What Quintilian Can Teach Us About Education

Nearly two thousand years ago, the Roman educator Quintilian set himself an extraordinarily ambitious task. He wanted to describe how a child might be educated from the earliest years until he became a mature, virtuous, articulate, and educated adult.

His great work, the Institutio Oratoria, is therefore much more than a book about public speaking. Quintilian begins with childhood and considers the foundations upon which later learning must be built. His ultimate aim was the formation of an accomplished orator, but his understanding of an orator was far richer than simply someone who could deliver an impressive speech. The truly educated person required knowledge, eloquence, judgement, and, above all, good character.

Although written in the first century AD, many of Quintilian's principles remain remarkably relevant to homeschooling families today.

Do Not Neglect the Foundations

One of Quintilian's most important observations concerns the temptation to concentrate upon impressive advanced learning while neglecting its foundations.

He compares education to architecture. People naturally notice the magnificent structure standing above the ground, but they rarely pay much attention to the foundations beneath it. Yet without those foundations, the building cannot stand.

Quintilian explains that other writers had often ignored elementary education because its details seemed less impressive. He deliberately takes the opposite approach, writing:

"It is impossible to reach the summit in any subject unless we have first passed through all the elementary stages."

This is an important principle for home educators. We naturally want our children to read great literature, understand philosophy, study Latin and Greek, appreciate history, master mathematics, and eventually engage with the great works of Western civilisation. Yet none of these things can be securely achieved without strong foundations.

Children must first learn to read confidently. They must acquire vocabulary. They must learn grammar. They must become comfortable with number. They must develop handwriting and composition. They must learn to listen carefully, remember what they have read, answer questions, and express their thoughts.

These things may not always appear particularly impressive. A child mastering multiplication tables may seem a long way from Euclid. A young pupil learning the parts of speech may seem far removed from Cicero. A beginner sounding out words may seem very distant from reading Shakespeare.

But the foundations make everything else possible.

This principle lies at the heart of the Britannia Classical Institute curriculum. The early years are not something to rush through so that we can reach more impressive subjects. They are the years in which the intellectual habits required for everything that follows are carefully established.

Education Should Form the Person

There is another striking feature of Quintilian's educational philosophy.

His aim was not simply to produce an intelligent or eloquent person. He wanted to produce a good person.

He writes:

"My aim, then, is the education of the perfect orator. The first essential for such an one is that he should be a good man."

This is a profoundly important distinction.

Education is never simply the accumulation of information. A person may possess enormous knowledge and use that knowledge badly. He may speak eloquently and use his eloquence to deceive. He may reason brilliantly while pursuing things that are harmful.

For Quintilian, therefore, intellectual formation and moral formation could not simply be separated.

As a Catholic classical institute, we would go further still. Education should ultimately assist parents in forming children who know what is true, love what is good, recognise what is beautiful, and understand that their lives have an ultimate purpose in God.

This is why the Catholic Faith cannot simply be an additional subject placed alongside mathematics, history, and science. It gives order and purpose to the education as a whole.

We are educating persons, not merely producing examination candidates.

The Subjects Belong Together

Quintilian also recognised something that modern education can easily forget. Knowledge should not be divided into completely isolated compartments.

He describes how subjects that had once belonged together gradually became separated into different disciplines. He particularly regrets the separation between eloquence and moral philosophy.

For the classical educator, subjects continually support one another. Grammar improves composition. Composition develops thought. History supplies examples for moral reasoning. Literature develops language and imagination. Mathematics cultivates precision. Latin strengthens grammatical understanding. Sacred Scripture provides history, language, theology, morality, and wisdom.

A classical curriculum therefore seeks connections rather than isolation.

This is one reason Britannia Classical Institute offers a broad curriculum rather than encouraging children to specialise too early. A young child should encounter mathematics, science, history, geography, literature, grammar, Scripture, poetry, languages, and the Catholic Faith. Together these disciplines gradually form an educated mind.

