Less is More
By Brett King, RMCA Headmaster
It is a common lament that modern life is simply
too hectic. I recently overheard a mom who stated that she was scaling
back on the number of activities in which their children were participating.
I have a hunch that this parent was applying an important principle:
less is more.
The following article excerpt applies this principle to
classical education. I hope you will find it as interesting and as challenging
as I did in fighting the trend to cram more and more into our busy lives…and
our busy schools.
“Multum non Multa” by Andrew Campbell
It is all well and good to talk about traditional
classical education, but how do we put it into practice today? Don’t
we have far more history to learn other than classical history, not
to mention science, modern languages, and common school subjects like
health and driver’s ed.? After all, we’re not preparing
our children to be Greek philosophers, Roman orators, or (most of us)
British statesmen. We have practical matters to consider: government
requirements, standardized tests, college admissions.
Yes, all that is true, at least to a certain extent. But we can still
derive some important principles from the history of classical education.
One of these principles was articulated by Pliny the Younger; that principle
is multum non multa: not many things (multa), but much (multum). Formal
education should not merely introduce us to many things—the “multa,”
which can by necessity lead only to superficial knowledge—but
should encourage us to drink deeply at the springs of our culture. Much
not many.
How does this play out in the classical curriculum? First, the number
of subjects is limited to a few key disciplines. We are accustomed to
schools expanding their offerings to include vocational and technical
subjects such as home economics, wood shop, and computer keyboarding.
In the wry words of Jacques Barzun, we expect our schools to turn out
“ideal citizens, supertolerant neighbors, agents of world peace,
and happy family folk, at once sexually adept and flawless drivers of
cars.” The classical curriculum, on the other hand, insists on
a limited number of demanding subjects taught in depth. Moreover, formal
study of certain subjects—especially science and modern languages—is
reserved for high school. As we’ll see, this is actually an efficient
use of the student’s time and effort.
Second, whenever possible, subjects are taught in relation to one another
and in the context of broader intellectual concerns. For example, as
the student gains proficiency in Latin translation, some historical,
literary, and theological readings may be undertaken in the original
language. The student doesn’t just read a chapter about Julius
Caesar or Cicero in a history textbook; she reads Caesar’s and
Cicero’s own writings in Latin. The study of selections from Thomas
Aquinas’s Summa Theologica is at once a lesson in Latin, logic,
history, and theology. Further, one of the key “intelligences”
is lateral thinking, the ability to make connections between seemingly
disparate fields and ideas, and the classical curriculum encourages
this skill. In all subjects, students should be led to ask big questions:
What is Man? What is the good life? How then should we live?
Third, the core readings in English and History (Classical,
Christian, and Modern Studies) consist of a very few representative
masterpieces that the student reads slowly and studies in depth. Does
such a pared-down program sufficiently prepare students for college
work, let alone life? The verdict of history is yes.
This article is excerpted from The Latin-Centered Curriculum:
A Homeschooler’s Guide to a Classical Education, by Andrew A.
Campbell, published by Memoria Press. The full article can be referenced
at www.memoriapress.com/articles
