The teacher must have a sufficiently winning personality that his students would want to be like him— not merely want to know what the teacher knows— and parents must not allow endless, irrefutable competition against the teacher to swindle the student’s heart away.
If we step outside of our current historical moment and listen to the wisdom of the past, we might find a healthier alternative. For thousands of years, figures like Plato, Cicero, Augustine, and C.S. Lewis have carried the torch for a different kind of education: the formation of the soul.
Repetition is well-established as a component of classical pedagogy. Repetition helps us memorize, helps us remember, helps us perfect and master. I have come to see another virtue in repetition: Repetition is restful. Repetition brings the shoulders down and reduces tension for both the student and the teacher.
