You know when someone's been to an inspirational conference by the glint in their eyes and the slew of new vocabulary now entering in each conversation they engage in. Graciously allow me a minute to either inspire or enervate you...
The Headmaster and I spent the better part of last week attending a conference hosted by the Society for Classical Learning in Williamsburg, VA. It will take some time yet for me to process all that I learned and absorbed through the featured speakers, of whom were Susan Wise Bauer, Tracy Lee Simmons, and Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute.
Of all the mind-spinning insights on education, history, and classicism that I could share here, I will only subject you to one, by Andrew Kern:
What you attend to will form itself into your soul; it determines everything about you.
I may never capably articulate the truths underlying Kern's statement in the context of education, but here is my feeble attempt at processing my thoughts:
The modern age values and finds at its source, "the appetites," while our founding fathers, drawing from the ancients, sought virtue and wisdom to govern the human intellect. The progressive, modern age is obsessed with change; classicism is obsessed with permanence. Therefore, as modern education seeks productivity through subject acquisition, classical education seeks mastery through paradigm formation. The soul (which is disregarded in education today) is where one forms truth and wisdom. So I ask: what are we attending to...what are we filling our soul with?
Alright. I got that off my chest and feel better now. Thank you.
I do sense that we are at the crossroads of change and even may be a part of what will be the shaping of this country's educational history. Take courage--change happens one soul at a time.
Attend to your child's soul today with that which is truth. For me, that begins first with me attending to my own.
