nuns

Newman’s thinking on education is sometimes branded as austere, rigorous, even platonic. However, his principles, far from being an ivory tower for academics, have immense importance to the education of children of all ages since they are based on his keen insight about human nature and Catholic truth.  In the second section of Idea of a University, Newman has an excellent essay called “Elementary Studies,” composed just as he began as rector of the new Catholic University in Dublin between 1854 and 1856. In it he lays out what we might call a “standard” for pre-college education based on the principles laid out above. The essay is also a reminder of how versatile a writer he is; a large portion of the essay includes two imaginary and humorous dialogues between one unprepared and another well-prepared young pupil with a college tutor for an entrance examination, held verbally. 

The two interviews undergird Newman’s main point: schoolchildren must learn a little, slowly, and very well, aiming for precision, not breadth. It is clear that the successful student has a “discipline of mind” that is well-prepared for Newman’s University principles, and has learned a love for the truth for its own sake, for discovering what is actual in the given subject matter. A well-instructed student is not merely curious, not merely voluminous in his aspirations, not merely in love with his own sense of accomplishment or reading list or aspirations, but in all things he has started with learning a little bit, but learning it very well, has trained in academic accuracy and precision, and is now ready for more. 

Newman regularly uses an analogy of eyesight: elementary education (by which he means pre-college) is about strengthening and perfecting “intellectual vision,” giving the mind ”clearness, accuracy, precision,” the lack of which he thinks is a malady in all classes of society, the literate and the illiterate. Just as, Newman thinks, an infant first only sees swirls of colors, shades, and abstract shapes, and, as the mind matures, can pick out more definite objects, faces and distances, just so the young mind must be trained to bring intellectual objects, like grammar, mathematics and letters, into clear focus. 

“A little, but well,” is the maxim of Newman’s imagined tutor, whose experiences fictionalized in the essay may very well have been based on real interactions Newman had with students and parents through his own teaching. He wants us to help correct the false notion that the “gratification of a love of reading is real study,” which is really a kind of “mental restlessness or curiosity.” He wants to see students trained to “stay or hang over … one idea,” to aim at accuracy and completeness of knowledge of a few things, to learn “consistency, steadiness” and “perseverance.” Otherwise, educators will merely acclimatize students to dislike “application” and “attention,” and to “shrink from the effort and labor of thinking.” This kind of system might produce a student who is literate, but who cannot think, cannot “make a telling speech” or “write a good letter” or “fling in debate a smart antagonist.” 

He wants a “discipline of mind,” not some new system that looks good on paper, and students and teachers alike grudgingly grind through as if it were mere assembly-line work. He wants “clearness of head, accuracy, scholar-like precision, method … yet [these] do not suggest themselves to youths at once, and have to be urged and inflicted upon them.” In other words, they need the real, attentive, dogged presence of an excellent teacher who not only knows the subject well, but requires and actually expects the student to form a real and precise understanding, and to demonstrate it. Just as friction produces heat, the regular and intense contact between a solid, knowledgeable teacher and an attentive student produces knowledge in the mind, the regular habit of using one’s reason upon, of thinking about, new knowledge, connecting new knowledge to what is already known. 

There is much emphasis today on giving schoolchildren “skills.” Usually educators also desire to help students “think.” While noble and worthy, these goals only make sense given a definite object. Something must be thought about, some content must be engaged relative to a desired skill. Too often educational goals are merely practical, aimed at preparation for job, career, college, politics or society, and ignore the real substance of human formation. The real emphasis on education of all ages should be what Newman calls “discipline of mind,” or “cultivation of mind,” which looks like the impregnation of the mind with knowledge, and requires thought. This is not some lofty standard for only the gifted; it is in our human nature since we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are made to know – to know things, others, God, and self – with our God-given gift of reason.

Newman’s thought has important implications for the recent debate over adopting national standards in Catholic classrooms. First, the Catholic educator must be committed to excellence and heed the evidence that government standards are producing worse, not better, student outcomes. But this is only a symptom of an abstract emphasis on skills and pragmatic preparation, rather than concrete knowledge. Forming national education standards may not be bad, but as it currently stands, state-governed education is sadly mechanistic, like the IRS, with red tape and perplexing mazes, with standardized curriculum becoming like the gigantic and impossibly confusing tax code, requiring bureaucratic specialists to help real people navigate what should be a simple natural process. State standards might offer interesting reflection upon the reality of education, but in themselves do nothing of substance to form subject-knowledge or ensure quality instruction. Newman reminds us that education is based in human nature, in our natural capacities to think about subject matter, and therefore the real standard is cultivating the whole minds of young people through the personal presence of a well-cultivated teacher. Education is a natural duty primary to the family, over which the Church claims authoritative guidance by her faithful magisterium. All that is truly necessary for education are human persons, fully-formed minds who call children to the same mental discipline of mind that is fully alive to the truth of God and the truth of his Creation.

 

Like this article?

Leave a comment



[]
1 Step 1
Name of the Petitioneryour full name
Name (of the person in need)your full name
Short Description of the Need, for ex. heart disease, spiritual conversion, finding employmentPrayer Intntion
0 / 300
Previous
Next

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

What does John Henry Newman mean by the words: "to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often?"

