CLASSICAL EDUCATION BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Note: While there are many good books available on the subject of classical education pedagogy, the following recommendations pertain to the history and philosophy of classical education in contradistinction to modern progressive education.
An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents by Christopher Perrin
This primer, in about 40 pages, provides a good overview of the history and development, philosophy and presuppositions behind classical education. It is geared toward Classical Christian Education. You can also read Perrin’s (public) charter school edition. The author is a leader in the classical school movement.
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (3rd edition) by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain
In this larger work, written by two leaders in classical school world with teaching bona fides, the authors go beyond the popular Trivium model that kicked off the revival of classical education in the 20th century and introduce readers to the full array of arts and sciences that have historically made up classical education: piety, gymnastic, music, liberal arts, philosophy, and theology.
Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America (3rd edition) by Gene Edward Veith and Andrew Kern.
The authors, both leaders in the classical school movement, describe the age-old, tried and true alternative to today’s failed education fads and present the classical education alternative that is sweeping the nation. In this work, they also discuss how classical schools have grown in private religiously affiliated schools, home schools and in more recent years, public charter schools.
Norms & Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks
In this short, but deep and influential work, the author lays out the historical telos or purpose of educating human beings via a classical or liberal arts education and he provides a profound critique of modern schooling. Hicks, a former classical school headmaster and academic, emphasizes the historical focus on an schooling that educates children according to their nature—human nature, the cultivation of the human spirit, recognition of universals (truth, beauty and goodness) and the pursuit of the highest good, over and above the purely vocational-utilitarian education model that exists today. The education he describes is normative and formative, and it aims to ennoble the hearts and minds of our youth, for their own flourishing and for the common good.