Classical Education: Against Data Transfer

I remember a few lectures back at Vanderbilt in which the professor did his best impression of Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" . . . very unintentionally. There was a lot of PowerPoint, but not a lot of vocal inflection. The content of the lectures was good, but it was all I could do to stay awake. Actually, it seemed like it was all the professor could do to stay awake! "He's such an acclaimed educator," I thought. "If only he'd make this interesting."

Unlike these gods of PowerPoint who drone like an old refrigerator, good teachers and good students focus on more than logistics and "data transfer." They don't just execute tasks but instead fully embody their roles.

For teachers, this means they do not download information onto their students' hard drives, straight-faced, or stand in front of the classroom and dictate orders. They do not focus exclusively on their lesson plans and their handouts, or use their voices like sedatives, or like clubs, as though their students were a herd of livestock. Instead, they teach the in-between parts of a subject: they communicate knowledge to minds which come with hearts. They require memorization of textbook terms, but they first make those terms come to life, because all terms represent magical realities. They use lesson plans and handouts with great joy, because they know God is a God of order, and that therefore their students need order. They discipline with love because they know that God disciplines those he loves, and because they love their students as image-bearers who are being refined by fire and water for excellence.

For students, this means they do not measure their intelligence or success by a letter grade, but by their faithfulness in all duties. They do not think certain subjects are more important than others, as though poor handwriting and bad grammar are excusable as long as they "get the right answer." They do not think that personal habits, particularly personal hygiene, are irrelevant as long as they are math and science whizzes. Instead, they study with a sense of responsibility, knowing that simple obedience to a duty is part of learning, even if they already know the concept. They know that a job half done is a job not done, and so they do not use poor penmanship or incomplete sentences, even if they nail the correct answer every time. They take pride in their appearance, since they know that etiquette and hygiene within the classroom are expressions of love, and of the golden rule.

Good teachers and students know that there is a deeper right than being right, and so they live and act with a healthy pride, and a great deal of thankfulness. They accept nothing less than excellence and the best they can possibly do. Then they fill in everything in between: doing the right thing when nobody's looking, obeying simply and without questions, and loving their neighbors as themselves.

These have been our goals for teachers and students since our school's founding, and God continues to kindly bless us as, year after year, we faithfully improve in these ways for his glory.