Can Education be Classical and Christian Essay - 1342 Words

Can an education be both classical and Christian? Many parents ask this question every year, unknowingly echoing an age-old question. Tertullian, an early church father, was perhaps the first to consider whether these two ideas are compatible when he asked, â€Å"What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?† The church fathers continued to wrestle with the question for centuries, most concluding that all ideas that are taken captive for Christ may be used profitably by Christians. Examining this ongoing conversation about classical, Christian education will serve to answer many of our own questions today. Then, we will be able to consider that our understanding of classical, Christian education today depends more on the medieval church schools†¦show more content†¦He culls whatever is useful from mathematics, the fine arts, literary studies, and, of course, philosophy, and protects the faith from all attacks† (171 ). For Clement, the study of the liberal arts pre pared the individual to possess a solid faith and to share that hope with others. Origen (c. 185-250) became head of the catechetical school in Alexandria at the age of seventeen or eighteen. Educated in both the Scriptures and Greek literature himself, Origen urged others to continue this practice. He compared this classical, Christian education to the Israelites plundering Egypt before the Exodus, a comparison which continued to be repeated by future generations as they pondered a classical, Christian education. In his analogy, he demonstrated that the gold and silver of the pagan Egyptians was used to make the holiest vessels in the tabernacle (178). Similarly, he urges students to use the treasures of the Greek philosophers and poets to build up the sacred faith of Christianity. Basil the Great (c.329-379), bishop of Caesarea, considered the study of the ancient writers, poets, and orators to be preparatory exercises for the deep study of Scriptures: â€Å"So we must con sider that a contest, the greatest of all contests, lies before us, for which we must do all things, and, in preparation for it, must strive to the best of our power, and must associate with poets and writers of prose and orators and with all men from whomShow MoreRelatedA New History Of Classical Rhetoric883 Words   |  4 Pages In A New History of Classical Rhetoric, George Kennedy talks about classical rhetoric from Greek Literature to the middle ages. The term rhetoric â€Å"denotes the civic art of public speaking as it developed in deliberative assemblies, law courts, and other formal occasions under constitutional government† (Kennedy 3). 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The Early Childhood Education Free Essays

Education is an asset for every person and probably the most important pert is when it starts, at early childhood. This decides the child’s attitude to education throughout life and its capacity to learn. Children start to learn early in life and though it may not be realized that even during the first few months of life the child begins experimenting with language. We will write a custom essay sample on The Early Childhood Education or any similar topic only for you Order Now The attitudes towards literacy develop during this period and all important concepts of literacy expand during these years through the care of the adults and various forms of print that they chance to meet. This important form of literacy is composed of several key components according to the experts on literacy and this first of these is phonetic awareness. This is an understanding that speech contains many units like spoken words, syllables and sounds. The children gradually become familiar with names of letters, their shapes and sounds. Over a period of time they also develop the capacity to take every spoken word apart in terms of sound and also combine sounds to form words. (Promoting Literacy Activities in Early Childhood Settings) The children have to hear and say the parts of the word and then only they can learn to read it. They have to understand the importance of each sound in a word, as this is the only way they will learn to say the word properly and not develop too much of an accent or slang which will hurt the ability of individuals to understand it. For this purpose the children have to be provided with practice in matching sounds and letters. Even after they learn to say the words, they have to practice reading those words many times as it is only practice that makes a person perfect. It is easy for children to understand that there are many words in material that is read for they will also have to learn it. (Beginning to Read – Preschool through Grade 2) The most important matter in all this is patience as no one is perfect when starting out and it is likely that the child will make mistakes, and it is certainly not a deliberate failure or an attempt to irritate the teacher. The most important part is patience. The next part is the understanding of alphabetic principles, and this consists of linking the letters of the alphabet with the corresponding sounds that they should produce. The importance of this can be understood from the importance that is assigned to knowledge of the alphabet at school entry and this has also been found to be one of the best indicators of the capability of reading achievement for children. (Promoting Literacy Activities in Early Childhood Settings) For all this, it is important that the children are able to communicate easily with all toddlers, and an important part in this is to simplify the talk with them and not use â€Å"baby talk†. The children have to understand the teacher but still realize that sounds are attached to alphabets which cannot be changed. The talk has to be simple enough for them to understand and it is better to say â€Å"Let’s get coats on† instead of saying â€Å"We are going to take a walk around the block, so you must put your coat on†. (Early Literacy and Beginning to Read) This may seem like a command, but when the child would rather not do it, then the child will protest, and then further talk can tell the child the purpose. Sometimes, it can be even indicated by action as the children are equally capable of communication through action. The first method of crying is only to draw the attention of the mother. At the same time, it is important to use the children’s names for reacting with them so that the entire conversation is personalized and also make the child aware of its personal identity. This often leads to a use of its own name for referring to itself instead of saying â€Å"I†. This is a misuse that will get corrected in time when the child learns the difference between nouns and pronouns. What is required is patience. There are a number of methods for encouraging the development of languages like reading stories, singing songs, listening to recorded songs and music, and giving them opportunities to react with other children and adults. (Promoting Literacy Activities in Early Childhood Settings) It is better to leave children in a creche where they can react with other children than leaving them alone in a house. There are differences between children; some talk more than others and this is a natural difference and should not get the teacher worried. Trips are important and during them things should be explained to children, but explain only what needs explanation. Children are not idiots as human intelligence develops 90 percent of the full adult limit for the individual by the age of four. When unnecessary information is passed on to children they also protest, and often they are not aware of manners that are required in society. One should not get upset, but carry on normally. Talk with all past tenses and future tenses, but remember that for children up to a certain age, past tense is what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow is future. For full understanding and gradation of past and future, they take time. Those are not the end of the initial education that is required by a child. Another aspect is of print awareness through which the child understands that print carries the meaning of the story and the process is through printed words which correspond to spoken words. In English the print moves from left to right and from top to bottom on a page, and it should be the job of education to teach the children about print, expose them to print and link up print to the sounds. Another key component is the development of writing and this also starts off early in a child’s life. In many cases, even before the child is formally introduced to writing, they engage themselves in scribbling, producing different forms which can be said to be like letters and use their own spelling to express letters. These are certainly useful as they help the children to understand the relationship between words and sound. There are also oral language skills which are the child’s vocabulary and understanding of the uses and conventions of spoken language. The general finding among experts is that children, who have larger vocabularies in early life, generally end up with greater linguistic abilities. (Promoting Literacy Activities in Early Childhood Settings) The biggest question in the entire process of education of children is that they our partners and their help are certainly required. It is a great pleasure to teach children as they are directly the sons and daughters of God and we remain in a purer environment when dealing with them. How to cite The Early Childhood Education, Papers

