Product Description

A reissue of a classic text, "Norms and Nobility" is a provocative reappraisal of classical education that offers a workable program for contemporary school reform. David Hicks contends that the classical tradition promotes a spirit of inquiry that is concerned with the development of style and conscience, which makes it an effective and meaningful form of education. Dismissing notions that classical education is elitist and irrelevant, Hicks argues that the classical tradition can meet the needs of our increasingly technological society as well as serve as a feasible model for mass education.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #603358 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 182 pages

About the Author
David V. Hicks is President of the Darlington School in Rome, Ga.

Customer Reviews

Classical Education Can Improve Modern Education!
I've owned this book since it was first published. I've also had the honor of meeting its author, who has followed the precepts he espouses throughout his life.

That life hasn't always been easy. Despite the harsh setbacks he has been dealt, David V. Hicks has modeled a life that champions valor and virtue, words that almost have disappeared from our civic discourse.

For parents and pupils alike, the question Hicks poses is fundamental: what is the chief purpose of education? Is it merely to build a skill set for a technological age, ignoring issues of honesty, integrity, courage, honor, duty, commitment, and personal sacrifice for the good of the larger community? Or do those fundamental virtues (an old-fashioned perspective, but a perspective central in the classical world) still have importance to modern education?

Bill Bennett has explored this territory, but Hicks was there first. For David V. Hicks, education always has been about paiedea, modeling the classical virtues both in the persons of the teachers and in the materials selected for instruction so as to teach them to pupils. And Hicks argues that stories about heroism, valor, and self-sacrifice are more compelling to pupils than "Dick, Jane, and Spot" in any event. So character-based education is inherently more interesting, and more effective, than more conventional "modern" fare in any event.

Hicks's careful scholarship teaches both the principles of classical (character-building) education, and offers a strategy for integrating the best aspects of that educational philosophy into the modern classroom.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon remind us that our children will need more than familiarity with technology to prevail in this new type of warfare. They will need all the courage, tenacity, and valor they can learn, both in school, from their parents and other role models, and from their brothers and sisters in this struggle. These new "fair and foul" times demand revival of our ancient virtue and ancient valor.

Although the words "virtue" and "valor" almost have vanished from our collective vocabularies, we defeated the Nazis and fascists with these qualities of character. In this dangerous new age, our children will require more than technical skills. We must do what we can to teach them the classical virtues at the foundation of our civilization. Hicks's book is the classic primer in this important subject.

So Glad to See This Back in Print
Having taught in two classical high schools (ACCS charter members), two homeschool consoria, a Big 12 university, and homeschooling my own kids I can say that the approach described by Hicks is the best. Now I'm a dedicated Adlerian (Mortimer, not Alfred) and I loves me my Great Books--so does Hicks, and he lays out his syllabus in great detail in this book. But he goes further in addressing the education of the *character* of students and--which is helpful for use in a traditional school setting--he focuses on the necessity of the right kind of *teachers*. The curriculum is actually less important than the teacher. Give a dunce of a teacher the best curriculum in the world and they'll make it boring. Give a great teacher the worst textbook in the world and they'll teach you all kinds of things. Get the curriculum in place, but for the love of God get some teachers that know what to do with it and don't churn out kids who can ace a classics exam, but aren't humble and courageous. Don't settle for anything less than the best of both worlds. If you dig that, you'll dig this book!

Been there. Done that.
I work for a Principle Approach school that is considering combining Bible, History, and Literature into one disciple. We were assigned this book to read. In a nutshell:

1. Hicks does a great job describing Greek classical education. However, the manner in which he does often sounds prescriptive.

2. Thankfully, he latter addresses how Christianity supplied the missing pieces. However, rather than describe Christianity as "crowning" classical education I would say Christianity provided the foundation upon which the honorable aspects of classical education was set. In any event, it was only upon reading this section that I realized Hicks was advocating a redeemed form of classical education.

3. His diagnosis of the modern education system is extraordinarily accurate. I will go a step further and argue that the government school system is beyond reform. It is fundamentally flawed.

4. The "Humane Letters" concept--combining disciplines into unit studies--is a fantastic idea and would give students the big picture necessary for mastery. My only concern is in finding qualified generalist teachers. There is something to be said about the specialized division of labor.

So, while I can say I am better off for having read this book, I found it rather redundant. In other words, the Principle Approach is classical in that it requires students to reason from cause to effect. We already engage in a dialectical pursuit of truth in our classrooms. The major difference is that Hicks uses pagan Greek language to describe Christian concepts, which concerns me.

Three stars but nevertheless worth the read.