Educating Humans Difff & James

You've probably heard the saying before, that parents are the primary educators of their children. In fact, it has been said on this very podcast. But are they? And if they are, what does this really mean? Difff and James engage in a pseudo-debate about the topic to try to get to the heart of the proposition. They end up discussing the importance of family, the power of the state, how to work with schools, and the weight of responsibility that parenthood entails.Check out Difff's ...

The Paideia Approach is a theory and practice of education proposed by a number of luminaries including Mortimer Adler. In this episode, James discusses the Paideia way to think about curriculum design, such as anchoring subjects of study in The Great Ideas, as well as pedagogical design, such as the use of the lecture, academic coaching, and the Socratic seminar. Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the past to help make sense of the present.And James' other podc...

C.S. Lewis' 'On the Reading of Old Books' is the topic of discussion in this episode of Educating Humans. James reads most of the excerpt unabridged, and then the conversation ensues, touching on various topics based upon Lewis' main point that old books provide a lens and viewpoint that is foreign to our own and therefore valuable because it does not suffer from the same blindness of our age. We also question why people shun old books - is it too much humility, too much pride, or something e...

Can the Australian National Curriculum be redeemed? The question itself implies that there might be something wrong with the curriculum provided by ACARA, and indeed listening to the pundits and commentators, apparently there may be. For proponents of classical education, however, the real question is whether the national curriculum can accommodate a classical approach to education. And the answer is that it can.This episode is a version of a presentation Difff gave to the Church and State Su...

Difff & James read and discuss Josef Pieper's short essay Learning How to See Again. As the essay begins: "Man's ability to see is in decline." Why is this? Pieper, writing in the 1950s, suggested that one of the reasons was that - even back then - there was too much to see. The proposed remedy is a great insight into how the arts can be thought about within the classical education tradition.Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the past to hel...

And we're back for 2024! Difff and James chat about what has been happening in classical education in Australia, including updates from new schools starting up, a visit from Andrew Kern and Katerina Hamilton, and Difff's upcoming presentation at the Church and State Summit. James then previews what's to come in 2024, including overly ambitious guest interviews and a close read of Josef Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture.Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the...