Aquinas on the Pedagogy of Children

Aquinas on pedagogy of children:

I just read something very interesting from St. Thomas Aquinas pertaining to the order of teaching children in the matter of sciences. Now to him, the term science doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as we mean it to be today.  But in this regard, it is something that is rooted in rightly-ordered thinking or a systematic approach. It’s actually quite important when you think about it.

Here is the quote:

“So, the proper order of learning will be the following. First, boys should be instructed in logical matters, because logic teaches the method of the whole of philosophy. Second, they are to be instructed in mathematics, which does not require experience and does not transcend the imagination.  Third, they should be trained in the natural sciences which, though not transcending sense and imagination, nevertheless require experience. Fourth, they are to be instructed in the moral sciences, which require experience and a soul free from passion, as is said in the first book [of Aristotle’s Ethics]. Fifth, they should be taught matters concerning wisdom and divine science, which goes beyond the imagination and require a vigorous mind.”

(Commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics, Book VI, Lecture 7)

It brings me back to my logic class from about 15 years ago – our professor would get frustrated with the class who would always ask for “examples” when he was teaching us how to formulate an argument. Examples were “application” but we hadn’t yet grasped the general principles yet. Thus, we were not looking for examples to understand the principles, but simply seeking to apply what we hadn’t learned well yet. 

Here Aquinas is not only speaking about application and principles, but he is also speaking about imagination, experience, and what transcends all of those. This is a virtue-based method of teaching (its focused on developing good habits). Now to Aquinas, there is an order to habits.  One strong habit reinforces the next that are to follow. 

So “morality” isn’t the first thing that is taught to children, but rather in the activity of teaching children logic (which involves teaching how to put together sentences, how to master language, how to know one thing from another, and finally how to develop an argument that leads towards truth. If this isn’t at the foundation, morality will be a confusing, wayward, dizzying science to develop. Thus, a mind trained in logic, and math, will be forced to engage in an activity that doesn’t require much passion, but rather a type of impersonal thinking, whereby objectivity and the appreciation of order can develop into a habit.  Math comes after logic, because there is a logic to math. But Math begins to immerse the mind into imagination, but it’s guided by structure, meaning, and order.

After math comes the natural sciences, whereby their personal experience (observation) is required to develop not only valid-arguments, but true premises. This is where inductive reasoning is developed, but kept within the context of discipline rather than passionate wayward preferences. And then after this comes morality, whereby experience, and imagination, are required, but are nonetheless guided by a mind that has gone from a simple ordering of thought to now a more complex application. Thus moral-sciences are not considered merely speculative, but a combination of speculation and practical science.  Finally, the mind can finally be ready to seek to pierce the more uncertain and transcendent realities, the Divine-Science (theology) which transcends imagination.

Contemporary Objections

One common objection to this system of teaching is the interpretation that as such, logic limits a child’s imagination, and thereby inhibits their growth and development. The conclusion here is a worthwhile caution in any academic atmosphere, but it follows incorrectly from the first premise which is that logic inhibits imagination. Rather, logic offers imagination coherence, enabling the imaginative dimension of the child to reach his/her full potential. No one wants a child to imagine they can fly while standing upon a roof, and to fail to see the incoherence of that opinion. Logic thus, channels the imaginative dimension to children towards something that is constructive, helpful, real, and fruitful.  In this sense, logic isn’t a box, and imagination is moving outside of that limited box. Rather logic is the foundation to any imaginative exercise being something worth perusing.

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