A Stronger Foundation
Classical education as a methodology requires different mental functions from that of “image learning” (tv, videos and pictures.) As Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Well-Trained Mind (2004) states, “Images, such as those on videos and television, allow the mind to be passive.” While television and movies are a part of most children’s lives today, we at Hunter feel that “language learning” should be emphasized. Bauer points out that in “language learning” (reading and writing) a child’s mind is tasked with converting symbols into something useful such as words and sentences, and is thus challenged to express thought more concretely. We feel that classical, language-based learning encourages the child to become more a precise thinker.
In classical education, the study of history — what has been done, thought and accomplished by others, be they individuals or civilizations — takes on great importance. The chronological record of eras is examined, from the ancients progressing forward in time to the moderns. Connections, comparisons and evaluations of the belief systems and those who hold them, in politics, science, literature, art and music, shape the student’s ability to analyze his or her own age and face the uncertain challenges of the future.
See Susan Wise Bauer for more about Classical education in The Well-Trained Mind (2004) and The Well-Educated Mind (2003.) See also E.D. Hirsch’s work in cultural literacy and Douglas O. Wilson’s, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (1991.)
