My favorite quote from David Hicks sums up my philosophy of education: “The purpose of education is not the assimilation of facts or the retention of information, but the habituation of the mind and body to will and act in accordance with what one knows.” He is describing the chief end of education—virtue.

The first part of Hicks’ statement defines education by what it is not. Education is not simply gathering facts about things. Knowing with just the mind does not help us live well, it is only the first step. C.S. Lewis says, “It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous.” For example, I know that wearing high heels hurts my knees and back, yet I choose to wear them anyway, disregarding the pain and deterioration of my posture for the vanity of a pretty shoe. I know this because my chiropractor has told me and I know from experience. However, the temptation of a beautiful shoe is still strong. 

This second phrase of the quote says, “…but the habituation of the mind and body to will and act in accordance with what one knows.” This means that education is more than just fragmented knowledge floating in our brain; it is the integration of knowledge and skill into a well-lived life. One day, my knowledge about the truth of high-heel shoes will impress my will to listen to reason: “Heels are illogical and make no sense! They hurt your body, and they feed your vanity!” One day, my body will be tired due to this truth and my will shall relent. I will have to learn the hard way to love my posture more than pretty feet. One day. But until then, the will is strong against the knowledge I know in my brain. Knowledge of truth, beauty, and goodness from the mind has to be loved by the will so that the body can act on it. As Lewis also says, “The head rules the belly through the chest…” This is virtue. 

The root word of virtue is vir, which is Latin for man. In essence, we can rest virtue squarely in the chest of humankind. It is what separates humans from beasts—our ability to aspire to something higher. Aristotle notes that virtue was given to humans by “some divine dispensation.” Traditionally, virtue has been the universal things known to help us live our best life, and these were encapsulated in the cardinal virtues of justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude (with the later addition of the Christian spiritual virtues: faith, hope, and love). 

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David V. Hicks, Norms & Nobility: A Treatise on Education (Savage, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 1991), 20.

C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man: Or Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teachings of English in the Upper Forms of Schools (New York: Harper One, 1974), 24.

 Ibid.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. ed. Mortimer J. Adler and Philip W. Goetz, trans. W. D. Ross, Second Edition., vol. 8, Great Books of the Western World (Chicago; Auckland; Geneva; London; Madrid; Manila; Paris; Rome; Seoul; Sydney; Tokyo; Toronto: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; Robert P. Gwinn, 1990), 434.

 

Why is virtue important to humans? According to Aristotle, “The happy life is thought to be virtuous” The happy life (from the Greek word, eudaemonia), is the result of seeking the highest good. This fulfills the ultimate purpose for a human. Aristotle says a little later in Nicomachean Ethics:

Now some thinkers hold that virtue is a gift of nature; others think we become good by habit, others that we can be taught to be good. …Again, theory and teaching are not, I fear, equally efficacious in all cases: the soil must have been previously tilled if it is to foster the seed, the mind of the pupil must have been prepared by the cultivation of habits, so as to like and dislike aright. For he that lives at the dictates of passion will not hear nor understand the reasoning of one who tries to dissuade him…

From Aristotle, we gather that virtue is from the divine, it leads to happiness (the “good life”), and it must be cultivated by habit. It cannot just be known. It has to be practiced. 

Therefore, education is the space where virtue is tried, failed, and tried again. It is a sacred “soil” where students “till” their virtue through observation of teachers, stories, nature, and language, and where they cultivate virtue’s tiny “seeds” with practice. Education is more than just acquiring knowledge. Education is a leading out (Latin educere = “leading out”) towards something—there is movement. Learning must move us to love the Author of all knowledge through wondering about the cosmos, being courageous, attentive to details, and thoroughly refining our intellect.

When Adam and Eve were in the garden, the Tree of Knowledge served as a temptation. Knowledge was not evil, but their improper lust for it was. John Milton says in Of Education that, 

“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.” 

Education is more than learning facts and skills. It is a formational process that leads one to live well and to be “united to the heavenly grace.” Instead of grasping for knowledge to wield power selfishly, education refines the soil of the human will to use well the knowledge and skills received. It is a whole-person process.

When education systems make education about finishing syllabi, accumulating credits, achieving points on a standardized test, entering college, or landing a job, they miss the primary telos (purpose) of education. Education is the lifelong process of cultivating both zeal for lovely things and the wisdom to steward them well. It is practicing the habits of living and learning to accommodate whatever new knowledge or task comes our way. It is aligning what we know with who we are and what we do.

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 Ibid, 431.

 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 434.

John Milton, Of Education. https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/of-education-by-john-milton/#google_vignette

 

Educators who follow Jesus’s command, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt 6:33) seek first the virtues of God’s kingdom in their teaching. When they help their students seek virtue, or His kingdom first, they lead them to a treasure of benefits. When students are oriented towards virtue, they have all the life tools they need to succeed in everything else. They are humble and teachable, attentive to particulars, careful with details, responsible with tasks, and disciplined to follow through. Virtuous students will become productive citizens who will continue to learn and flourish through all ages and stages of their life. When students are habituated in their minds and bodies to act according to what they know, “all these things will be added” unto them. 

It seems wild for modern educators to esteem virtue above anything else. Much time, energy, and money are spent on making sure students know information and have skills for the future. However, all of heaven and earth will be given to students who align their bodies, souls, and minds to their practice of virtue. 

 

Carrie Eben, MSEd (PhD student), is owner of Classical Eben education consulting (classicaleben.com), founding board member of Sager Classical Academy in Siloam Springs, AR and adjunct instructor of Integrated Humanities at John Brown University.

 

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