What are the Key Differences Between Classical and Non-Classical Schools?

#1 What is the Purpose of Education?

This is the first in a series of brief articles to help parents and educators who are either unfamiliar with or new to classical education understand the key differences between classical schools and non-classical schools. As you read more about the tried and true philosophy and methods of classical education, we invite you to come for a tour and see for yourself what sets us apart and how this education will put your child on a path for success in anything and everything they do in life.

The fundamental difference between classical and non-classical education begins with what a school believes is the purpose of education. Classical education originated in the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. The word ‘classical’ comes from the Latin word classicus, “of or belonging to the highest order” - first class. Historically, classical education is the study of ancient Greek and Roman culture (history, philosophy, literature, and art) with explicit instruction in Greek and Latin, the two great languages of the classical world. [1]

The ancients thought deeply about the purpose of education. The Greek philosopher Plato likened education to the blueprint of a ship that will guide children best through the voyage of life. In this, they considered two fundamental questions. First, what is the purpose of a human being? Second, what is the purpose of life? They believed that the fundamental purpose of education is to cultivate human excellence or ‘arete’ (virtue), in young people, to achieve full human flourishing and a life of ‘eudaimonia’ (happiness).(happiness). [2] 

The emphasis was on teaching children how to learn while developing intellectual, moral, and civic virtue. The purpose of classical education is to encourage curiosity and wonder in students while teaching them to know what is true, do what is good, and love what is beautiful.   

In most schools today, the purpose of education has become decidedly pragmatic and utilitarian. We are not here to be cogs in a wheel and education should be more than just training boys and girls to be “college and career ready” (although classical education will prepare students best for that as well). We believe, as the ancients did, that the acquisition of wisdom and the cultivation of virtue are the central tasks of education. The goal of classical education is threefold: to fill and enlarge the character and spirit of young children; to develop free thinkers who can govern themselves with a moral compass; to develop adults who possess clarity of thought and precision of language to articulate themselves in a thoughtful, persuasive manner with the patience and desire to understand the world around them, regardless of their interests or future field of endeavor.

Today, children are going through an education system, but they are not being truly educated. One instructional fad after another and countless spending on education, has produced lackluster results. We see the ramifications of young people who do not have a proper primary education, even adults with high school and college degrees who are not culturally literate about their heritage and who cannot articulate themselves in a thoughtful or persuasive manner. While education trends and fads come and go, the classical philosophy of education is timeless and still relevant.

This is not a new approach. On the contrary, we are returning to an academic model by which the majority of history’s greatest minds were educated and was the predominant form of education in the West and the United States before the industrial model of public education came about in the 19th century; begun by the Greeks and Romans, developed through the medieval and Renaissance periods, and now being renewed and recovered in the 21st century.

Classical education is the inculcation of wisdom and virtue through a facility with the liberal arts and returns education to its original purpose - disciplining the mind toward a lifelong pursuit of wisdom while cultivating a child’s humanity and preparing them to live a rich, thoughtful, and virtuous life. [3]

[1] Tracy L. Simmons, Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2002), p.13.

[2] Gene Edward Veith, Jr., and Andrew Kern, Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America (Washington, D.C.: Capital Research Center, 2015), p.13.

[3] Martin Cothran, “Classical Education is More Than A Method” in The Recovery of Education: Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time (Louisville, KY, Memoria Press 2018), p. 11.