477 – 524 AD). Grammar, logic, and rhetoric are the three stages of learning in the classical education model.
The purpose of this blog post is to explore key differences between these two approaches and assist parents in making informed school choice decisions.
What is Classical Education?
Rooted in ancient history, classical education is characterized by developing scholars’ minds, bodies, and spirits through an integrated curriculum of math, science, history, geography, languages, and literature. It emphasizes character development and critical thinking, encouraging scholars to discover what is true and beautiful in the world.
Just as the coalescence of three rivers creates one mighty flowing river, the trivium of classical education creates an academically and morally strong scholar. The trivium is made up of three separate learning stages, which are undertaken according to the scholar’s age and grade level.
The first stage is called the grammar stage. Children from ages five through eleven have minds that are sometimes referred to as “sponges” because they’re quickly soaking up massive amounts of information. During the grammar stage, they build a bank of knowledge across various subjects such as math, language, science, history, and geography.
During the “middle school” ages of twelve and thirteen, classical education scholars engage with the logic stage of the trivium. At this time in children’s educational development, they begin the abstract thinking skills of analyzing, comparing, contrasting, synthesizing, and discovering relationships within the facts they learned during the grammar stage.
In the rhetoric stage of the trivium, which coincides with the high school grades, scholars use the information they learned in the grammar and logic stages to form opinions, communicate their ideas clearly and persuasively in writing and speech, form well-reasoned arguments, and use critical thinking skills.
Cultural literacy is mastered by scholars through an in-depth study of the great writings of Western civilization; literature, writings on history, philosophy, and the fine arts. Books by Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, and many others form the backdrop of scholars’ literature studies. Conversations center on how ideas and narratives from these writings influenced the Western world. Discussions, reviews, debates, and written essays follow reading the great works.
Popularity in classical schools is growing by about 5% every four years. Schools now have waitlists for parents who want to enroll their children. This is due to many parents’ belief that the classical approach is superior to government-run traditional schools.
Ancient teachers in classical education believed that virtue is cultivated. We become the people that we become because of the virtues we love. Thus, classical education shapes virtues for its scholars in “fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence.”
Overview of Public School Education
Compulsory school attendance laws were well-established in every state by the 1940s as a result of the Progressive Movement. Progressives were people who sought to improve working conditions and educational opportunities. They mandated schooling past the primary years and established teachers’ unions. Between the years 1940 and 1980, classical education was replaced with government-mandated education and control of the curriculum. However, a decline in the quality of education began at this time. By the 1980s, several school leaders decided it was time to revisit the classical education model. In the last fifty years, the classical education model has returned to the stage and continues to grow today.
Traditional schools differ from their classical peers in both their educational goals and methods. Here, the study of school subjects is compartmentalized; e.g., one class is for mathematics, another for social studies, another for science, and so on. Successfully passing standardized tests is the main objective of traditional schools. Critical thinking skills and holistic learning of integrated subjects are usually relegated to the back burner.
In public education, state governments control the curriculum, and their constitutions regulate the requirements and operations within public schools. In today’s climate, public schools have been accused of indoctrinating their students with cultural ideology that goes against the grain of parents’ teachings at home. Due to lawsuits, many states have banned the teaching of certain topics. Parents who are not comfortable with the teachings in traditional schools can find a great deal more pedagogical flexibility in charter schools.
The states also depend upon test scores for their federal funding. If a district’s scores in the National Assessment of Education Progress drop, their schools can lose federal funding.
Key Differences Between Classical and Public Education
Both classical and public education teach children from kindergarten through grade 12. Both endeavor to provide their scholars with a strong academic foundation. However, major differences exist between the two systems of teaching. We see them in their:
- Curricula
- Teaching methods
- Character development
- Approach to knowledge
Curricula
The classical education curriculum focuses on the liberal arts and is an integrated approach to studies, whereas the traditional schools focus more on the core subjects and foundational skills. Classical scholars study the great works of literature and philosophy. With these works, they develop skills in logical reasoning, language proficiency, and persuasion. Independent and critical thinking emerge in classical scholars, particularly in the logic and rhetoric stages. On the other hand, traditional studies focus on conformity and the acquisition of knowledge. It doesn’t often seek to teach logic or to present facts logically using wisdom.
Teaching Methods
The classical approach to this in-depth thinking uses the Socratic method of asking questions, group discussions, active participation in sharing ideas, and collaboration on projects. But in the traditional classroom, we usually see teachers leading their classes through lectures while scholars take notes.
Character Development
Character development has become an important issue in public schools over the last couple of decades. Traditional schools have put actions in place to assist scholars’ emotional and social development; e.g., utilizing more project-based learning and community service opportunities.
In contrast, positive character development in the classical school is inherent in the method of study. Here we see group discussions and scholar collaboration encouraging social engagement and the promotion of self-worth. Moral reasoning, ethics, and virtue are fundamental components of the “whole child” approach to character development.
Approach to Knowledge
Traditional school objectives are for scholars to learn and retain practical knowledge. This bed of knowledge is then tested for the recall of factual information. Such a goal emphasizes the foundational skills of thinking which are memory, interpretation, translation, and application. Career readiness depends on the knowledge that scholars retain.
In contrast, classical education emphasizes not only the foundational skills of thinking but also the higher levels of thinking, also called critical thinking skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating material. On this path, scholars develop wisdom as they seek to understand universal truths. Classical scholars learn to communicate their wisdom well and persuasively.
Why Choose Classical Education?
Classical education engages all the steps toward higher thinking from memorizing to evaluating information, which aligns with the model of learning presented by Benjamin Bloom.
According to American Educational Psychologist, Benjamin Bloom, to be truly educated requires the scholar to master the Taxonomy of Learning which includes the following steps in order: Memory, Translation, Interpretation, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The first four steps are foundational skills, and the final three are critical thinking skills. To acquire wisdom and become a lifelong learner, a scholar would need to master all of the steps in the Taxonomy. In this way, information is most likely to be processed into long-term memory.
Additionally, with a focus on moral reasoning and virtue, classical education scholars blossom into caring, ethical, moral, and well-rounded people.
By choosing classical education, you can ensure that your children will develop enriched thinking skills, excellent communication skills, character development, and wisdom for a lifetime.
In Closing…
To put this topic in a nutshell, traditional schools teach knowledge to prepare their children for college and careers, whereas classical schools teach enriched concepts to prepare their scholars for lifelong critical thinking beyond college and careers.
If you are a parent choosing a school for your child, consider the classical education offered by The Leman Academy of Excellence. Leman is a tuition-free charter school for scholars in K-8, and it’s committed to enriching young minds with a distinctively classical curriculum. It follows the trivium of teaching through the grammar, logic, and rhetorical stages, aligning with the process of children’s mental development. It delves into studies involving the entire scope of learning from foundational to critical thinking skills. Leman Academy ensures your child’s academic growth, character growth, and understanding of morality, virtues, and truth.
Leman is also committed to their scholars’ families. With a “parents as partners” approach, they are an extension of your child’s home with a focus on your child’s intellectual, social, emotional, and ethical development.
Learn more about The Leman Academy of Excellence, and explore the incredible opportunities they have for your children.