(A picture of the last group of Liberal Artists sent out by Veritas Academy!)

If you are like me, the word “liberal” can be a loaded phrase. Today, in political jargon it is often associated with an approach to the world that involves big government wading in to fix things. Too often this does not work. The word liberal has gotten a bad rap.

In the ancient world, the word “liberal” meant something more like the word “liberating.” At least that is what it meant in education! The Greeks believed that man was trapped in ignorance and had to be liberated if he was to experience a full and free life. The Greeks finally decided on Seven Liberal Arts. If a person learned these arts (or skills), then he would be a fully formed human ready to experience life in its fullness. They divided the Liberal Arts up into two categories:

The Trivium: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric
The Quadrivium: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy

(We will talk more about these in future posts.)

One of the great advantages of classical education is that it has a set of skills that it works into everything it does. It prepares students not for a particular job but instead for life. It prepares them by giving them a set of skills. It prepares them for life. The goals of classical education have not changed substantially for 2500 years.

Its outcomes are well know: classical Athens was built on classical education, the Roman Republic was built on classical education, the Middle Ages in its monasteries and (eventually) its Universities kept classical education alive through barbarian invasions, the Reformation brought great changes but it kept much of the educational curriculum settled (the Reformers of France and Germany were incredible, classically educated scholars and the English Puritans were at points so educationally apt that their abilities strain belief). This classical education was brought to America. The American Founders were educated in this same tradition. Our country was founded on a classical education.

The great advantage is this: classical education has a settled aim. Technology might change (and does ceaselessly). We might learn more (and we do). Classical education, however, keeps its eye on the skill sets (the arts) being inculcated into the student. This focus is a crucial reason why classical education works better than any other form of education!

Next: What's Christ got to do with the Liberal Arts?