 "Should be required reading before homeschooling." | 2009-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A23Z9F7U3YAXV5 |
Excellent apologia for Classical Education.
I could not put this book down! I read it twice in a week.
The second highlighting quotes and ideas I did not want to forget. (An suggested graduation gift for any new teacher.)
I am studying Latin Grammar this summer, as to be far enough ahead to teach my own child coming this fall. This book sparked my enthusiasm about the importance of what I am hoping to accomplish.
I too have found a new appreciation for the classics. I realized if I am going to read for pleasure it should be something worth reading!
--- I never realized how relevant a work written 235 years ago, "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, would be today.....I have "Climbing Parnassus" to thank. |
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| "A Great Argument for the Classics" | 2007-10-15 |
| - Reviewed By paulski_73 |
| This book is a tremendous resource not only for some history of education, but it intelligently explains the importance of Greek and Latin as well. Simmons could have spent a little more time, in my opinion, exploring some of the arguments against learning the classics, such as the (perhaps justifiable) fear of polluting young minds with "pagan" philosophy and racy tales. He does seem to think Greek and Latin exercises will enable children to rightly discern between the proverbial baby and the bathwater, which they undoubtedly will to a point. One cannot help but notice that Simmons has, however, given too high a place to these languages. They are important to learn, but they are not the pinnacle he makes them out to be. He over-sells in my estimation. That said, it is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone. |
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 "Climbing Parnassus, a bit too Herculean" | 2007-08-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2HIYFZ9DTQD7O |
Wonderful book. Well written. One of the best apologies for Latin and Greek (and being a Latin teacher I have read not a few).
The only reason it is only four stars is that the labor is too difficult (for mortals like myself). Simmons falls, I believe, into the Erasmian (and Kantian) error that the pains of the labor are the measure of the greatness. I have two words: Mozart and Shakespeare. The Muses give their gifts to whom they will. Erasmus' error is corrected by Josef Pieper in "Leisure. .", and although T.S.Eliot wrote the introduction to that book, he may have fallen somewhat into the same error. Nevertheless, it is an admirable error.
This brings me to the second point. No one will undertake such an enterprise. In the wide searches I've done in looking at various institutions, I have found none that come close to preparing one for climbing to Parnassus. Moreover, his model is very English in bent. There was another model on the main Continent that was far more felicitous, namely the Jesuits'. In the medieval tradition, they began teaching the young to speak Latin naturally. It is the answer that Dorothy Sayers was seeking for in her essay complaining how she studied Latin 20 years and never learned it. Moreover, the English method is the very method that likely killed Homer (though I have yet to read that book) and, I have some time maintained, killed the study of Latin (and Greek).
My suggestion is to speak Latin, starting as young as possible. The closest method is Oerberg, whom my own sixth grade students thoroughly enjoy.
That said, it is a wonderful book, a delight to read. I think students, starting in 3rd grade, should study Latin at least three hours a day (by speaking and reading, of course). When they have long mastered the idiom, then they can move on to the complexities of Cicero and the beauty of Virgil. For now, I am satisfied teaching Oerberg to sixth graders since most people think me crazy if I suggest we do away with (or lessen the part of) mind-numbing "subjects" to make way for a real training of the "animal having speech" (logos), as Aristotle defines it. To evolve from a mere chatterbox to an "animal having reason" (logos), requires difficult training. Nevertheless, even the most strenuous exercise, done the right way and to greatest effect, can be delightful. |
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| "Why the Classical Languages Matter" | 2007-06-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1L1ZYOS0YX21P |
| Simmons' book answers that nagging question, Is there really any reason to study Latin besides improving one's SAT scores? The answer is a resounding yes. This in-depth look at what traditional classical education meant and contributed for centuries is particularly useful for homeschooling families as a counterpoint to the more popular "neoclassical" approaches of Susan Wise Bauer, the Bluedorns, Doug Wilson/Logos School, Veritas Press, etc. In fact, by the end of the book, the nagging question has changed: Can any curriculum not based on the classical languages really be called classical at all? Highly recommended reading. Another top pick: Andrew Campbell's The Latin-Centered Curriculum, which is as practical (even including a scope-and-sequence component) as Climbing Parnassus is historical and theoretical. |
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| "A must-read for teachers and students" | 2006-01-14 |
| - Reviewed By gretchenh |
This book is profoundly inspiring, and an invaluable resource for those who desire to learn and those who desire to teach. Teachers would do well to heed Simmons' advice:
"Any lower school aspiring to help the intelligent children to be their best, to allow the smart to rise and reach heights undreamt of, will give full credit to those children for possessing minds capapble of great things. Children are to be sympathized with and respected, not coddled, nor are they to be humored. Their roads aren't always to be made smooth."
Simmons warns us that the ascent of Parnassus is not easy, but is so very worthwhile. He provided me with a glimpse of what I missed out on by not being Classically educated, and left me with a determination to ensure that my child IS Classically educated. |
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| "Never Too Late for Latin & Greek!" | 2003-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| I cannot add much more to the great 5-star reviews here, except to say this book has given hope that even older adults can, and should, begin learning Greek and Latin immediately. We were robbed of a true education. But that's no excuse not to try in a lifetime to finally read these classics in the original language. I was twelve years old when I first realized how cool it would be to read and hear ancient Greek. I was intimidated out of that fancy. Now I know the rest of the story. Thank you for your precise and elegant prose, and--by the way--very readable book. It has been an inspiration, in all the true senses and history of that word. |
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