{"id":106,"date":"2018-11-18T08:56:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T14:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=106"},"modified":"2022-12-03T10:15:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:15:28","slug":"less-is-more-are-fewers-subjects-better-for-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2018\/11\/18\/less-is-more-are-fewers-subjects-better-for-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Less is More: Are Fewers Subjects Better for Schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Perrin, over at Inside Classical Ed<\/em><\/a>, suggests that <\/span>classical schools are offering too many classes<\/span><\/a>. He champions the idea of <\/span>multum non multa<\/span><\/i> – much not many. Perrin writes, \u201cTo study and learn well, humans have learned that it is important to study a few things deeply, even to mastery, rather than to dabble and sample dozens of things.\u201d Here we have a Pareto distribution, there are a few subjects that when learned maximize the entirety of a student\u2019s learning. He points to C. S. Lewis, who as a student predominantly learned the classical authors through his study of Latin and Greek. This highly selective study generated a massive output of some of the best literature of the 20th century, along with a distinguished career as a literary critic, academic, and Christian apologist. Lewis did not take courses in film studies or home economics, let alone any AP classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perrin\u2019s point is that we diminish the joy students experience and the love of learning that can be derived from careful, close study of fewer subjects. He issues a compelling criticism:<\/span><\/p>\n

Classical schools, like other modern schools, generally follow a curriculum that, according to Lewis, dabbles far too much. Our graduates really don\u2019t \u201cknow\u201d Latin; many of them don\u2019t do math, or study literature, history, math, or science \u201cincidentally.\u201d There is usually no room for any of this incidental or accidental learning, because we fill students\u2019 every hour with all matter of what becomes academic \u201cstuff.\u201d Sadly, loves are not cultivated by rapid sampling or \u201cdrive-through\u201d courses of study\u2014or by simply asking students to pile their plates high with great heaping helpings of the True, Good, and Beautiful. We have a phrase to the effect that one\u2019s eyes can be too big for one\u2019s stomach. In contemporary classical education, I fear that our eyes are too big for our students\u2019 souls. We dish it up, eight periods a day, with eight different enthusiastic chefs serving large amounts of what we know our students will want and love. They, however, have had enough.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To gorge ourselves and our students on too much of even good, true and beautiful things can have the effect of sickening, when instead we would want them to savor such an educational meal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perrin\u2019s thoughts are provocative and worthy of consideration. Thinking through what is essential for our students can be challenging, especially as the job market makes its demands on what students ought to learn before entering the workforce. But education serves an even higher value in the formation of whole persons who enjoy lives with meaning and purpose. At the heart of Perrin\u2019s concern is that students dabble in classes superficially without cultivating a love for knowledge. It could be, though, that the issue lies not in the proliferation of subjects, but in the methodological malaise inherent in modern education. Jason and I have actually found that students respond well to a wide and varied curriculum. Charlotte Mason writes that it is \u201cnot the number of subjects but the hours of work [that] bring fatigue to the scholar\u201d (Towards a Philosophy of Education<\/i>, p. 82). The mind is nourished by many and different ideas. So how do we enable our students to grow in their relationships with all the ideas out there without squelching their spirit? On the role of ideas in education<\/a>, see Jason’s previous post. <\/span>We\u2019ll come back this topic to in future posts, but for now we\u2019d love to get your thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Perrin, over at Inside Classical Ed, suggests that classical schools are offering too many classes. He champions the idea of multum non multa – much not many. Perrin writes, \u201cTo study and learn well, humans have learned that it is important to study a few things deeply, even to mastery, rather than to dabble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[11,19,32,13,628,9,23,20],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-charlotte-mason","tag-chris-perrin","tag-classical-tradition","tag-ideas","tag-in-the-classroom","tag-joy","tag-liberal-arts","tag-multum-non-multa"],"yoast_head":"\nLess is More: Are Fewers Subjects Better for Schools? •<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How many subjects is too many? 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Like the modern office, forms of pseudo-productivity dominate the modern school system\u2013a fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4508,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/25\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-2-do-fewer-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":106,"position":1},"title":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 2: Do Fewer Things","author":"Jason Barney","date":"January 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last article we discussed the problem of pseudo-productivity in school. Popularly called busywork, this pseudo-productivity of the factory model of education presents a fairly straightforward analogy to the pseudo-productivity of the office. In his book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, Cal Newport diagnosed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4396,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2024\/09\/14\/the-search-for-great-teaching-a-comparison-of-teach-like-a-champion-3-0-and-christopher-perrins-pedogogical-principles\/","url_meta":{"origin":106,"position":2},"title":"The Search for Great Teaching: A Comparison of Teach Like a Champion 3.0 and Christopher Perrin’s Pedogogical Principles","author":"Kolby Atchison","date":"September 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"One interesting addition to Doug Lemov\u2019s Teach Like a Champion series in his third edition (Teach Like a Champion 3.0) is his notion of a mental model. He introduces the idea like this: \u201cIn a typical lesson you decide, often quickly. Then you decide, decide, and decide again. You are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Prophetic-Voice-Promo-Draft-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Prophetic-Voice-Promo-Draft-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Prophetic-Voice-Promo-Draft-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Prophetic-Voice-Promo-Draft-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Prophetic-Voice-Promo-Draft-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2018\/07\/20\/the-classical-distinction-between-an-art-and-a-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":106,"position":3},"title":"The Classical Distinction Between the Liberal Arts and Sciences","author":"Jason Barney","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the encouraging recent developments in education is the recovery of the classical educational tradition of the liberal arts and sciences amongst Christian classical schools. Of course, we\u2019re already laboring upstream, since to most people the term \u2018liberal arts\u2019 simply refers to general studies or the humanities. However, even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classical Tradition"","block_context":{"text":"Classical Tradition","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/classical-tradition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Liberal Arts of the Classical Tradition","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Liberal-Arts.jpg?fit=1025%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Liberal-Arts.jpg?fit=1025%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Liberal-Arts.jpg?fit=1025%2C756&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Liberal-Arts.jpg?fit=1025%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4490,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/04\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-1-the-problem-of-pseudo-productivity\/","url_meta":{"origin":106,"position":4},"title":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 1: The Problem of Pseudo-Productivity","author":"Jason Barney","date":"January 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron\u2019s lecture on Classical Academic Press.)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2159,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2021\/07\/03\/cultivating-the-discipline-of-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":106,"position":5},"title":"Cultivating the Discipline of Study","author":"Kolby Atchison","date":"July 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Our world is restless, this much is clear. As I have observed in previous blogs, the speed of the modern world is only accelerating as new technologies allow people to access whatever they seek at unprecedented rates. Surfing the web, in particular, has never been easier, and with it, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Educational Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Educational Leadership","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/educational-leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/reading-book.jpeg?fit=1000%2C665&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/reading-book.jpeg?fit=1000%2C665&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/reading-book.jpeg?fit=1000%2C665&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/reading-book.jpeg?fit=1000%2C665&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}