The essential elements of a good education don’t change over the centuries. Human nature remains the same, and the process by which a teacher coaxes a human soul into full bloom remains, in many ways, untouched. In fact, when it comes to the study of the classics and a traditional approach to the humanities, scholars of past centuries arguably had a better understanding and method of education than many educators do today.
One such scholar was Thomas More, an English statesman and humanist during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. We can still profit from his educational wisdom 500 years later.
More received an excellent education at St. Anthony’s in Threadneedle Street and as a page in the household of Archbishop John Morton, who was serving as chancellor of England at the time. Morton became More’s patron. He arranged for him to study at Oxford, where the young scholar deepened his knowledge of subjects like Latin and logic. After this, he became a law student and, in 1501, a practicing lawyer.
In addition to his legal and political work, More earned a name as a talented scholar. He drank deeply from the wells of classic literature, Holy Scripture, and early Christian writers. He also contributed to the literary tradition by writing his own theological, historical, and political tracts, the most famous being “Utopia,” a semi-satirical description of an ideal republic. He also penned poetry in both Latin and English.
More and his many educated friends participated in the Christian humanist movement. This movement sought to integrate the rapid intellectual developments of the time—such as renewed interest in the classical world, artistic rebirth, and scientific advancement—within the Christian faith.
Through his scholarly erudition, friendly disposition, diplomatic services, and excellent work as a lawyer and judge, Thomas More rose to the esteemed position of lord chancellor in 1529, a post very close to the king himself—at that time, King Henry VIII. Unfortunately, the king and chancellor clashed over Henry’s desire to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon and establish an English church independent of Rome and the papacy. When Henry declared himself the head of the Church in England, More resigned his position. More refused to swear an oath that would reject the pope’s authority and accept Henry’s divorce. For this, he was imprisoned and eventually executed in 1535. More is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church.
1. The Ultimate Purpose of Education Is to Build Virtue
In about the year 1518, More wrote a letter to his children’s tutor, William Gunnell, and through the letter he returned to the same point: The purpose of education wasn’t to gain praise from others but to foster wisdom and virtue. He insisted that “vainglory is a thing despicable, and to be spit upon,” and emphasized how a good education improved a student’s character more than wealth, power, or respect.Learning by itself—divorced from virtue—was dangerous. More wrote, “Though I prefer learning joined with virtue to all the treasures of kings, yet renown for learning, when it is not united with a good life, is nothing else than splendid and notorious infamy.”
Education ought to naturally lead to virtue, More argued. He listed the proper fruits of learning: innocence of life, the ability to meet death without fear, the possession of joy, and the strength of character to avoid being puffed up by praise or depressed by criticism. He hoped that through Gunnel’s instruction, his children’s education would lead them “to put virtue in the first place, learning in the second; and in their studies to esteem most whatever may teach them piety towards God, charity to all, and modesty and Christian humility in themselves.”
2. A Good Education Is for Everyone
Thomas More’s ideas about education were unusual for his time. He insisted on the same rigorous education for his daughters as for his son, in an era when many didn’t believe women needed a humanistic education. Arguing against the prevailing opinion, More wrote to Gunnell, “Nor do I think that the harvest [of a true education] will be much affected whether it is a man or a woman who sows the field. They both have the same human nature, which reason differentiates from that of beasts; both, therefore, are equally suited for those studies by which reason is cultivated.”The principle More here enunciated was that everyone possesses the same human nature. Allowing for variation in temperament and natural abilities between individuals, everyone had the same ability to profit from a good, ennobling education.
Regarding the education of women, More maintained that a good education would be a greater treasure to his daughters than beauty or wealth: “if a woman … to eminent virtue should add an outwork of even moderate skill in literature, I think she will have more real profit than if she had obtained the riches of Croesus and the beauty of Helen.”
3. We Should Respect the Wisdom of the Past
More wanted Gunnell to form his children to love virtue and hate vice. He saw studying classic authors as a powerful aid toward this goal. “To this purpose nothing will more conduce than to read to them the lessons of the ancient Fathers,” he wrote, “who, they know, cannot be angry with them; and, as they honor them for their sanctity, they must needs be much moved by their authority.”For Thomas More, respect and love for his forebears’ wisdom were simply considered an integral part of education. That opinion is no longer common today!
Yet Thomas More’s advice should be taken seriously—all his children grew into intelligent, wise, and virtuous adults who lived good lives. His methods worked. More hoped that through his educational approach, “peace and calm will abide in their hearts and they will be disturbed neither by fulsome flattery nor by the stupidity of those illiterate men who despise learning.”
Such seems to have been the case for all More’s children, and their education provides teachers today with a model to imitate.
