Why Classical Education is Bad: Many classical liberal arts colleges and universities are being accused of “classical liberal propaganda” for teaching that classical education is good. Yet, this is actually a logical argument against free education (that’s just my opinion of course). I think that self-education, without the structure and guidance of a teacher or instructor, is good as well as bad. You should be able to learn how to read, write, dance, and anything else, without someone telling you how to do it.
This is what separates every form of education: the one person determining what you learn, from another person who must learn it through example and the help of many others.
Now, I would like to make a statement about the classical liberal arts. It appears to me, and I’ve written about this many times, that many of the best liberal arts programs in the country have nothing to do with a classical education. The best ones, like Harvard or Yale, are great liberal arts programs! They’re great because they teach a wide variety of different subjects, but they are all founded on the same principles: individual freedom, tolerance for all viewpoints, and open-mindedness. You can learn about almost every area of human endeavor and problem solving, without being forced to study philosophy, math, English, history or the classics.
If you are self-taught, what you learn will always be limited by your own frame of mind, your natural ability, and how you are taught. For instance, an introvert will never be able to understand classical literature. However, someone who is highly introverted but learns classical music, can be an amazing success in his or her business career. Therefore, there are many aspects to self-education that are good. Unfortunately, the “bad” parts of it have been co-opted by our current education system.
For example, I know a woman who was a very shy person growing up, and she was also self-taught. She was told over that she was wrong for wanting to be a classical piano player. Eventually, she was convinced to take classical music classes at a public school. Over the course of two years, she turned out not to be shy at all, but very successful at the piano!
Another problem with why classical education is bad is that many students are held back because they are labeled as anti-social. They are made to feel bad about their lack of performance, and they are constantly made to feel stupid. After all, the whole point is that we should hold ourselves to higher standards and be better than others. This is not always done, and this is why some people excel in sports, some perform well in school, but turn out to be poor performers at work. It’s not that hard to figure out why.
Finally, we have the last problem with classical education. Classical music itself is very boring. I mean, come on…tunes from Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, etc., who care? The boring factor is the last thing that anyone wants, and this is the main reason that most kids do not like it, and it does not even make for a good listening experience.