29 September, 2022
Dear Reader,
I took part in a seminar in Melbourne early this week at which 30 parents, teachers and representatives from Catholic, Protestant and secular schools came together from around Australia to learn more about what constitutes a classical education. The event was organised by Kevin Donnelly in association with the Page Research Centre.
The term classical education has become an important buzz word in conservative circles. It no longer refers narrowly to the study of the classical languages Greek and Latin, but carries a much broader connotation: it embraces the whole notion of the liberal arts with their emphasis on young people acquiring the highest standards in reading, writing and clear analytical thinking, by concentrating on the greatest works by the best authors, beforeproceeding to specialist studies. The big issue here is premature specialization: even at late primary level children are being pushed into making subject choices before they acquire the basic skills, and class time that would be better used learning those skills is being diverted to ‘progressive fads’.
Dr Donnelly writes:
‘Whether overseas or in Australia, parents are concerned about falling standards, lack of discipline, teachers being overworked and a curriculum that is superficial and characterised by progressive fads like child-centred, enquiry-based, 21st century learning … those involved in the Melbourne seminar argue that the curriculum should embrace a classical, liberal view of education based on Western civilisation’s best validated knowledge and artistic achievements.’
All the talks at the seminar were recorded and we expect them to be posted online soon.
SUMMER SCHOOLS
Bookings so far are fewer than at the same time last year. I guess that two years of lockdowns have inured people to online learning and made them less inclined to travel! We have looked into holding our classes online, but it’s never ideal, nor do we have the staffing resources to make such things possible. So we still hope to be able to persuade people to come to the ‘Athens of the South’ for mental stimulation!
Do please pass details of our courses (listed below) to people known to you who might appreciate them.
To close, some cautionary words from Christopher Dawson:
‘As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.’
Yours sincerely,
David Daintree
‘THE RETURN OF THE SACRED’
A clever piece by Sebastian Milbank on the Queen’s death and the survival of monarchy. It contains this splendid quote from C S Lewis: ‘Monarchy can easily be “debunked”, but watch the faces, mark well the accents, of the debunkers. These are the men whose tap-root in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach — men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch.’
EDUCATION CLASSICAL AND CHRISTIAN
This essay in two parts from the blog Logos Australia finds in the classics the best model for effective Christian education. Compare this from T S Eliot’s 1932 essay ‘Modern Education and the Classics’:
As the world at large becomes more completely secularized, the need becomes more urgent that professedly Christian people should have a Christian education, which should be an education both for this world and for the life of prayer in this world.
JOHN HALDANE TO SPEAK IN HOBART
Eminent Scottish philosopher Prof John Haldane will speak on Religious art and religious understanding (an illustrated introduction to art as a medium of philosophical/theological reflection) in Hobart at 6.00 pm on Thursday 10 November.
SYDNEY DINNER 27 OCTOBER
If you live in the Sydney area, you are invited to our very first major Sydney function, a dinner on Thursday 27 October at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia. The Director will speak on Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition. You can book on Eventbrite here.
PILGRIM ARTISTS FESTIVAL
This annual festival in Tasmania’s beautiful Huon Valley will run for ten days from 4 to 14 November. The organizers are seeking submissions from artists, writers, and musicians, addressing the theme Justice and Mercy. All details and submission forms are available here.
KAZAKHSTAN CONFERENCE
The triennial Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions was held in the Kazakh capital Astana 13-15 September. Unsurprisingly it attracted little attention from mainstream media. Here is a report on the congress and a summary of the concluding declaration. Good material on the importance of the family and against the ‘culture of death’.
ALL THE 2022 COLLOQUIUM TALKS HAVE NOW BEEN UPLOADED TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
OTHER COMING EVENTS
SUMMER SCHOOLS JANUARY 2023
The Dawson Centre will once again offer three summer schools. A FULL DESCRIPTION OF EACH COURSE IS AVAILABLE HERE.
16 – 20 January
THE WESTERN TRADITION: AN OVERVIEW OF 2000 YEARS OF HISTORY, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND ART.
23 – 27 January
NEW TESTAMENT GREEK: AN INTENSIVE INTRODUCTORY COURSE FOR BEGINNERS.
‘The Holy Church has cultivated and kept in highest honour the source texts of this wisdom, and especially the Greek and Latin languages, as if they were a sort of golden robe clothing Wisdom itself.’ (Pope John XXIII)
9 – 13 January
MEDIEVAL AND LATER LATIN: A READING COURSE IN SACRED AND SECULAR POETRY AND PROSE FOR PEOPLE WITH SOME PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LANGUAGE.
‘The Latin language is assuredly worthy of being defended with great care instead of being scorned; for the Latin Church it is the most abundant source of Christian civilization and the richest treasury of piety. We must not hold in low esteem these traditions of our fathers which were our glory for centuries. (Pope Paul VI)
Each school extends from Monday to Friday inclusive. Bookings can be made directly by email or on Eventbrite.