Newsletter #5 - Festina Lente
In this month’s newsletter, we reflect on a maxim from the classical world:
Festina Lente
In other words, “to make haste slowly”. It was originally coined in ancient Greek (σπεῦδε βραδέως - I’ll pronounce it after you do), and has been adopted and used by many in the classical world and thereafter. If you’ve used the expression “more haste, less speed”, then you’ve been drinking from the same semantic fountain.
Simply put, festina lente is about the wisdom of not rushing. In order to achieve success in any domain, be it academic, vocational, or otherwise, there is much to be gained by going slow.
Consider the piano. Many would-be pianists (myself included) want nothing more than to expedite the whole rigmarole of scales-and-arpeggios, and get to the good stuff. We want to play Debussy and not boring chromatic scales in contrary motion. But, here’s the rub. The only way to make haste is to go slowly. Speak with any proficient pianist (not me) and they will tell you the same thing. There are no shortcuts. You do not acquire the digital dexterity needed for advanced performance without years and years of slow and steady practice of the fundamentals.
You make haste slowly. Now unless you’ve been making haste very slowly, I’m sure you can see where we’re going with this.
We wish to apply the wisdom of festina lente to the work of St Anselm’s. In all areas of learning, festina lente applies. In order to advance in mathematics, children simply must master the fundamental building blocks of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In order to advance in history, children must master the fundamentals of dates, events, timelines, etc. The operative term here is ‘master’. There is no progress to the next stage without mastery of the first.
In an educational zeitgeist that prizes speedy progress as the ultimate goal, festina lente may seem out of place and awkward. In practice, it may look like taking our time in the classroom. Not running before we can walk. Ensuring mastery of the fundamentals before embarking on more advanced studies.
This is counter-cultural, indeed. There may be times our students wish they had a little more festina and a little less lente. But by the grace of God we pray that one day, they will recognise, as so many have done so over the centuries, the wisdom of slowing down to make haste.