“The Case for a Classical Approach Toward Learning at Blessed Sacrament “ by Jim Grogan We will be soon entering the third year of offering a limited classical “enrichment” curriculum to our students in grades k-5. Students have been reading books according to a classical theme or memorizing classical poetry for recitation as a part of the poetry club. I feel confident in saying that the time spent by these participating students has been worth the effort. What, then, does a classical philosophy look like in its entirety? Surprisingly, a classical curriculum is closer to the current Blessed Sacrament core curriculum than one might think. In the lower grades (K-5), a heavy emphasis is placed on the “Grammar”, or the language of learning. By “grammar” I don’t just mean the study of nouns and verbs. Classical learning is based on acquiring an entire set of learning formations skills, including (but not limited to) phonics, Math facts, history and geographical skills, English grammar, foreign languages, and scientific explanations. The pursuit of real knowledge is dependent on knowing this “language of learning”. This wonderful body of knowledge is not looked at as facts or skills that are ends in themselves, but as setting the stage for students to grow in the love of learning the Truth. In today’s world of standards and high stakes testing, our desire to be ready to “master” the benchmarks sometimes overshadows the need for students to be naturally immersed in this world of discovery. In a classical curriculum, a greater value is placed on slowly developing and reinforcing a love for the imagery and insights contained in the “great books” (including poems, biographies, and fairy tales) that Catholics who love tradition and beauty consider so necessary to a well-rounded education. These classics also contain the best example of language spoken properly and used to its fullest potential. Children at this age are like sponges. Here is an opportunity to fill their minds with worthwhile information and to spark their imaginations to ponder the beauty of God’s kingdom. Here also is an opportunity to have their entire education reflect a Judeo/Christian perspective. In the modern era of constant busyness and activities, children are sometimes not given enough opportunity to explore and experience the timeless and profound. We underestimate the desirability of playing make-up games outside or of free time in a home or school library just to browse. These methods of developing an interior life carry over to school and to a child’s ability to think above and beyond what is impulsively experienced or hyper-stimulating. Some students need more coaxing than others to pursue the most worthwhile activities during the course of a day. Assuming the child has hardly any access to TV or video games and that he/she is given appropriate chores to do at home, it shouldn’t be that hard to get them interested in what a classical curriculum has to offer. Yet, rigor is equally important to developing a love of learning as is nurturing the natural curiosity of the child (read: “don’t let them fool you, they can do much more and go much further than you think!!!”). Whether or not a student has been given enough rigor in their studies especially becomes evident as the student reaches 6th grade and enters into the Logic, or analytical, part of the classical Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric). In this stage, students study analytical thought and learn how to apply analysis to specific situations. Anyone who has had the chance to witness our students progress into the higher level thinking skills that they are presented with in our Middle School curriculum has witnessed students learning at this stage of the Trivium. Whether we have done everything we can up to this point to immerse the students in the essence of a classical curriculum and have them ready for its next stage at Kapaun (Rhetorical) is another question. Do we need to change anything then, if we are a traditional Catholic school with a modern curriculum and a fledgling desire to incorporate a classical curriculum as much as possible? Obviously, I think we do need to look at change. Private Catholic academies, traditional Catholic schools and Catholic homeschoolers have flocked to classical curriculums with great success (often times after giving up on curriculums which were too progressive and subject oriented). A first start would be to commit to learning from them more about the benefits of a classical curriculum. Secondly, we could slowly work on providing our students with more classical learning experiences (i.e. by reviewing book lists and adopting as possible a more “great books” flavor to our reading curriculum, by changing our curriculum to include an earlier study of Greek and Roman history, and by including more memorization of literature and poetry). If we were to do so, I believe we would be giving our students the best possible foundation for learning. For a wonderful example of 5th grade reading selections you can download (and read for
Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well Trained Mind is a great example of the classical philosophy
recommended web-sites link under Parents at www.blessedsacramentwichita.com .
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