Leigh Bortins covers the basics of classical education in The Core. After chapters discussing what's wrong with modern education and how a classical approach can help, she offers chapters on each element of a classical education core: reading, writing, math, geography, history, science, and fine arts. She offers the key tenets of, an approach to, and resources for teaching each subject.
"Classical education is analogous to brain training. When encountering new information, the brain must know how to store data (grammar), retrieve and process data (logic), and express data (rhetoric)." These three skills are the core of the approach- memorization, analytical, and communication skills. The ultimate goal of education, quoting Andrew Kern, is "the cultivation of wisdom and virtue, and it is accomplished by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty." The classical model seeks to do so by raising a "culture of clear thinkers." Bortins summarizes: "the ultimate goal in a classical education is to lead a child through knowledge and understanding to wisdom and virtue."
The book makes a lot of interesting points. The gist seemed to be "kids should know stuff," where stuff = basic facts about math, history, science, grammar, etc., and then learn to apply that stuff to further learning. I agree. However, it is a sales pitch for homeschooling via a specific method. At times, the generalizations (about the state of public education or the beauty of classical education) irritated me, as did the promises that 'anyone can do this' (the final chapter offering ideas for how to do this as single parents or two working parents seemed hollow indeed). I see the benefit of the approach, but felt the difficulties and drawbacks were inadequately addressed.
Rating: A-
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