Educating for virtue
Happy Friday, everyone.
What is the purpose of education? For over two millennia, the dominant purpose was to develop the child into a certain kind of person: a person with virtue.
Education was meant to teach valuable knowledge and skills, yes—especially literacy. But, above all, it was meant to build important habits of character; to instill the intellectual and moral virtues a child would need to be a good person who leads a good life. As a crucial part of this goal, students were expected to understand and contend with the ideas and works that have shaped history and culture.
In the wake of education reform starting in the late 19th century, this conception of education’s purpose has largely fallen by the wayside. Today, if anyone remarks on the purpose at all, they often point to vague ideals such as “college and career readiness.”
Tests and curriculum have become much narrower in scope, as a result. They assess reading comprehension through bland and inoffensive informational texts, for example, rather than through a student’s understanding or ability to articulate challenging and culturally significant ideas, even the ones they disagree with.
To go deeper into how virtue fits into education, the purpose of education and how this has changed throughout history, and the origins and influence of standardized tests in the U.S., I wanted to share a podcast episode where Matt Bateman, former executive director of Montessorium and current board member at Higher Ground, interviews Jeremy Tate, of Classic Learning Test.
Motivated by a desire to reconnect knowledge and virtue, and recognizing how standardized tests tend to drive the curriculum used in classrooms, the Classic Learning Test was initially developed as an alternative to the traditional American SAT and ACT college entrance exams.
The CLT is designed to be a more comprehensive measure of achievement, thus speaking to a more holistic and edifying education, and relies on classic literature and historical texts for their reading selections. In addition to their college entrance exams, today CLT also offers diagnostic and summative assessments for 3rd - 8th grade for both schools and homeschooling parents.
Enjoy!
Have a great weekend!
Ray Girn
CEO, Higher Ground Education