Beauty And Aesthetics Essay Example For Students

Beauty And Aesthetics Essay 1.To try to explain how and why aesthetics is understood, as a philosophical endeavor should first start with what I think and feel through my learning experiences what is art. Art for me is what is pure about the art form and what makes it beautiful. Beauty in art is what enhances individual senses to makes us feel all our senses are united as one. When these traits come together you are in presence of a work of art in my mind and the definition of aesthetics in art. I feel that the reason aesthetics is understood as a philosophical endeavor is because we as a society need to put a label on or problems to help develop a strategy that will help conquer these problems. So to start a branch in philosophy directed towards the arts, or anything that is meant to capture beauty or criticism should be arranged in a system of criticism. Criticism, which in particular judgments are singled out and their logic and justification displayed, is why it is and will continue to be an endeavor. I feel an artist role in society is to portray a objective and subjective view about his work before and after his work is completed to give a fair assessment to the public of how he sees the world. 2. If you look up the definition of aesthetics it will probably say to some extent, the particular idea of what is beautiful or artistic. The problem with this is the word beautiful can mean different things to two different people. So an individual determines the value of the word. This is why there is so much variation in our assessments of the value of works of art. Subjective and objective theories of aesthetic are a way of separating different approaches. An objective theory claims that aesthetic value is in the property of the artwork itself. The fact that we do reach agreement on the value of so many works suggests that somehow there is an objective basis for our judgments. The subjective theory claims that aesthetic value is simply a matter of the psychological effect on or the attitude of the observer, and these vary considerably from observer to observer. If aesthetic value is subjective, why do we so often try to persuade friends of the value of a work of art that we belie ve they have overlooked. 3. Plats rationalism is the conviction that the truth and the real world are disclosed through the use of the mind alone. In Platos opinion of art he say that art is here to increase the world of untrue experiences by creating images of images and illusions of illusions. He continues to say that if the world of direct sense experience is untrue and unreal in some sense, the world created by art is even more so and that by increasing human deception about reality and by appealing to emotions and feelings, therefore, art in whatever form should have no part in an ideal human community. Now if Plato is so concerned with reality and the metaphysics of the world why doesnt he appreciate art that is produced unconsciously in our minds through direct sense experience and is created into a physical art form? Are we as artist not trying to take the unreal and trying to make real? Are we not trying to create the world around us through the dreams and illusions we cant not deny we have, but to try to give reason and cause for them? Is this what philosophers have been doing since the beginning of written language in trying to give reason for things? If Plato understood that no on perceives an apple in the same way. Why doesnt he perceive that an art form has reason in other peoples mind that he might not be able to relate to? My point is simple and that is Plato is one man with an opinion in a world of many men with opinions. What makes his opinion have meaning to himself is his ability to manipulate language to convey a reason for his opinion? I value his opinion to the highest degree but do not agree with it. Art is