Do Not Settle for the Minimum

Perhaps one of the most encouraging passages in Quintilian is his discussion of educational ideals.

Quintilian admits that the perfect orator he describes may be extraordinarily difficult to produce. Nevertheless, he refuses to lower the ideal merely because perfection is difficult.

He writes:

"Those whose aspirations are highest, will attain to greater heights than those who abandon themselves to premature despair of ever reaching the goal and halt at the very foot of the ascent."

This is excellent advice for home educating parents.

We do not need to expect perfection from our children. Nor should education become an endless source of pressure. Children mature at different speeds and possess different gifts.

But neither should we deliberately aim low.

There is sometimes a temptation in education to ask only what is required. What is the minimum a child needs to know? What will appear on the examination? What is expected for this age? What can safely be omitted?

Classical education asks a different question.

What is worth knowing?

The fact that a child will never completely master mathematics is not an argument against studying mathematics deeply. The fact that he may never become perfectly fluent in Latin is not an argument against introducing him to Latin. The fact that he will never read every great work of literature is not an argument against placing great literature before him.

We aim high because even when we do not reach the summit, the ascent itself raises us.

Ability Must Be Cultivated

Quintilian was also realistic about natural ability. Children possess different talents. Some learn languages quickly. Others naturally understand mathematics. Some have excellent memories, while others require considerable repetition.

Yet natural ability alone is not enough.

Quintilian insists that natural gifts must be developed through "methodical training" and "persistent study."

This is particularly important in homeschooling because parents see their children's strengths and weaknesses more clearly than almost anyone else. The purpose of education is not to compare one child continually with another. It is to cultivate faithfully the abilities God has given to each child.

A pupil who initially struggles to concentrate can gradually develop attention. A reluctant writer can become more confident through regular composition. A child who finds arithmetic difficult can improve through careful practice.

Education requires patience because intellectual habits grow through repeated use.

Reading, Writing and Speaking

Towards the end of his preface, Quintilian gives a wonderfully concise description of the practices required for intellectual formation. Natural abilities, he explains, must be cultivated through:

"skilful teaching, persistent study and continuous and extensive practice in writing, reading and speaking."

There is an entire educational philosophy contained within that sentence.

Reading. Writing. Speaking.

These three activities should occupy a central place in a classical education.

Children should read substantial and worthwhile material. They should speak about what they have read, answering questions, narrating, discussing, and explaining. They should then learn to express their understanding through composition.

This is precisely why Britannia Classical Institute places reading and written assignments throughout the curriculum rather than confining them to English lessons.

A pupil studying history reads, speaks, and writes.

A pupil studying science reads, speaks, and writes.

A pupil studying Scripture reads, speaks, and writes.

The same principle extends throughout the curriculum.

The student is not simply receiving information. He is continually using language to acquire knowledge, organise thought, and communicate understanding.

Education Is an Ascent

Perhaps the most useful image we can take from Quintilian is his image of climbing.

Education is an ascent.

We begin with small things. Letters become words. Words become sentences. Sentences become books. Counting becomes arithmetic. Arithmetic eventually leads towards mathematics. Simple narrations gradually become sophisticated compositions. Basic grammatical knowledge eventually allows pupils to encounter Latin, Greek, literature, logic, and rhetoric.

There is no need to rush this process.

The important thing is to keep climbing.

For homeschooling parents, this should be tremendously encouraging. You do not need to reproduce a school classroom in your home, nor do you need to know everything your child will eventually study. You simply need to establish good foundations, provide excellent material, cultivate good habits, and continue steadily.

Quintilian understood almost two thousand years ago that the impressive achievements of education rest upon apparently ordinary daily practices.

Read carefully.

Write regularly.

Speak thoughtfully.

Practise persistently.

Form good habits.

Aim high.

At Britannia Classical Institute, these principles remain at the heart of what we are trying to recover. The technology may be modern, but the fundamental task of education has not changed. We are helping parents lay the foundations upon which a lifetime of learning, wisdom, and virtue can be built.

A R Hutchinson