I concluded my last post without supporting why I think a traditional education is extremely valuable. In going back through my feeds, I found that Stanley Fish articulated it quite well in A Classical Education: Back to the Future – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com. He addresses it more in terms of the new emphasis on testing and the “practical” sciences, but I think he also makes a good case for a structured or traditional education.
In short, get knowledgeable and well-trained teachers, equip them with a carefully calibrated curriculum and a syllabus filled with challenging texts and materials, and put them in a room with students who are told where they are going and how they are going to get there.
Worked for me.
It worked for me as well.