There are many reasons that keep drawing me to classical education. One of these is the 3 classical virtues of truth, beauty, and goodness. We live in a culture where subjectivity determines what is true, what is beautiful, and what is good. But we are seeing the tides turn as relativism has produced people with a sense of loss. Creating one's own truth sounds like a dream come true . . . until you live in a nightmare of despair.
I liken this phenomenon to the all the free and available resources during the COVID-19 quarantine. At first, my enthusiasm soared as I couldn't believe all the options suddenly available to my daughter, my husband, and me - and for free! But after a couple of months, I grew sick of yet another option. Free options became cheapened in my mind. Investing financially gave worth to whatever it was that I signed up for.
Relativism is like all the free and available options. Too many truths become cheap. Our culture has grown tired from a lack of meaning. Insert confusion and despair. People have created meaning for themselves but they long for a meaning outside of themselves. So even though the True, the Beautiful, and the Good comes directly from God, our culture is being drawn to these even if they don't credit God as their author.
Every academic study should be pursued with these 3 virtues in mind. What is truth as I study Composition and Logic? How do I emulate beauty in Rhetoric? Who is the source of goodness when I study Theology? Our innate desire for meaning can be pursued and discovered as we study history, math, and writing. How much more beautiful and delightful is each subject when studied under such a lens? And in the process, we delight in the very author who gives us such meaning.