New Library Topic: What is Education?

Our new topic What is Education? explores philosophical perspectives on the purpose of education, from ancient to modern.

One crucial question to ask about the current state of education in this country is whether it is based upon the right foundations. The ancient or classical approach to education views it as a process of, above all, instilling virtue. Through an emphasis on self-discipline, self-responsibility and self-command, man is taught how to discover what is right. By contrast, modern views, such as those of the Progressives, advocate that education should be child-centered and directed, training the student to develop specific skills rather than a systematic way of acquiring knowledge.

Yet, it is that ability of systematic study that, as Susan Wise Bower puts it,

"...allows the student to join what Mortimer Adler calls the ‘Great Conversation’ — the ongoing conversation of great minds down through the ages. Much modern education is so eclectic that the student has little opportunity to make connections between past events and the flood of current information. ‘The beauty of the classical curriculum,’ writes classical schoolmaster David Hicks, ‘is that it dwells on one problem, one author, or one epoch long enough to allow even the youngest student a chance to exercise his mind in a scholarly way: to make connections and to trace developments, lines of reasoning, patterns of action, recurring symbolisms, plots, and motifs.’” 

That continuous conversation about the great thinkers of the ages is also what keeps fresh in our minds the principles upon which a free society is built: individual and economic liberty, private property, personal responsibility, equality under the law, and non-coercion. We can only hope to successfully pass on those principles to the next generation through the right approach to education.

Check out all the other great topics we have in our library. Special thanks to our intern Annie Holmquist who created this topic! If you are interested in becoming an intern at IT, contact us here.