In this short article I will give a summary of the main points that were presented by Andrew Kern during his plenary session which is titled “Why We Need a Classical Renewal. This session was the opening session for the April 8-9 Conference organised by the CiRCE Institute.

Andrew first spoke about what is the purpose of classical education. Classical education which began in Ancient Greece is not a new technique nor is it another method. When the Romans encountered it they tried to preserve it. According to the CiRCE Institute, Classical Christian Education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on the true, good and beautiful so that in Christ the student is better able to know, glorify and enjoy God.

Whoever does not believe in the soul will not nurture it. Institutions involved in education act as if  there isn’t a soul or if they believe in a soul they don’t value it. Teachers around the world don’t prioritise wisdom, virtue, truth and beauty as they are not taught these when they are trained to become teachers. The classical tradition is a 3000 year tradition of thinking about how to nurture souls.

The question one may ask is what happened to classical education? According to Andrew Kern it began to be shaken in the sixteenth century during the period of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. There was a shift from virtue to method or technique. One can only recall the influence from Renee Descartes and Francis Bacon who brought about this seismic shift. Education became information, it became a method. Only virtue enables us to see. If you can’t see no method will save you.

Andrew then went on to speak about the materials that are essential for a classical education. These materials are broken down into ideas and memories.

The first idea is logocentrism. Classical education believes the world makes sense and that there is a logos, i.e. a unifying principle. For Christians it is Christ.

The second idea is humanism. Classical education has a high view of man. Man is seen as a noble creature, has a divine spark. For Christians man is created in the image of God.

The third idea is civilisation Classical educators take responsibility for Western Civilisation. Civitas meant citizenship in ancient Rome. The alternative to the city is the tribe. In a tribe what determines right or wrong is your identity with the tribe. In civil thinking the civil subordinates the tribe to the human community.

The fourth idea is the true, good and the beautiful and the fifth is adequateness.

With memories, the mother of the nine muses is Mnemosyne and she is mute. She has nine daughters who can sing and she depends on them for her expression. If we lose the Muses then we lose our memory and forget who we are and fall into despair.

Finally Andrew very briefly spoke about procedures. The procedures which are teaching, assessing, and governing are guided by harmony. These procedures include Socratic teaching and reading books to your kids.

A classical education in Australia will be different from a classical education in America or one offered in South Africa. It is important to continue the dialogue which has begun with this conference.  Let’s learn from each other, pray together and let’s continue to talk to each other.

For those of you are interested in exploring more, Andrew Kern has co-authored a book with Dr Gene Edward Veith called Classical Education The Movement Sweeping America . This book explains in greater detail the main points I have briefly summarised in this article and I highly recommend it.