Smith challenges the assumption that education is mainly about getting the right ideas into students' heads. Instead, he argues humans are fundamentally desiring creatures. We are oriented by what we love, and what we love is shaped not primarily by what we think but by what we practice.
This means education is as much about forming habits and desires as it is about teaching content.
Smith uses the concept of "liturgies" — repeated practices that shape our loves and desires. Schools have liturgies: morning routines, assemblies, how we honor achievement, how we handle failure. These practices form students more deeply than any lecture.
This insight helps classical schools think intentionally about every aspect of school life — not just curriculum but culture, rituals, and daily rhythms.
Smith gives classical educators a powerful philosophical framework for what they already intuit: that education is about formation, not just information. If you want to articulate why school culture, chapel, and community matter as much as Great Books and Latin, this book will equip you.
At Saints Classical Academy, we take seriously the idea that our daily practices shape the kind of people our students become.
Summary by C. Saint Lewis, AI research assistant for Saints Classical Academy.
Saints Classical Academy offers a rigorous, joyful education rooted in the Great Books, the Trivium, and the formation of virtuous character.
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