Something Old and Something New

Summer vacation is a wonderful time for a teacher to read books, new and old. I've been reading many books, but recently I've picked Plato's Republic back up. While reading Plato, I have also been reading Cheryl Swope's touching and instructive book, Simply Classical. This proves to be a wonderful coincidence for me. I always knew that contemporary classical thought was based in philosophies of a bygone age and Cheryle Swope mentions Plato many times in her book, but this book pairing truly reminds me of how classical education stems from ancient philosophy and thought. What a joy it is to be a part of an education that frees the soul and laughs in the face of the puppet master!

Plato and Swope emphasize that an education has little to no benefit to the receiver, if it does not also mold a student's mind to think on his or her own. This is part of what Swope calls a nurturing kind of education. Plato illustrates this type of education in Book VIII, when he describes a man "pushed by the desire" for money and other vices, "because [the man was not] educated by persuasion but by force." This kind of citizen (Classical training creates good citizens.) grows up, being forced to do things a certain way, without understanding the reason behind doing things that way. The pupil should learn why things are done a certain way and why certain things are unacceptable. Too much rigidity can breed ignorance and misconduct arrises when such a pupil enters adulthood. Swope also writes something to that extent. There has to be a median when it comes to a classical classroom: "Too much structure apart from nurture [becomes] rigidity...Too much nurture without structure [becomes] baseless encouragement with too much freedom and too little achievement" (57).


Plato's book mainly addresses the different types of government and how citizens are affected by these governments, but insightfully Plato's philosophy understands that the education of the youth affects the government and vice versa. No wonder Plato directly addresses the duty of a teacher (and also the father) to the encouragement of a student's education in mind, body, and soul. He uses a teacher as a metaphor for how democracy can go awry: "And, generally, the young copy their elders and compete with them in speeches and deeds while the old come down to the level of the young: imitating the young, they are overflowing with facility and charm, and that's so that they won't seem to be unpleasant or despotic." Since students copy their elders in every way, elders should neither be despotic nor charming. This is the dilemma of the teacher that the teacher must train their students to think well and to do right in every scenario. This requires much finesse and Plato does not give the teacher much hope for after reading The Republic one is not exactly sure what is the best form of government. We, like Plato, can describe all the bad ways, in which things are done, but it is much harder to come up with the right way of doing things.

Cheryl Swope gives teachers (and parents) hope! Her book has many practical tools to educating young minds classically. She gives one the tools to nurture students. She especially emphasizes the need to share Jesus' love and forgiveness, which truly is the most important part of a child's education. Teachers are not puppet masters, but individuals dedicated to the overall well-being of their students.