Dr. Richard Ferrier on Embracing Adventitious Experiences to Become a Well-Educated Person

About our Guest: 

Dr. Richard Ferrier was born April 18th 1948, Berkeley California, married wife Kathyrn 1972, 8 children, 9 grandchildren. He is currently a faculty member  with Thomas Aquinas College (1978-present).  

• B.A. Liberal Arts 1971, St Johns College, Annapolis
• M.A. and Ph.D History of Science 1980, Indiana University
• Teacher at Key School, Annapolis 1969-74 (taught Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Greek, English and American Lit, Drama, and Music)
• Founding Board Member St. Augustine Academy, Ventura California.
• Chairman Ventura County Republican Party 1991-2, Vice Chairman "Yes on 209" campaign, 1996. Prop 209 banned, by Constitutional Amendment, preferential treatment by race, sex, or ethnicity in state agencies. It passed and is still state law.

His most recent book is
The Declaration of America,

Our Principles in Thought and Action, published by St. Augustine's Press. 
 

Show Notes
Dr. Ferrier is a true sage in classical education and his wisdom shines in this discussion. Hearing from his heart as a dad and grandparent was an absolute blessing. This interview was an absolute delight. We jumped from beautiful topic to beautiful topic. Dr. Ferrier and Trae shared several personal stories and especially discuss the upbringing of boys during several various points in this episode. The bullet point summary, as well as the book list,  provides a good snap shot of the depth and breadth of this conversation.  He wisely said "We live in a world of riches, why should we waste our minds?"

Some topics in this episode include:

• Defining classical education and making free men
• Liberal Arts v. Servile Arts (useful arts)
• Arithmetic & Geometry as the music and dance of the quadrivium
• The importance of music for the human soul 
• Civics through American patriotic hymns
• The importance of reading to your children
• How to read well and simply delight in great books from Dr. Seuss to the best American Speeches to Homer and back to nonsense poetry! 
• The arts of grammar, logic/dialectics, and rhetoric
• Teaching rhetoric with the best speeches
• The importance of integrative instruction through the 7 Classical Liberal Arts and the useful arts
• Why practitioners in the "useful arts" NEED to know how to think well and communicate well
• Educating boys and giving them great books as well as hands on experience with tools and going fishing
• Adventitious learning 
• The difficulties in homeschooling that drive a parent to online learning
• He shared his personal testimonies with homeschooling his children and what struggles they had

Books & Resources In This Episode

Mother Goose
Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat)
Ogden Nash
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States
Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey
Lincolns' Speeches and Euclid's Elements
"John Brown's Body" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"By the Waters if Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benét
"The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge
Landmark Books
Tolkien Trilogy
Faust
Pensées by Blaise Pascal
Dostoevsky
"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
"The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse
"Beneath the Wheel" by Hermann Hesse

Calvin Coolidge's Speech on The Declaration of Independence: Lecture by Dr. Ferrier

Movies
Gettysburg
John Adams
Ken Burn's Civil War series
Casablanca

Favorite Quote
Virgil when he is looking at the destruction of his home. "sunt lacrimae rerum"--- Tears for things

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic

 
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