Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer - What is Classical Education?
Quote
"I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money." – Ray Bradbury
Notes and Key Takeaways
- Maybe the reason you don't have any money is because a college or university took it all, and didn't give you a real education in return.
- If you're still interested in educating yourself, there is a method that most people used for centuries before modern day universities. It's called a classical education.
- Classical education is a system of self-education that focusses on reading the classics, writing notes about them, and talking about them with your friends.
- The system is a little more formal than just that. It's based on something called the Trivium, which has three stages of learning. Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Grammar is where you absorb the basic facts and stories of a period or writer. Logic is where you ask why it happened and see how one thing is connected with another. Rhetoric is where you say what you think about it all. You don't really need to remember any of that. Read, keep notes, have something to say about it all.
- Classical education is focussed on language, ie books, writing and conversation. There are a few reasons for this.
- One: books are what give us access to the greatest writers and thinkers who ever lived, including people from thousands of years ago. As Susan Wise Bauer says, "Reading alone allows us to reach out beyond the restrictions of time and space to take part ... in the ideas that began in ancient times and have continued unbroken to the present."
- Two: Language, as opposed to images, forces your brain to work harder. Translating symbols into ideas and concepts is a heavier lift than images that do a lot of the work for you. The reason watching TV is easier than reading a book is because it's less work for your brain and lets you be passive.
- Writing a summary of what you've read in your own words is a really good way to demonstrate your understanding. Practicing your own writing is an important part of the process.
- Following an historical timeline is a good way to organize your reading. A classical education curriculum begins with ancient books from ancient history and works its way up to the present, experiencing the evolution of literature, science, philosophy, history and human civilization along the way.
- With this system, there's no separation between any of the subjects like there is in university. Developments in literature, philosophy and science happen within historical periods and contexts. Reading through great books through their historical timeline lets you see the way these subjects all interrelate with each other, as opposed to keeping them apart in different fields and specialties.
- Reading these books can be a bit tricky, but really they're not that bad. If you can read Harry Potter you can probably read Plato, too. Make sure to skip the scholarly introduction/preface unless it was written by the author. Don't let an expert tell you how you should think about a book before you read it for yourself. And if you come to a section you don't understand, it's okay to skip and keep going. You can always go back and review that part again later if you want.
- Another great thing to have is a friend you can talk about all these great books with. I clearly don't have any or else maybe I'd be talking to them instead of doing this.
- No matter who you are or where you are in life, you can give yourself a classical education. Why not give it a try?