Liberal Education

"This dedication to liberal education is borne of the understanding that it is liberal education traditionally understood that leads men to freedom and happiness. Hand in hand with this understanding of liberal education is the acknowledgement that freedom and happiness do not mean license and pleasure.  Rather, freedom and happiness are found in the life of virtue.

"The discussion throughout the history of Western civilization regarding all aspects of men’s souls, science, and experiences, has taken place within the written works of writers such as Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Galileo and Newton. Based on statements and responses, proposals and contradictions, these works are an ordered discussion which spans three millennia. They examine man’s relation to himself, his community, his world, and his Creator. To take the time to listen to this discussion by reading these great works, one cannot help but be led to greater appreciation, greater wonder, and greater understanding of what it means to be human.

“It is necessary to call into council the views of our predecessors in order that we may profit by whatever is sound in their suggestions and avoid their errors.” - Dr. Mortimer J. Adler

"The great books which have formed men, communities, and even nations, have done so in different forms. Whether that form is the philosophy of Aristotle, the poetry of Shakespeare, or the politics of Rousseau, readers are continually challenged to grasp, evaluate, and judge works of great depth and complexity. Yes, these works are often hard to read.

"Yet, just as a blade is sharpened on a hard stone, so too are intellects sharpened on hard books. The result being the ability to cut through the noise and confusion found in the world, and see in its place order and understanding. However, if one only reads these works, one is participating in a one-sided conversation.

"Calling the body of work known as the great books a “conversation” is obviously not entirely metaphorical. There is indeed a written conversation within these books. Yet, it is the very real and verbal conversation regarding these works, that takes place between students today, that advances the knowledge and understanding of our students, our community, and our culture. As with most lofty and profound matters, the Great Ideas are understood best in discussions and disputations.

"It is a fact of life that when most people hear the word “liberal,” they think of politics. When they hear “liberal arts,” they think of liberal politics. And depending on their own political leanings, “liberal” in the political sense either signifies something good and wonderful, or it represents something flawed and wrong. The word “liberal” then has become a trigger word that polarizes people when they hear it. Yet, the liberal arts have nothing whatsoever to do with political ideology. Rather, they are the intellectual disciplines that order the thinking of men toward truth. To com- plicate matters, many people make no distinction between liberal arts and liberal education.

"One consequence of this becomes obvious; mention the benefits of the liberal arts, and many people will assume you mean liberal education. Then, the mistake that is often made in linking liberal arts to liberalism, is likewise made in linking liberal education and liberalism. In the minds of many, liberal education has become synonymous with leftist political propaganda in the classroom.

"Unfortunately, this is often an all too accurate assessment. But liberal arts, properly understood, are the preparatory disciplines ordered to liberal education, and liberal education is ordered to making men free and happy by liberating them from ignorance. The traditional liberal arts are seven specific areas of study. The seven arts are divided into two groups: The Trivium (the “Three Ways”), and the Quadrivium (the “Four Ways”). The Trivium consists of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric; and the Quadrivium: Arithmetic, Astronomy, Music, and Geometry. It is the student who has studied the Trivium and the Quadrivium that is properly prepared to embark upon a course of liberal education.

"And it is liberal education - properly understood - that becomes a lifetime of study. It is a philosophical journey in search of truth.

"The journey of liberal education is often found in a formal educational setting, but ideally it extends throughout life and well beyond the classroom. The man who is liberally educated is equipped to make his way in the world, whether it be in the workplace, or in the world of higher and specialized learning. Liberal education is ordered toward making the student a free and happy individual.

"This freedom and happiness arises within the student as he is freed from ignorance and becomes better equipped to recognize the truth and beauty of the world around him. And it is truth which in turn leads him to freedom and happiness. Man’s happiness is found, not in pleasure, but in a life of virtue. Freedom is not license to choose anything according to desire, but the ability to choose rightly in accordance with reason and virtue, that is, in accordance with truth. The study of liberal arts - and the education for which these arts prepare students - presupposes that truth is objective and can in some measure be known by men through the intellect. To study the liberal arts is to seek happiness and freedom - properly understood - and to seek them in truth."

This entire excerpt is from Classical Homeschooling, Summer 2000, pages 30-31.