While most school systems have come to believe over the years that stories are a silly and frivolous delivery method for information, stories still find their place among the curricula of the modern day. But, they have become more and more obscure in recent times. Why are we so quick to turn away from the deeply-imbedded human instinct to educate through telling stories?
The art of storytelling is, in most ways, the best delivery for our literature, history, science, and even math courses. Stories benefit the memory of a child by making small details seemingly important. It is much simpler for a child to remember the tale of George Washington crossing the Delaware than it is for him to memorize the historical date of 1776, and the factual rote often found in textbooks. While stories access a fuller understanding of details, they also inspire a love for truth, beauty, and goodness that they alone can bring about. If history and math were communicated in the same way as a favorite bedtime story or a daily conversation over dinner, young people would find a passion within them for education and betterment of self. And, through the excitement for learning comes a guide to imagination. The flourishing of a child’s imagination causes a better understanding of reality as we see it, and a grounding in reality is one of the main goals of education. Finally, stories share a deep relation to children’s souls. In a literary world, there is always an irresolution that causes one to seek out harmony. In the real world of a child, the same concept arises on a daily basis, more commonly in a logic problem or in the close-reading of a book. It is more familiar to a child to resolve conflict in a story than it is for that child to read facts from a page, so the the use of stories to instill information is something a human always carries.
Modernity argues that information itself is relatable, and that tall tales are not nearly serious enough for a true education. But, mindless test preparation has never proven to be familiar, and students have shown no response to the method of command without explanation. Classical educator Matt Bianco has written that, “To tell a student to love his enemies is one thing. To tell the student a story in which someone loves his enemies is another thing altogether.” A student who has been given a story with a valuable lesson, and has been taught how to effectively analyze the story, possesses a tool much more powerful than a teacher’s command.
With the moral obligations embedded in stories, the contemplation of powerful themes, and the familiarity and resolution they bring, we have been given a tool to guide ourselves and our children through the deep waters of education of the whole person. And as we look back to the virtuous words of C.S. Lewis, we become aware that there is a larger need now than ever before for the salvation that comes from a good story.