I’d like you to picture a young student sitting in a classroom. The subject is Introductory Spanish. On the blackboard is written the name of the teacher and the agenda for today’s class: “Pop quiz”. Our teacher stands at the head of the class and calls on each student in turn. “Michael, answer question 14.” …
Why the Grammar-Translation Method Does Not Work (And What Does) Read More »
There is no metaphysical common ground between modern school and classical education. They may share some material similarities, but in essence, they are antithetical, founded on mutually exclusive views of human nature. The one operates as though man were an animal needing the right conditioning in order to meet so-called academic standards. The other operates …
Do definitions of “classical education” sound like the garbled message proudly announced by the player at the end of the line in a game of telephone? Well, that’s pretty much what is going on. Contemporary American notions of “classical education” have acquired so many distortions along the chain of transmission that if we hope to …
From its outset, the modern classical education movement has been primarily conceived as a reaction against the powerful progressive forces that shape our current educational landscape. Many of the foundational philosophical books in classical education begin with a chapter titled something like “Our Education Crisis” or “The Loss of Learning” or “The Failure of Modern …
If you looked closely enough, you could probably see rare tears running down the red faces and golden stubble of the camouflage-clad fathers in the audience of our school’s winter concert. The calloused and worn hands of working-class men clapped peals of thunder. When was the last time that these rural Midwesterners had heard school …
The Blind Guides of the Classical Education Movement Read More »
Many people have already noted that the coronavirus outbreak accelerated a variety of trends already occurring in the United States, and nowhere is this clearer than in education. With school-age children and college students alike consigned to Zoom School, parents and students improvised—both out of necessity, and out of the openness to change that necessity …
Editor’s Note: While surreptitiously rooting around in the Vatican Archives, an employee of one of those organizations that opposes spoken Latin and the principles of the natural approach (which we mention here), discovered a forgotten quaestio of none other than Thomas Aquinas, defending the use of conversational Latin contra the Grammar-Translation Method’s dogmatic adherents. Fearing …
In an exquisite passage about language learning, C. S. Lewis recounts his early forays into Ionic Greek, taught by the legendary William Kirkpatrick (a.k.a. “The Great Knock”). Lewis narrates what it was like to “cross the Rubicon” from incomprehension to fluency: We opened our books at Iliad, Book I. Without a word of introduction Knock …
Do Attic Greek and Koine Greek represent different eras, different dialects, or something else entirely? More importantly, which one should you learn? In this article, we will trace the development of Ancient Greek, clear up a few misconceptions, and explain how our approach to language learning equips our students to enjoy Greek literature from any …
What Is the Difference Between Koine Greek and Attic Greek? Read More »
One reason many people never master a language is that they simply don’t put in the time. Language acquisition happens gradually, and it takes many hours of exposure to be able to speak and interact confidently. If you’re looking for “one easy hack to go from zero to fluent in 10 days,” you’ll be disappointed. …
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