Educating Humans

Continuing the miniseries on The Abolition of Man, this episode concludes the discussion of the first chapter of the book, by leading into an explanation of what Lewis calls the Tao - the recognition that there is objective value in the world. The chapter concludes by commenting on the parodic tragicomedy wherein we laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst, the exact situation that an education that ignores the reality of the Tao will automatically create.

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

In part two of the mini-series on C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man, Difff and James discuss what it means to teach objective value, and how even the attempt to teach from a purely subjectivist approach cannot escape the fact that there is no value-neutral education. 

All education is formational, and as Lewis quotes Aristotle: "the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought." This is the concept of ordo amoris, a vital piece to the foundation of Classical Education.

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

In the first in a series of episodes looking at C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man, we read about the (possibly) unintended impacts that can smuggle their way into a classroom. These hidden philosophical and anthropological positions end up shaping young people to see the world a certain way. Lewis argues for the existence of objective value in the world, with the necessary correlative being that sometimes, our feelings might be wrong.

If you're interested in education and have never read The Abolition of Man, drop everything and have a read.

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Having looked briefly at the history and curriculum of Classical Education, this episode discusses a broad overview of some of the main pedagogical principles of Classical Education, including: Make Haste Slowly, Much Not Many, Repetition is the Mother of Memory and the concept of Schole.

There are plenty of great resources online that go into these principles in more detail. One of the best is from Dr Christopher Perrin, and can be found here.

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Difff and James go into a broad overview of what we mean by the terms Classical and Liberal Arts Education. As a general historical overview we discuss the Seven Liberal Arts of Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music & Astronomy, as well as the Great Books approach and a focus on the humanities of History, Literature, Philosophy and Theology.

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

James recounts his educational journey from being a capable yet apathetic student who did the bare minimum, to someone who loved learning and was excited about the good the true and the beautiful.  How did a teenage boy who thought school was just about getting a job, and passing was all that mattered, grow up to choose to do a seemingly 'useless' degree like a Bachelor of Liberal Arts?

Our focus on usefulness alone has come at the cost of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. But as John Henry Newman wrote, "though the useful is not always good, the good is always useful."

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Difff and James discuss the purpose of education. Is it primarily about 'getting a job'? Or should it be something more than that?

There are a whole bunch of assumptions about education. Everyone has been to school and (pretty much) everyone's kids go to school, so whether conscious or not, we all feel like we know what schooling is all about. But it's the unspoken and unconscious assumptions that rarely get questioned, and they're precisely the ideas that we should question the most.

On the premise that every pedagogy (way of teaching) stems from an anthropology (understanding of what it means to be human), Difff and James pull apart these assumptions, and point to the importance of keeping humanity front and centre in the educational journey.

Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the past to help make sense of the present.

And James' other podcast: The Art of Inquiry, inquiries into the nature of the world and humanity with expert level guests passionate about their field.

Music: Inspiring Dreams by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Please consider becoming a founding donor for St John Henry Newman College, a new independent classical school in South Brisbane.

Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0