The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education, Revised Edition

Author(s):  
Andrew Rasmussen
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Soon Koo Kwon ◽  
Seungjoon Yoon

Recently, in higher education, both the necessity and the importance of a liberal education that contains an element of classical reading have been emphasized. However, it is difficult to find educational performance related with those educational programs. In order to investigate the educational performance of classical reading, surveys were given to students who were taking a ‘Reading Famous Writings’ course established at the Liberal Arts College of A university.Moreover, to investigate the differences in the educational effects of classical education, we conducted additional analysis according to the level of individual interest. To this end, pre and post surveys were conducted, which included a classical education performance scale and an academic interest scale.As a result of this study, we found that students who were taking this course improved certain competencies, namely, reading comprehension, communication, and creativity. In contrast, there was no improvement in academic interest, whether it be on an individual or situational level. However, we did find that the individual interest of students who were categorized as having a lower level of individual interest did indeed improve after taking this course. Through this study, we proved that some positive effects of a liberal education containing a classical reading element, especially as seen in the course called ‘Reading Famous Writings’, were experienced by the students.


2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-303
Author(s):  
Charles Marsh

Five years ago in Theory and Research in Education, James R. Muir fired a new salvo in the debate regarding the merits of Isocrates’ educational program, a controversy that has endured for more than two millennia. Was the Isocratean program misguided and lowbrow, as in the estimations of Plato and Aristotle — or was it the most successful program of classical education, as in the later estimations of Cicero and Quintilian? Was Isocrates himself a middling intellect, as Marrou claims, or, worse, a progenitor of Hitler’s Third Reich, as Vitanza maintains — or was he the founder of modern liberal arts education, as Corbett and Welch believe? To date, the debate has dealt more with the reputation than the details of Isocrates’ program. In hopes of shedding additional light on the controversy, this article draws upon Isocrates’ own essays to present the goals, curriculum, and methods of his educational program.


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