When you visit an art museum and you have a limited amount of time, where do you decide to concentrate your efforts? Personally, I would rather not waste my time on the Andy Warhols and Jackson Pollocks. Instead, take me straight to see the vibrant van Gogh or the visionary da Vinci. In our current cultural climate, where “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” the claim that some paintings are more worthy of our observation than others is objectionable. However, if everything is equally deserving of our admiration, and we are not to discriminate between the worthy and unworthy, then statements such as “That is a beautiful painting!” are rendered meaningless. In classical Christian education, we make the bold assertion that some things are more worthy of our esteem than other things.
Our ultimate guide to what we ought to love is the Bible. In the Bible, Jesus spoke of ordering loves or priorities:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33)
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42)
“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25)
In classical Christian education, one of our aims is to train our students to value what they ought to value. As C. S. Lewis wrote in The Abolition of Man,
St Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it. Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought … the task is to train in the pupil those responses which are in themselves appropriate.1C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, or, Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 10, 13.
We can easily find out what a student loves and values by observing what they give their full attention to, and also by watching their actions. Sometimes we find that a student rejoices in the wrong things. Perhaps he delights in disobeying his teacher and finds it funny. Or maybe she is more interested in making her classmate giggle than listening to the lesson at hand. What are these students valuing?
We want our students to be able to curb their inclination to be silly when it interferes with their learning (or someone else’s learning). We want to help him or her value the teacher’s instruction, value learning, and value harmony in relationships. We want our students to be able to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). When a student’s values are at odds with the values of our Christian community, then this will result in a lack of harmony.
An equally important aim is to train our students to love what they ought to love, with the kind and degree of love appropriate to the thing loved. A child might say that he loves his yogurt, loves his bike, and loves his father, all while using the word “love” without defining the intensity or character of that love. If he gets those loves in the wrong order, it can cause disorder in his thinking and difficulties in his relationships. If, for example, his father calls him to come inside when he is enjoying riding his bike, and he ignores his father and continues doing what he loves, he likely does not realize that his behaviour is saying to his father, “I love riding my bike right now more than I love obeying you.” Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). We heed the voice of the one we love, and we hurry to do what he asks.
The ultimate aim of a classical Christian education is that our students will love God above all, and love others well. But how does this aim influence our classroom practice? First of all, the teacher models the appropriate response to the text or artwork that is under their collective study. She carefully curates the best literature, music, art, and so forth to place in front of her students so that they can learn to delight in good, true, and beautiful things. If they are viewing a delightful painting, the teacher expresses that delight and wonder in her face, her tone, and her words. On the other hand, when reading an account of a terrible event in history, the teacher shows in her voice and demeanor that it is sober and sad. If a student says something that is inappropriate to the occasion or rude, the teacher will show appropriate displeasure in her facial expression and verbal response to the student. Students watch their teacher’s responses, and they emulate them.
Not only do students watch and emulate their teacher’s responses, but they also watch and emulate their teacher’s actions and behaviour. Since parents are the child’s first teachers, this not only applies to teachers but to parents as well. Children learn by imitation. “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). This verse underscores the importance of choosing your child’s teachers carefully. Does the teacher value and love the right things, according to God’s order? By watching and imitating his or her teacher, what will your child be learning to love and value?
It can be intimidating and sobering as a teacher or parent to know that our children are watching our every move, and even mimicking our responses. I remember a time when I was a first-year teacher and one of my students did a perfect imitation of me teaching the class. It was as entertaining as it was horrifying! But it made me stop and pause, realizing how not only my words but also my tone, actions, and even mannerisms are being absorbed by the children. This knowledge drives me to my knees. I pray that God will help me to make Jesus Christ visible to the students, that “Christ in me” would be manifest in my bodily life.
When Christ regenerates the heart of a person, this is often followed by a complete reordering of the person’s loves and priorities. Christ must be first in the heart, and He will suffer no rivals. New believers will often find that the things that used to occupy their time and attention are no longer worthy of their focus or devotion. Their family and friends may be completely baffled as to the change in their habits and values. In classical Christian education, we prepare the way for the Lord to do this work in the hearts of the students that only He can do. We point our students to the reality that there is a life that is rightly ordered, a life that will be a blessing. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink; true—but you can salt the oats! In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells us that we are the “salt of the earth.” Salt acts as a preservative in food by dehydrating it and thus depriving pathogens of the water that they need to grow. This is why salt makes us thirsty. When we teachers take on the role of the “salt of the earth” in this corrupt world, we preserve the truth about beauty and goodness, and in doing so, we can generate a thirst in our students for a harmonious, beautiful, well-ordered life.
Tina Bergs
Author
Tina Bergs teaches Grades 5 and 6 and serves as the Assistant Head of School at Westminster Classical Christian Academy (WCCA). She completed a Bachelor of Education at the University of Victoria and a post-degree diploma in Special Education Teaching at Vancouver Island University. Tina worked as both a classroom teacher and a special education teacher in public schools in British Columbia before becoming one of the first teachers to join the WCCA faculty when the school opened its doors in 2014.
