What is Classical Education? — Beautiful Teaching

Education in virtue is a kind of formation, a retraining of our dispositions. “Learning” virtue—becoming virtuous—is more like practicing scales on the piano than learning music theory: the goal is, in a sense, for your fingers to learn the scales so they can then play “naturally,” as it were. Learning here isn’t just information acquisition; it’s

Education in virtue is a kind of formation, a retraining of our dispositions. “Learning” virtue—becoming virtuous—is more like practicing scales on the piano than learning music theory: the goal is, in a sense, for your fingers to learn the scales so they can then play “naturally,” as it were. Learning here isn’t just information acquisition; it’s

Marsilio Ficino set out on an explicit mission to educate his city in the truths of Christian theology. He wished, with the help of the powerful and wealthy Medici family, to teach Florence about the Christly virtues of charity and compassion, courage and dignity of spirit. But he also understood that any such lessons would be largely ineffective i

Education is supposed to transform and build the character, mind, and body of the students.

The Renaissance education The most important purpose of education isn't getting a degree, nor is it memorizing a collection of facts in order to win on quiz shows. Education is supposed to transform and build the character, mind, and body of the students. The point of an education is to learn a systematic way of improving those aspects--exercising,

Ironically, this is true even for versions of Christian faith that are proclaimed “anti-intellectual.” Many modes of Christian piety and discipleship that are suspicious of formal theology and higher education are nonetheless “intellectualist” in how they approach discipleship and Christian formation, narrowly focused on filling our intellectual we