Within classical education, scholé as a philosophy has encouraged a return to classical education’s roots in leisure. Our current understanding of leisure is something that is the opposite of work — amusements, casual sports, vacations and time away from our day jobs. However, the ancients understood leisure as uninterrupted time for intellectual contemplation.

A Christian understanding of the world understands that all that exists is given—it is the gracious gift of an abundantly joyful God. This reality puts the exertion of learning a difficult subject in context. Learning from rest does not mean that learning calculus is easy, or that writing an excellent essay will come with the first draft, or that caring for one’s land can be done apart from careful, focused attention. Anyone who has mastered a skill or a subject can testify to the struggle that such mastery has required. 

Instead, learning from rest is about the context of our effort. We can devote ourselves to study with joy because we are not earning anything, or proving anything. God’s love for us, his love for all that he has made, means that we can begin any difficult subject with this freedom. 

What does this mean for the classroom? First, it influences the teacher’s attitude. Scholé tutors aim to communicate the joy that learning is in their own joyful approach to their content. All of what God has made is worthy of our attention, and can be engaged with enthusiasm. Second, it influences the learning pace. Scholé tutors, and in turn their students, are free from the frenetic pace of “fitting it all in.” Fewer topics, fewer texts—but deeper, more careful attention and conversations are the goal. Third, it influences measurement and assessment. Scholé resists the learn/cram/regurgitate/forget cycle that is so easy to get caught up in. Because scholé does not aim for excellent test scores, lucrative jobs, or entrance into a top university, but instead for life-long learners who see their learning as an act of worship, scholé resists idolising grades and test scores. Assessment should be framed as a positive opportunity for feedback to see where and how one needs to improve. 

As with any philosophy or ideal, the weakness of our human nature means that we will not be able to do all that we desire perfectly. Rather than despair, however, we can commit our work to the Lord, confessing our weaknesses and failures, and seeking the power of his Spirit. For parents and educators, such humility in this work of education is a powerful witness to our children and students, who will themselves fail in small and large ways. What matters more than these failures, however, is the grace that is ours in Jesus Christ. And this grace brings us back to scholé — we begin, and we begin again, not from a grasping, frantic necessity, but out of a joyful gratitude for what has already been given. 

For further reading: An Introduction to Classical Education by Christopher Perrin. 
N.B., Coram Deo does not have official status as a Scholé Community affiliated with Classical Academic Press.