Classical Education: A Return to Proven Scholarship

As the modern education establishment implements every new instructional fad, many are returning to a method of education that has been proven successful over centuries.
It has taken modern educators around 150 years to disassemble an educational system that took thousands of years to refine and perfect. The classical education method was born in ancient Greece and Rome, and by the 16th century, it was used throughout the Western world. It was based in the Trivium which is a three-phase approach emphasizing grammar, logic and rhetoric. This system educated most of America’s founding fathers as well as the world’s philosophers, scientists and leaders between the 10th and 19th centuries. What other period can claim so many advances in science, philosophy, art, and literature?
For education to be effective, it must go beyond conveying fact. Truly effective education cultivates thinking and articulate students who are able to develop facts into arguments and convey those arguments clearly and persuasively. Parents all across the United States are recognizing that classical education adds the dimension and breadth needed to develop students’ minds. Rigorous academic standards, a dedication to order and discipline, and a focus on key subjects is fueling the rapid growth of the nation’s classical schools.
There is no greater task for education than to teach students how to learn. The influence of watered-down, modern teaching methods and the oversimplification of textbooks make it difficult for students to acquire the mental discipline that traditional instruction methods once cultivated. The classical method develops independent learning skills on the foundation of language, logic, and tangible fact. The classical difference is clear when students are taken beyond conventionally taught subjects and asked to apply their knowledge through logic and clear expression.
Beyond subject matter, classical education develops those skills that are essential in higher education and throughout life – independent scholarship, critical thinking, logical analysis, and a love for learning.
For more information about Classical, Christian education right here in Santa Clarita, contact Trinity Classical Academy at 661-296-2601 or visit www.TrinityClassicalAcademy.com.

photo by Wally Caddow, Managing Director, Trinity Classical Academy