Civilization Studies at Acton

Up to this day, I have mentioned Acton’s civilization studies in a few separate places, but today I want to give it its own post. The main reason I have not done this until now is that it took me time to figure out how to work with Acton’s method of studying civilization.

For those who have forgotten, I will remind you that Acton has three main types of subjects:

1. Core Skills – Every Eagle studies at his own pace, mainly with online platforms

2. Quest-Based Studies – The Eagles study together and every six weeks they do a quest on a different subject

3. Integrative Subjects – Arts, P.E. and civilization

So how does it work?

Civilization classes take place twice a week for 45 minutes each time. During each class, we read together a chapter from the excellent book “The Story of the World” and then we have a Socratic discussion about it. This year, we read the second book in the series, which reviews the history of the world from the fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance. The book is arranged chronologically and we read the chapters in order. The Eagles really like to read. Thus we divide each chapter into small parts and each eagle reads a few paragraphs aloud. It’s wonderful, in my opinion, because the skill of reading aloud is not trivial, certainly not in front of other people and every week we see how much they progress.

The second part of the class is a Socratic discussion or some activity related to the story we read. Acton’s study materials have an organized layout for each chapter with ideas for Socratic questions or interesting activities. Since there are dozens of chapters, naturally, some of the ideas are more successful than others. At the beginning of the year I completely clung to the original instructions and civilization classes were my least favourite in the schedule. Here I can admit that I was afraid that my English was simply not good enough to conduct world-class discussions about the Viking invasion and I felt that the Socratic discussions I was conducting were not good enough and not deep enough. Slowly I began to loosen up a little and trust myself in choosing questions or even new ideas. With time, I felt more and more comfortable. This week, I led the first civilization class and I was really pleased.

This week’s topic was the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai (which I know very well :)) We read together the chapter where ben Zakkai ordered his students to sneak him out off besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. He risked his life in order to reach the Jewish communities that were scattered outside the city and to teach them how to continue preserving their Judaism even though the Temple had been destroyed. Then I told the Eagles that I was Yochanan ben Zakkai and divided them into two groups: The first group was the Jews who live outside Jerusalem and come to ask ben Zakkai to leave the city and lead them so that Judaism would not be forgotten. The  second group was ben Zakai’s children who ask him not to leave. Each group received seven minutes to prepare arguments that would convince me to do what they wanted. In fact, the dilemma we discussed was to whom the leader is more committed, his family or the people he leads. The Eagles were engaged, brought excellent arguments for both sides, and it was a fascinating discussion. Notice that, as usual, I chose a dilemma that did not have only one correct answer, and the discussion deepened and developed as the Eagles became more sympathetic with their side of the argument.

There is no doubt that civilization can be difficult to bring alive and complex to learn. Acton’s goal is not to learn knowledge. The goal is to develop a discussion, sharpen thinking, place the Eagles in complex situations that allow them to sympathize with one side and then with the other, while deepening the skills of deep thinking and the ability to formulate their arguments. By the way, I’m not sure that after the last class, the Eagles will remember who Yochanan ben Zakkai was, but the fact that they sympathized so personally with his children or his students certainly embedded a lot of the story’s essential importance in them, in an experiential manner. This is learning that leaves its mark.