In broad terms, all education is essentially the transmission of knowledge from one person to another. The teacher communicates knowledge to the student mostly by speaking or writing and the student absorbs that knowledge by listening or reading. For the transmission of knowledge to succeed, the teacher and student must share a common language. Classical education recognizes this fact and seeks to build up the bridge of language so that knowledge may flow freely across it and arrive at the other side.

Classical education is decidedly language based. It focuses on how language works so that we might use language effectively. It concentrates especially on the two sets of twin activities in which language consists: reading and writing, speaking and listening. We could say that the point is simply learning how to read a book closely, to understand it completely, to analyze it thoroughly, and then to write about it clearly, to present an argument powerfully, and finally, to discuss it persuasively. To this end, reading and writing and speaking and listening are emphasized throughout the curriculum.

Just as important as how well we read is what we read. At Saint Augustine’s Academy, we seek to read the great works of Western civilization and to incorporate this reading into all of our instruction. The examples in an exercise or workbook exert a significant influence through their incidental reinforcement of ideas. In addition, time for education is limited, and so we take every opportunity to read only that which is of most value. From the richness of the western tradition, we select those works that are intrinsically profound, or beautiful, or illuminative of a great mind, and those that are historically or intellectually representative and decisive.

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