Considering Classical Education

What is Classical Education?

"Classical education is the authoritative, traditional, and enduring form of education, begun by the Greeks and Romans, developed through history, and now being renewed and recovered in the 21st century"

-- Dr. Christopher Perrin

An Introduction to Classical Education

A brief history...

• The classical period encompasses nearly 1,000 years
• Yet, common themes run through the educational practices of Greeks and Romans
• Sustained emphasis on grammar, literature, logic, and rhetoric
• Later, during the Middle Ages, systematized a consistent form...

The Trivium

"Three ways"

Grammar
Logic
Rhetoric

"Our founding fathers...bear the marks of classical training in literature, classical languages (especially Latin), history, and rhetoric."

• Not until the 1800's do we see the erosion of classical education
• Slow at first, classical was dominant until the 1900's
• The U.S. clearly shifted to a "progressive" model by the 1950's