Last week, I read a post on one of the online forums that I frequent. The poster was asking for clarification as to what exactly is Classical Education. She said that she thought it was memorization, copywork, and dictation. She was so bewildered to find many people talking about thinking on this forum. She didn't know that thinking was part of CE. This poster had read The Well Trained Mind but still was flabbergasted that thinking was a characteristic of Classical Education.
I have to admit I was at a loss after reading that post. That post has made me think more about Classical Education. In the past 10 years, CE has become the "It Education." Everyone wants their children to have a Classical Education. It sounds good to listening ears when you get to dangle that terminology. The problem is, though, that everyone is dubbing their form of education as classical, when in actuality, it really isn't that at all. CE has become so watered down in the last five years, that it is not recognizable from the education of the Ancients (on which CE is fashioned after.)
Private schools are very guilty of watering down CE. Many schools call themselves Classical, when in fact, traditional would be the label they should be getting. Many 'classical' schools do not teach latin, logic or rhetoric to their students yet they still slap that label on their sign in the front of their school. Homeschoolers are guilty of this as well. Many do not teach latin or logic but they still consider themselves CE.
This past week, I have read two blog posts that reiterates what I have just written. They just say it much better than I ever could. Lene, from Classical Writing, wonders if it is okay to do Classical Lite or, to have a Classical Education, does rigor need to accompany it?
Cindy, at Domion Family , laments about how CE has become watered down in the past few years. She has decided that she doesn't want to consider herself a classical homeschooler as it doesn't mean what it should mean anymore. Cindy wlll now call what she does as giving her children a 'true education.'
I like that term, 'true education.' From the view of others, I am sure that the kind of education that I am giving my children is not classical (at least in their eyes ) but I am definitely giving them a true education. I am giving them an education that shows all that is beautiful, true, and good. That is what I strive for and, for the most part, I think I do achieve that.
Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling her 3 chldren ((10,8,6) and is attempting to give them a Classical Education. You can read more at her blog.
