Is Classical Education Practical?

Is classical education practical? I suppose it depends on what we mean by the question. In modern times, a practical education is usually synonymous with one focused on job preparation. Students are educated in order to join the workforce and be economically successful. 

But job preparation is not the only way an education can be deemed practical. Another avenue is life skills training. Students trained in life skills are introduced to the basics of keeping a budget, changing a flat tire, using a washing machine, investing in the stock market, shopping for groceries, mowing the lawn, and so forth. It would seem that an education that prepares students to handle situations they will encounter throughout life, regardless of economic output, is practical.

In either sense of the word, it is not clear that classical education is practical. Classical educators promise to prepare their graduates to do more than make a living or hone a skill. In fact, classical educators critique these purposes of education as falling short of an older and richer way of thinking about education. In the classical tradition, education was about forming humans to be virtuous, not merely to receive a paycheck.

Despite classical education’s lack of focus on job preparation or life skill training, I propose in this article that it is practical. Please do not misunderstand my intentions. I am not compelled to make this case because I view practicality as the god of the age that must be appeased. Rather, I am constructing the argument that classical education is practical because as I study contemporary society, particularly its greatest problems, it seems to me that classical education offers the most practical solutions. For this reason, I believe that classical education is, in fact, practical. 

In the remainder of this article, I will lay out three problems in contemporary society and then demonstrate how classically-educated students are best equipped with the skills, knowledge, and virtues necessary to navigate these problems with success.

Information Overload

One major problem that plagues contemporary society is information overload. We have more information at our fingertips than ever before, and yet, it is growing harder and harder to discern truth from falsehood. 

The rise of the term “fake news” gives credence to precisely this problem. In a previous era, referencing the news would serve as sufficient justification for one’s belief on a matter. The news was taken to be trustworthy, reliable, and sufficiently unbiased. But in 2021, this is no longer the case. With the plethora of news outlets and online sources of information, we must now sort through real news from all the rest.

This sort of discernment not only takes training in how to research on the internet. It requires wisdom. Training will help internet users differentiate between reliable web pages from deceptive ones. But only wisdom can lead a person to actually choose the wise over the foolish, thereby navigating the complexities of personal bias, appeals to emotion, and clever marketing techniques with a truth-oriented compass.

Classical education teaches students to engage critically with ideas through extended discussions and opportunities to dive deeply into complex topics. Through studying logic, reading difficult literature, writing on complex concepts, and debating opposing viewpoints, students are exposed to all sorts of information. They then learn how to organize it into helpful categories. Classical education graduates are not strangers to opposing arguments, contested views, and heated debates. On the contrary, they are formed through such experiences. 

Increasing Hostility in Public Discourse

A second major problem that plagues contemporary society is increasing hostility towards those we disagree with in public discourse. To be clear, our world is no stranger to polarization. For as long as humans have attempted to live together, different camps have taken opposing viewpoints on controversial matters. Research any era and you will find polarized division between people groups on matters of religion, politics, and moral issues. 

So why does our cultural moment feel especially tense? One reason is the problem of information overload I described above. We are bombarded with information and it is often used, especially in social media, to attack one particular person or group. But a deeper reason is that society has lost the ability to disagree with civility. We view the people who see the world differently than us as pure evil. We vilify these individuals both privately and publicly as living contrary to human flourishing. Unsurprisingly, due to this posture, hostility is given soil to grow.

Whether it is historically true or not, many people feel that our culture is more divided than ever. How do we navigate such times? The solution to such hostile division, I suggest, is not to let go of strongly held opinions. Nor is it to become suave diplomats. The solution is to train students to analyze controversial subjects rationally, seek to understand the opposing view, and then communicate the truth with eloquence. These young men and women will be equipped to passionately disagree while doing so with unmistakeable kindness. As the Gospel of John puts it, they will serve as conduits of both grace and truth.

Classical education forms students to serve as agents of reconciliation in a hostile world through inviting them into what intellectual historians call the Great Conversation. In this conversation, all ideas are on the table for discussion. It is a time-tested journey toward wisdom through a study of the greatest minds who ever lived. It is a curriculum that includes poetry and plays, theological treatises and philosophical essays, passionate speeches, scientific explorations, and dramatic narratives. Through immersing students in these texts, students are formed in both humility and courage to approach complex issues with empathy and a winsome spirit.

Confusion Over What it Means to be Human

Finally, contemporary society is plagued by anthropological confusion. That is, our world has lost sight of the nature of human beings and how they are to live. The most well-known example of this today is the confusion over gender, sexuality, and the meaning of marriage. Two decades ago, the current questions posed in the public square would be unintelligible. Today, however, we are inundated with messages about the fluidity of gender and the inherent goodness of all romantic relationships.

I contend that it is not enough for Christian parents to train their children what to believe on these topics, though this is certainly important. Nor is it enough to train their children why they believe what they do. What students of Generation Z and beyond need, in addition to the “what” and the “why,” is training in the “how.” That is, they need to be trained in process: how to go about forming beliefs about human beings that are good, true, and that align with scripture.

In classical education, students are equipped in the classical liberal arts, the tools for fashioning true knowledge. Imagine telling someone to paint a painting without giving him a paintbrush and paints. Or imagine telling a carpenter to make a table without supplying him with a hammer. Without tools, production is impossible. Likewise, when it comes to knowledge, that is, justified true belief, students need certain tools. They need to master how words and numbers serve as the basis for understanding reality. Moreover, they need time to interact with knowledge, to play with it, so to speak, in order to align their minds with a reliable process for belief formation.

I am not claiming that the liberal arts alone are the key to forming proper views about human nature. Certainly, enculturation is an important factor, especially enculturation through relationships with wise mentors. But I do believe that the classical liberal arts, especially the Trivium, are the key to helping students learn how to think through complex issues. This includes how to think about matters of human nature, gender, and sexuality.

Conclusion

It may appear on the surface that classical education is not practical. As students recite poetry, memorize states and capitals, read The Aeneid, parse Latin verbs, study the history of science alongside the experiments they conduct, and translate arguments into syllogisms, one may conclude that there are more practical ways to spend the school day. 

But when one considers how these different elements are coming together to form wise and virtuous people, I suggest they reconsider. The truth is that classical education is practical. Our contemporary society needs more than lawyers, scientists, and engineers to solve its deepest problems. It needs men and women, steeped in a tradition as old as the world itself, and educated with the skills, knowledge, and virtues to live and lead in grace and truth.