When considering curricula and practices of teaching in the classical Christian tradition, schools of thought with similar convictions to those stated in the Philosophy section typically emphasize the aspects of man which are unique to his nature. Historically, such learning would be based on piety, gymnastics, music, the seven liberal arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) and the four sciences (natural, humane, philosophical, and theological sciences) while engaging with the great works of one’s tradition. The emphases in the curriculum and culture of a school will vary because of its own unique makeup of board members, faculty, and parents; however, below we will look at the general overview of a curriculum and some practices in line with the classical Christian tradition.
Curriculum
It is important not to view the curriculum simply as the assemblage of “subjects”. Curriculum is the entire track which the student will be running or path which he will be traveling; it is the entire series of experiences and impressions which the child will be absorbing. It is best understood as paideia (Eph. 6:4), the path of enculturation which will inform the tastes, desires, and loves of the child. An understanding of place is an important part of the curriculum; the child will look at the walls, ceiling, flooring, the position of desks, the steel locks lining hallways, etc. Place is a constant statement about the values, beliefs, and commitments of the classroom and the school.[1] Many small schools must simply deal with the cards in their hand, this may mean classrooms are formed by dividers in a gym, a corner of the sanctuary, or even the nursery. No matter where a school is starting out, they must be aware of the aesthetic tastes being cultivated in the hearts of the children, even if the only major takeaway for the first few years is that a classical Christian education in an unexpected place is more beautiful than a secular progressive education in a spacious cog making factory.
Curriculum also includes the teachers, how they respond to children in the classroom and interact with other teachers throughout the day; the students are learning from everything in their environment. A very important part of getting a school off to a great start is the formation of a school culture. A school’s faculty should be made up of happy warriors. People who understand the seriousness of shaping other eternal creatures, who fight against the powers of sin and the devil, and do so with grins and belly laughs, trusting in the sovereignty of God. Yes, a classroom full of eight-year-olds that is intentionally organized to cultivate a love for truth, goodness, and beauty is considered a threat to Satan’s influence over this world. Students learn from the way teachers act in the classroom and outside the classroom, how they interact with one another and the things they hear being discussed. Students should see teachers who are studying and discussing true, good, and beautiful things themselves, for if such things are not still lovely when they grow up, why should they spend time caring about them now?
Formation, Skills, and Bodies of Knowledge
The curriculum is stated in the second part of my working definition as found in the last portion of the Defining Education page: Classical Christian education is the cultivation of biblical wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty, so that, the image of God might be restored in the student, and so that, in Christ they are better able to know, glorify, and enjoy God forever. This is done through teaching students piety, gymnastics, music, the liberal arts, and the natural, humane, philosophical, and theological sciences as they engage the great works of Western civilization.
Piety, gymnastics, and music are formative elements throughout the curriculum and are particularly important to emphasize early on. It is important to note that each of these formative elements impact one’s mind, body, and spirit, meaning both affections and actions should be emphasized.[2] Piety to the Romans may be understood as devotion to one’s gods, their family, and their country. I would suggest the cultivation of piety in the classical Christian curriculum be understood as devotion to God, family, and community (prioritizing the community of the local church). Gymnastics considers the entire physical health of the child by developing fine and gross motor skills through play, physical training, and athletics. Music is to be broadly considered as the use of poetry, drama, literature, and the fine arts. As Clark and Jain note, “The musical education was not primarily or exclusively about instruments and singing. Rather, it studied all the subjects in a poetic and precritical manner.”[3] Picture children singing a song with hand gestures about the kings of Israel; this would be an example of using music as a poetic form of learning in a child’s bible class. Learning of George Washington’s character through the legend of chopping down his father’s cherry tree is an example of learning musically in a precritical manner in history class. The more formal study of Music is pursued in the liberal arts.
