I read an article by Susan Wise Bauer, Stop Cleaning the Kitchen and Read a Book found in The Classical Teacher, Summer 2009. Mrs. Bauer's premise is that you should put reading the classics before homemaking. If you organize your life well, it doesn't need to be a choice. She subtly hints that homemaking is a lesser pursuit, which it is not. The rest of her article got me thinking. I've begun studying my set of Great Books more times than I can count. Although Spencer and I have gotten quite far into it, we only glossed the surface. This study is difficult, bind-mendingly difficult. I'm going to make another go at it.
Mrs. Bauer talks of slow progress as opposed to quickly finished. Faster is not better in this case. This has been my trouble. Dusting off my self-education aspirations, I'll read, think, mull things over, aND slowly savour every bite. I wish I had a reading buddy to join with me in this "Great Conversation." Alas, I can never find a willing party. As I take this journey alone, I'll keep the words of Mortimer Adler in mind.
"What is missing is education to be human beings, education to make the most of our human powers, education for our responsibilities as members of a democratic society, education for freedom. This is what liberal education is. This is the eduction that prepares us to be free men. You have to have this education if you are going to be happy; for happiness consists in making the most of yourself. You have to have this education if you are going to be a member of the community; for membership in the community implies the ability to communicate with others. You have to have this education if you are going to be an effective citizen of a democracy; for citizenship requires that you understand the world in which you live and that you do not leave your duties to be performed by others, living vicariously and vacuously on their virtue and intelligence. A free society is a society composed of freemen. To be free you have to be educated for freedom. This means that you have to think; for the free man is one who things for himself. It means that you have to, for example, about the aims of life and of organized society."
I am glad you got to read it. I agree, that homemaking is not a lesser pursuit in any way, and I for one just can't handle when there is disorder everywhere. I must clean to read, but I also am not all that picky about what is clean... anyway, what I loved about this article was the same thing as you. I found it inspiring to slowly take on a hard, hard book. I never thought to ever read it three times, even though I have heard about reading books that way before. She just seemed to get it to make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to start a classic book group in my area, not just a book group. I would love to join in the Great Debate with you.
Erin
It's a deal!
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