
By Selwyn Duke
“Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals,” wrote philosopher G.K. Chesterton in 1910. “They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.” Really, though, what gives worthwhile “old ideals” their value is not that they’re old — it’s that they’re eternal.
So many in our time exhibit chronological chauvinism, the idea that something new is better simply because it is new. Of course, Covid-19 was new in 2019, and the Black Plague was new in 1347 Europe. In fact, it’s hard to think of anything new we can’t live without. Yet necessary for both life and health, physical and spiritual, are many ancient things, such as water, food, shelter, Truth, and love.
This could come to mind with a movement back toward the eternal in American education. That is, rejecting modern schooling, with its bells, whistles, and wokeness, many parents are embracing “classical education.”
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