The seven liberal arts are the arts of language and mathematics, they are the skills of thinking, and the tools of learning required for bringing harmony to the soul, to the community, and for further study of the four sciences. The liberal arts are divided into the “trivium” and the “quadrivium”. The trivium consists of the three language arts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric which interpret, assemble, and harmonize language. The quadrivium consists of the four mathematical arts of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy which interpret, assemble, and harmonize number (both multitude and magnitude). Sciences are bodies of knowledge; these bodies contain unifying philosophies and are made up of various branches of study within them (these branches are what most people think of today when describing subjects). Natural science is what is commonly referred to as “science” today and contains branches such as biology, chemistry, and physics. Humane science includes study in areas such as ethics, aesthetics, politics, economics, history, and literature. The science of philosophy consists of metaphysics and epistemology (considering the nature of reality and man’s ability to know it). Last is the science of theology, often referred to as, “Queen of the Sciences” due to its importance. Theology informs every part of the curriculum, however as a body of knowledge theology is the study of divine revelation. A K-12 school will certainly involve philosophy and theology especially as they relate to the Great Books/humane science, and bible classes. However, more in depth mastery of philosophy and theology as sciences will need to be acquired through additional education past the K-12 grade levels.
The final piece of the stated definition of education, states that students engage the great works of Western civilization. What is meant here is that the curriculum includes art, music, and texts which contribute to the Great Conversation of transcendent ideas. This “Great Conversation” is a dialogue of ideas characterized by a spirit of inquiry and is uniquely Western. No other civilization can compare with the West in the number of great works which have contributed to such a dialogue[4]. At the same time, as this is not simply a Western classical philosophy of education but a Christian one as well, Christ is the logos, the unifying principle of all knowledge. This means that the philosophy and methods in line with the classical Christian tradition are universal principles and therefore may be universally applied. Those outside of the Western World would do well to participate in the classical Christian tradition (many currently are!) and add the use of their best works. For each person is responsible for being the best citizen or member of their particular community and should therefore understand the story of their own community. Yet, in order to receive an education consisting of the greatest works, and especially for Christians needing to know their forefathers of the faith, Western civilization must be emphasized.
Incorporating Common and Fine Arts
Such a K-12 curriculum may retain the teaching of common arts (technical skills/trades) in order to serve a higher good (serving the community); it does not however seek to train in specific skills for the sake of employment. Vocational training is truly good, but it serves higher goods and without a humane education one may lack the qualities which distinguish man from beast. The curriculum should attempt to integrate some of the common arts into other areas of study while encouraging students to learn vocational skills from family, family friends, and the church family. However, as it regards the heart of K-12 education, piety and the liberal arts are prioritized.[5] The young man who is taught to fear the Lord, seek wisdom, and live virtuously while being able to read, think, write, and speak well, is no less suited for an apprenticeship or technical college than 12th graders whose entire education prioritized test taking and vocational training while withholding the nourishment of truth, goodness, and beauty from their souls. John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) shares similar sentiments as he describes the importance of educating youth in all areas of life, “In short, the purpose for which youth ought to be educated is threefold: Faith and Reverence; Uprightness in Morals, Knowledge of Language and Arts. These are to be taken however, in the precise order in which they here appear, and not inversely…”[6] The priority is to order the affections toward God for, “To be human is to love, and it is what we love that defines who we are.[7]
The fine arts, are in a similar position as the common arts in the curriculum. The fine arts are the fruit of the liberal arts’ use of common arts (which also emphasizes the importance of the liberal arts).[8] Though not the center of the curriculum, the fine arts are related to the formative nature and the liberal art of music; they should be integrated inside and encouraged outside the curriculum where possible. More thought on integrating the common and fine arts does need to take place but providing an extensive education in each of these areas would be overwhelming and students would gain mastery over nothing; it may be within reach of boarding schools but with a biblical understanding of the family and the local church, the school must not consume the child’s life. Yet, one can easily see how a nature sketchbook integrates the natural sciences with drawing, or how learning architecture and plumbing techniques may be used in a history lesson on Rome’s aqueducts or city planning. Some have attempted integration by requiring all students to contribute to an annual school play or musical, incorporating both the common and fine arts through participating in stage crew and/or the performance.
Practices
Some general practices which naturally lend themselves to such a curriculum are the use of liturgy, catechism, mimetic teaching, and Socratic dialogue. The use of a daily liturgy intentionally orients the child’s understanding of life toward their Creator. Upon arrival at school children might recite a prayer, sign a hymn, and participate in responsive scripture reading. The school may also pray together before lunch and at the end of the day. Every classroom has a mini liturgy throughout the day which includes prayer, chants, singing, and memorization. These school and class liturgies are intentionally done with beauty, joy, and order as they shape the child’s soul daily.
