Normative Thoughts

You may have come across the term “normative” in your meditations and research on classical education. David Hicks “popularized” it in his book Norms and Nobility. Here is an example of a text that turns the reader to normative questions from merely analytical ones: We hear on all sides that the world is in a [...]

The Analytical and the Normative Economy

Perhaps you have heard that I think highly of David Hicks 1981 masterwork on education, Norms and Nobility. In it (the best book on education written since 1950), Mr. Hicks argues that a new mind has overtaken the American school and he uses any number of words to describe that new mind. Perhaps the most [...]

Answering the First Questions Right

In Norms and Nobility, David Hicks talks about the difference between normative and analytical questions. Normative questions are questions that reveal the nature of things, especially human nature. These are questions that have to do with the meaning of existence, man’s absolute rights and duties, the best way to live, and what is good and [...]

What is Classical Education?

This is from a discussion on the LTW Mentor, where a very thoughtful home schooling mom asked, “What is classical Education?” I thought I’d share my response, though it’s a bit hasty. =========== That’s the question, isn’t it? Part of the problem is where to find the answer. If we look at the scholarly work [...]

A Nation at Risk

I’ll have more to say on this soon, but I am honored and pleased to welcome Peter Vandebrake to the CiRCE writer’s bloc. This marks his first post, and you’ll be hearing a great deal more from him as he has joined the CiRCE team as our Leadership Consultant. Over to Peter (as I said, [...]

Choosing Goals

How can the “educational” goals of a school take precedence over the development of the individual teacher and student when the formation of paideia in the individual is its educational goal? David Hicks Norms and Nobility, Page 149

Notes on Assessment

Education’s graduation from a Golden Mean philosophy to one of statistical mean is not yet complete. Despite our failure nowadays to agree on a Golden Mean, the demands of the ideal type persistently tug at our hearts. These we dismiss as subjective longings for some bygone era. we quiet these urges by reminding ourselves of [...]

The Gnostic Revolution in Which We Live

If you can read only one book for next sumer’s conference, make it The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis. Because it is short (63 pages including appendix and notes in my version), you can take your time and repeat your reading. If you can read a second book, I recommend you make it Richard [...]

How To Cultivate Wisdom Through Writing (Part VIII)

Writing helps cultivate wisdom in many ways, but one of the most explicit is that it drives us to read more carefully. For example, I am working on speeches for next summer’s conference. This question, “What is man?” is proving to be both invigorating and exhausting. Once you ask it, it becomes rather obvious that [...]

How to Cultivate Wisdom Through Writing (part IV)

Here is: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 I have vigorously defended contextual learning in my book because I believe that it is the key to how we learn as well as to the delight we find in learning. Children learn to speak by hearing words used in context, not by memorizing their definitions or [...]