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Alternative Schooling Styles : Classical

An Ancient Western Tradition

This style concentrates on the languages and literature of classical Greece and Rome. It is a "liberal" education because its main purpose is to free the mind of the student, to teach him how to learn, how to think -- how to search for the good, the true, and the beautiful -- for himself. It is a great approach to the study of Western civilization and an excellent foundation for higher culture.

There are all the expected subjects -- language, history, math, science, art, religion, and philosophy -- but the focus is on mastery of Greek and Latin language and literature. Students learn them well enough to read the ancient texts in their original versions. As side benefits, the study of these "dead" languages improves English comprehension and makes the study of other Romance languages -- Italian, Portugese, French, Spanish, and Romanian -- easier. It also provides insight into legal, medical, and scientific terms.

This style is teacher-directed and can be used in private or home schools. It is time and labor intensive and requires discipline. It will be challenging for teachers without a classical background but good guide books are available.

A classical education is for making a life, not a living. By age 16, students should add modern science and "practical" or vocational studies to their curriculum.

Resources and Curricula

  • The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, 1999
  • Climbing Parnassus, A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons, ISI Books, Wilmington, DE, 2002
  • Who Killed Homer? by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, Encounter Books, San Francisco, CA, 2001

    Quotes
    “In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching Remedial English in college.” -– Joseph Sobran, author, editor, commentator

    “Buy, beg, borrow, or steal enough of a knowledge of Greek to read Homer in the original.” — E.K. Rand, American classicist, medievalist, and Pope Professor of Latin, Harvard University

    “I began to realize as I read the Greek classics that I could not really draw valid inferences from translations. So I began to study Greek. I am having a wonderful time! I did not intend to get drawn in this far, but the further I get, the more enchanting it is.” — I.F. Stone, journalist, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, American University

    “I would make everyone learn English; then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor – and Greek as a treat.” — Sir Winston Churchill, writer, Prime Minister of England

    “All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” —- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American author, poet & philosopher

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