Catechism is certainly to be used for learning the doctrines of the Christian faith, but teachers may also develop their own for each class. The catechism typically contains the most important questions and answers which will be covered throughout the year, so that if the child were to forget everything else he learned in class that year but the catechism questions, he would still have some important and beautiful things in his soul. These class catechisms may include timelines, facts, important quotes, or poetry related to the class.
Classroom instruction may be summarized as the teacher incarnating little “l” logos’ with the hope that one day the student will be able to recognize the big “L” Logos.[9] That is to say, if all things live, move, and have their being in Christ, He is the ultimate form to which all of our learning points. In the tradition of Christ incarnating Himself so that we might understand God, teachers take ideas and make them understandable for their students, increasing their ability to understand more abstract ideas as they progress toward the science of theology. This is done through mimetic and Socratic teaching
Mimetic teaching helps the student learn through imitation. Humans learn by moving from the concrete to abstract ideas. So the teacher must take the idea (small “l” logos) which they wish to teach and incarnate it, providing a model/type/lesson which the student can understand. The student must demonstrate that they can imitate the lesson (master it) before they can move on to a more difficult or abstract type to imitate. Socratic dialogue is used when a student is unable to replicate what is being taught or to clarify the student’s understanding. Never answering a question which a student is able to discover himself, the teacher guides the student through a deconstruction of what they already know and then guides them toward answering the problem themselves.[10] Mimetic teaching then resumes, and the student demonstrates the ability to imitate the lesson before progressing to something more difficult.
Originally written for Sunday School teacher’s in 1884, John Milton Gregory’s Seven Laws of Teaching serve as a model pedagogy within the classical Christian tradition. Note, there are a few editions and even free editions on the internet but some of Gregory’s colleagues at the University of Illinois made revisions, including taking out references to Christ and Scripture. I recommend the edition printed by Veritas Press which is the original work. Now, to summarize Gregory’s work:
The Law of the Teacher: The teacher must know that which he would teach and teach from a full mind and clear understanding.
The Law of the Learner: A learner is one who attends with interest to the lesson. The teacher works to attract attention at the start of the lesson and works to maintain it throughout; do not teach without the learner’s attention.
The Law of Language: The teacher uses clear language and vocabulary common to both and appropriate to the level of the student’s understanding.
The Law of the Lesson: The lesson to be mastered must be explicable in the terms of truth already known by the learner. The teacher structures the lesson so that the unknown is taught from the known.
The Law of Teaching: Teaching is arousing and using the pupil’s mind to grasp the desired thought or to master the desired art. The teacher allows the pupil to discover the truth for himself and tells him nothing which he cannot learn for himself.
The Law of Learning: Learning is thinking into one’s own understanding a new idea or truth, or working into habit a new art or skill. The teacher requires the pupil to reproduce in thought the lesson he is learning – thinking it out in its various phases and applications till he can express it in his own language.
The Law of Review: The test and proof of teaching done – the finishing and fastening process – is reviewing, rethinking, reknowing, reproducing, and applying material that has been taught. The teacher then, must review, review, review, reproducing the old, deepening its impression with new thought, linking it with added meanings, finding new applications, correcting any false views, and completing the true.
Notes:
[1] My understanding of “place” and “curriculum” have been heavily influenced by Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute over the years through articles, conferences, and podcasts. I don’t where these words of place and curriculum originally came from but I have them jotted down with his name next to them and need to give him credit.
[2] Kevin Clark and Ravi Scott Jain, The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Camp Hill, PA: Classical Academic Press, 2019), 30-31.
[3] Ibid., 5.
[4] Robert M Hutchins, The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, 1989).
[5] Ibid., 253.
[6] D. Bruce Lockerbie, A Passion for Learning: A History of Christian Thought on Education (Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications, 2007), 180-81.
[7] James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 51.
[8] Clark and Jain, The Liberal Arts Tradition, 251-53ish
[9] Andrew Kern, “Teaching Like Christ,” unpublished notes (Circe Institute Pre-Conference, Summer, 2019).
[10] John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching (Lancaster, PA: Veritas Press, 2004), 100.
The Classical Christian Tradition 