From the Late Summer edition of The Classical Teacher: The progymnasmata, a Greek word that translates as “the before exercises,” encompassed the pre-rhetoric study of all the educated West from ancient Greece to Paul, from Quintilian, Aphthonius, Augustine, and Aquinas up until Lewis and Tolkien. Because our Christian philosophy and expression are so steeped in this tradition, it might Read more…
In his now out of print book Great Ideas from the Great Books, Mortimer Adler, late editor of The Encyclopedia Britannica and the The Great Books of the Western World, points out that, contrary to common opinion, the liberal arts have quite a lot to do with science and innovation. Read more…
Jacques Barzun was one of the great humanities scholars of the 20th century. Among his many achievements were several classic books on education and teaching, books such as Teacher in America (1945) and Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning (1991). In Begin Here, Barzun discusses where educational nonsense Read more…
In an article published just last month, Hillsdale College’s E. J. Hutchinson discusses William Hazlitt’s great essay “On Reading Old Books.” As Hutchinson points out, many Christians are familiar with C. S. Lewis’ “On the Reading of Old Books” (and those who aren’t should be). But although the titles are Read more…
The Greek government, in an attempt to reform education, has decided to drop Latin and replace it with sociology, and a few people are not very happy about it. But the interesting thing is the reason critics are giving for keeping it. According to the account at ekathimerini.com: Education Minister Costas Read more…
One of the great American classical scholars was Basil Gildersleeve (1831-1924) of South Carolina. E.J. Hutchinson, associate professor of Classics and director of the Collegiate Scholars Program at Hillsdale College, writes in The American Conservative of how Gildersleeve, writing around the turn of the century, had already anticipated the contest between Read more…
In the spring issue of the Classical Teacher magazine, in the Letter from the Editor, I wrote about the Villa of the Papyri, the home of Julius Caesar’s father, Calpurnius Piso. The villa had been buried underneath the ashes of the erupting Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., and with it Read more…
Every story, long or short, has five dimensions. They are usually called its 1) plot, 2) characters, 3) setting, 4) style, and 5) theme. We could call them respectively, the story’s 1) work, 2) workers, 3) world, 4) words, and 5) wisdom. “Philosophy” means “the love of wisdom.” So a Read more…
If you are interested in the Classic Learning Test’s CLT10, the deadline for registering for the Sept. 18 test date is Sept. 14. The CLT10 is a preparatory exam available to 9th and 10th grades and offers scholarship opportunities through the National Association of Scholars. The Classical Latin School Association Read more…
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Katherine Bindley writes of the debate over whether exclamation marks are overused. It is an issue teachers in particular should read, they being among the most cavalier of exclamation mark users. How many times have you seen a note from a teacher that reads, “You Read more…