Ep. 8 - Chapter Three of Norms and Nobility: Teaching the Father of the Man

The Everlasting Education

This is Episode 8 of The Everlasting Education Podcast, a Kepler Education Production.

In this episode, Scott Postma and Joffre Swait unpack some of the salient points in chapter three of David V. Hicks, Norms and Nobility. Hicks argues that "the activity of learning takes place in a no-man's land between what the student can accomplish and what he may not be able to accomplish." Contrary to the modern child psychologist's aims, the classical educator emphasizes mastering an inherited body of knowledge rather than on "developing a happy, well-adjusted child."

David V. Hicks's, Norms and Nobility was first published in 1981 when it won the American Library Association's Outstanding Book Award. Since that time, it has gone on to become one of the most influential books in the Classical Education movement. Hicks's "purpose in writing the book is to offer a personal interpretation of classical education—its ends, as well as some of its means—and to respond to the objections of those who might approve of the goals of such an education, but who believe that it cannot meet the needs of an industrial democracy ro that it is not feasible as a model for mass education."

Learn more about Kepler's approach to marking time as a Classical Christian Education platform serving homeschool families at Kepler Education.