Christopher Dawson’s Vision of Education

One of the greatest intellectual and cultural figures of the 20th century has largely been forgotten. Although his name doesn’t appear in most history textbooks, and his works are not well known, his thinking influenced some of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Christopher Dawson was a British scholar and historian, best known for his focus on Christendom and the wider medieval Christian world. He lived during a pivotal time for the development of education where a tremendous change in the means and methods of learning was underway. This formed Dawson’s thinking and shaped his views on education — views that are just as important in our world today as they were in Dawson’s.

Christopher Dawson was born in Wales in 1889. He spent his life teaching and writing in both the United Kingdom and America before passing away in 1970. Dawson was strongly influenced by the great minds of Livy, Tacitus, and Vergil, but the strongest influence came from the writings of Cicero and St. Augustine. Although many of Dawson’s works were widely read and popular amongst broad cross-sections of the public. Dawson was also regarded as a “scholar’s scholar.” His writings were highly regarded among intellectuals and scholars like C. S. Lewis, Jacques Maritain, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Throughout the decades of the Progressive era (1890-1910), colleges were shifting their model of education away from the liberal arts and towards greater professionalization. In the 19th century, professors and students were expected to be well-versed in the greatest thinkers of the Western tradition. Students read Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. They studied the liberal arts and received a balanced education by studying a variety of fields and topics. This is the model of education Dawson believed in.

During his lifetime, however, he witnessed the great decline of the liberal arts. This was one of the major changes of the 20th century. No longer would students graduate with a broad knowledge based on the liberal arts — instead, they would leave their university with a degree in a specific field like history, sociology, or physics. 

For Dawson, the purpose of education was to have a continuous dialogue across time. He stressed that we must be able to pass down ideas that we know to be eternally true — things like morals, ethics, and the natural law. In this bilateral conversation across time, Dawson saw himself dialoguing with the great minds who came before him through their writings. In turn, he passed on these conversations to his readers and the next generation so that the conversation could continue.

Dawson focused his attention on the theory of education rather than diving into the practical details. He didn’t create a comprehensive plan nor a fixed curriculum because he worried that if he did, people would spend too much time debating these surface-level issues rather than the ideas behind them.

At his core, Dawson was an individualist who believed what worked for one student wouldn’t necessarily work for others. It would be impossible to create a one-size-fits-all program that would work for every student in every school. He realized there would always be a difference between distinct communities and among the various individuals in those communities. A school in central London encapsulates a community different than a school in central Iowa. Furthermore, even at the level of the classroom, each student is unique. Wisdom demands that we recognize these differences and adjust accordingly.

The liberal arts played an integral part in Dawson’s vision of education. He understood, however, that one can’t approach the liberal arts without first understanding the culture in which the education is rooted. The word “culture” contains the root “cult” which denotes a sense of worship among a community of believers. Because of this, there can be no such thing as a “secular culture” per se, since culture, by definition, must always be based on a set of beliefs.

Educators must be aware of the culture in which they operate. They must not ignore the foundations upon which they work. Some schools find their foundation in Christianity. Others base their study on the broader Judeo-Christian or Western heritage. This is important, for if a school lacks such a foundation, it’s possible to start worshiping Plato as an end in and of himself.

Dawson’s thoughts on education are important for us to understand in the modern world. He understood the value of a liberal arts education as opposed to the modern notion that students must focus only on their narrow field of study. He also described the vital importance of surrounding liberal arts education in a compatible culture. His work provides ideas that are missing in the public square today. If we hope to improve the state of the educational world today, we must rediscover Dawson’s thinking and take his advice to heart.