Classical Math (Euclid)

**MATH SCHEDULE SPREADSHEET**

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CLASS MATERIAL NEEDED:

• Great Books of the Western World Vol. 11  

• Composition notepad (No spiral bound please.) 
  

What Classical Math Offers: 

• Polish logic skills.
• Prepare for the study of philosophy.
• Arm against rhetoric and sophistry.
• Learn geometry from the inside out. 
• Offered to students beginning at age 12+.
• Classes twice weekly.

Geometry: The language of philosophy… 

Euclid is an ancient geometry textbook containing the propositions that make up the study of geometry as we know it today. Historically, geometry was known as the language of philosophy and it was always a pre-requisite to higher education because an understanding of its principles was known to equip students with the ability to think and communicate clearly, reasonably and soundly.  

But isn’t geometry math?  What does it have to do with philosophy? 

A sort of arming against sophistry and rhetoric, a sound understanding of the core principles of geometry will enable students to see through the smooth-tongued, and emotionally charged, as they practice anchoring themselves in plain and simple logic by forming proofs based on common notions and prior proofs. 

Often we hear arguments that feel off or rub us the wrong way, yet we do not always know how to identify nor articulate the error we sense. A study of Euclid is an intense training in logic and will produce in the student not only a keen awareness of flimsy, false, or circular logic, but also the ability to name it, call it out, and clearly communicate their own views.  

As a nice side-perk to the study of Euclid, students will find that they can already understand and quite easily apply the concepts and tasks of modern geometry. Not only will they know how to “do the problems” but they will comprehend their meaning.  

Years ago, when asked what he thought of his modern geometry class, my 15-year-old son replied “I already know how to do all of the problems…It’s like Euclid, except easy!”

“Then why the great effort to study Euclid if Geometry is easier?” you may ask.  I would answer that when you study Euclid, you comprehend why the concepts are true.  In modern geometry you simply use those rules to solve problems.  This is the same pattern made manifest in the students’ comprehension and debate skills.  Rather than just knowing how to apply given rules to real world problem solving, they will know how to think about the rules, and how to detect flaws in their validity.