Listening to God is done keeping in mind the normative value of the whole of Tradition and of the Church’s Teaching.  

Our Books

About Cardinal John Henry Newman

Purchase Book


A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.

Review by Catherine Maybanks
(Catholic Herald, April 1, 2023)

Review by Serenheed James
(Antiphon, April 2023)

Purchase Book

 
Fr Peter Conley takes us on an exciting journey into the spirituality and inner life of Saint John Henry Newman.
 

Purchase Book


Endorsement by Neyra Blanco (Amazon)
I bought this book for my son and he loved it, he wrote this review and urged my to submitted: “I think this book has a very beautiful message, because it shows how the young Newman was so determined to achieve his dream of becoming a priest, but even after his dream he continued to work in the church with passion until the day he died, it’s so admirable that even Newman so old and so weak still had that urge to continued his work of being a priest. And the book is well written with words not too complicated with very enjoyable texts and well illustrated pictures. I highly recommend this book for a 5th grader.  

Purchase Book


What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education? Why is it so important for the development of a person?

Fr. Juan R. Vélez answers these and more questions you might have about University Education in the 21st century. This book is aimed for parents, prospective University students, and educators. It will help you discern why adding Liberal Arts electives to your education will help it form it better, and help the student learn to reason, and not just learn.

He also explains how many Universities have changed the true meaning of Liberal Arts, and the subjects, and gives advise on how to choose College Campus, Subjects, and Teachers.

A wonderful book that every parent should also read way before your children are College bound. A Liberal Arts education can start earlier in life, even from home.

Purchase Book


Endorsement by Christopher Moellering (Goodreads, September 14, 2019)
In Passion for Truth Fr. Vélez gave us an outstanding biography of Cardinal Newman. In this work, he provides a concise overview of his thought and his devotion. This is a great work for someone who, perhaps hearing of Newman for the first time because of his beatification 13 October, 2019, wants to know more about this English saint.Vélez is a wonderful writer in his own right, and the frequent quotations from Newman round out the work nicely. I especially appreciated the frequent citing of Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, which show a different side of his spirituality than his more well-known works, Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent.

Purchase Book


Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman, endorsement by Illow M. Roque (Amazon, September 3, 2010)
“There is a time to put direct inquiry on hold and give ourselves to prayer and practical duties.” Sound advice from one of the earlier, thought-provoking reminders in this sparkling gem of a book: Take Five | Meditations with John Henry Newman, written by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Vélez and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This particular paragraph, referenced above, which begins with a direct quote from soon-to-be canonized priest, cardinal and poet, John Henry Newman: “Study is good, but it gets us only so far . . .” is actually the 15th in a series of 76 concise, logically organized meditations moving from the elementary to the sublime. Each meditation–one per page–is built upon the great man’s writings and remarkably rich spirituality. Whether taken whole in one reading or in part page-by-page over a course of weeks and months, these wonderfully insightful meditations will open up, even to the busiest reader in the midst of the world, a unique pathway into prayer and contemplation. My advice to spiritual inquirers at all levels, from the novice to the spiritually adept, is to follow the authors’ recommendation to use this book as a guide for daily prayer and meditation. The structure of the book itself is ideal: first, the authors introduce us to Cardinal Newman, the man, where we are given the opportunity to get to know him through a brief sketch of his life and spirituality at the beginning of the book. This is something readers will likely find themselves referring to again and again, prompting many, I suspect, to even wider explorations of this most gifted Christian leader. Then comes the meditations, consisting of a short summary of Newman’s thoughts on subjects taken, as the authors explain, from various salient points for which Newman is justly remembered: The pursuit of objective religious truth; Teaching on the Virtues; Defense of the Catholic Church; A devout spiritual and moral life; and Generosity and loyalty in his friendships, which sets the topic and tone for each meditation to follow. Each meditation consists of an excerpt taken from Newman’s thirty-plus volumes of writings and diaries. Next comes three brief and extremely useful sections entitled: “Think About It,” which establishes a prayerfully resonant tone throughout the book; “Just Imagine,” which provides a vivid, prayerful experience of the Scriptures that tie in, and finally, “Remember,” a pithy summation which the authors suggest may be used as a daily aspiration. Each meditation is given its own page, which makes it ideal for daily reflection for readers on the go. This book is a must have for every serious Catholic who wants to take their faith to the next level, which is to respond appropriately to the universal call to holiness and seek interior union with God.
David Warren

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

Robert Kirkendall

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Fr. Juan Velez

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

Fr. Juan Velez

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

David Warren

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

Robert Kirkendall

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

Fr. Juan Velez

What does John Henry Newman mean by the words: "to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often?"

Fr. Juan Velez

Listening to God is done keeping in mind the normative value of the whole of Tradition and of the Church’s Teaching.  

Fr. Juan Velez

The sensum fidelium is a confirmation of authentic doctrinal development in contrast to corruption of doctrine. It can also be described as a spiritual instinct for Catholic truths.