Are you a home schooler that is using the "classical method?"  Have you heard of this book?  If you have, you're one of the few.  I haven't seen it mentioned or recommended except once in an old, old home schooling magazine that I picked up at a curriculum swap years ago. 

So what am I doing reviewing some obscure book?  Well, it's not because I agree with everything Hicks writes.  It's mostly because this book really made me think, Why educate?  What is education really for?  Is it to become rich?  To be happy?  If we don't know why we are educating our children, will we do a good job?--will we know what comprises a good education?  Do we need to know these things?  These questions are relevant to educators--even homeschoolers.  These are questions that Hicks discusses.  Sure, he has his own ideas, but I enjoyed analyzing his views and comments with an open mind as I examined and refined my own thoughts on the subject.  Little bright light bulbs kept appearing over my head as I read this book.  (Can you tell I watched too many cartoons as a child?) 

But Hicks, who got his M.A. at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, didn't write this book for my analytical pleasure.  He wrote it because he'd like to see reform in the schools.  He says in the preface to the 1990 edition, "We are a nation at risk, but not simply because our children cannot read and write, or keep up with the Japanese, or think and talk intelligently about the basic ideas of our intellectual tradition.   We are at risk because our modern pedagogy has severed the vital link between knowing and doing, because the moral marrow of who we are and of what our purposes are is being schooled out of our children, because we have become uncertain of our norms and have abandoned education's transcendent and ennobling ends."  He feels that a classical education is the answer to some educational problems.  In his book he defines classical education, explains why a classical education is desirable, and then describes the implementation of a program in a school. 

Here are some chapter titles: 

Part I:  The Idea of a Classical Education
Virtue is the Fruit of Learning
Saving the Appearances
On the Necessity of Dogma
The Ennobling of the Masses
The Promise of Christian Paideia 

Part II: The Practice of a Classical Education
(the practicalities, including a curricular outline for grades 7-12) 

While this is not a home schooling book written for home educators, it is relevant--even if you're not using the classical method--because it addresses issues many of us should probably think about at some point.  This is not a book you can sit down and read in an afternoon--well, unless you're a speed reader with incredible comprehension.  It's a book that you will probably want to take your time reading and mulling over.  Norms and Nobility is an in-depth discussion of classical education--definitely not an easy reader--but well worth your time if you're interested in classical education. 

Good News!!!  Norms and Nobilty:  A Treatise on Education has recently been reprinted.  It's been out of print for some time, but is available again.  David Hicks, the author, has listed his email address at Amazon.com, so if you read this book, let him know what you think!