Classical Education Makes a Comeback
by Susan Klemond
Seeking to pass on the wisdom of Western civilization, which was founded on Christian principles, a grassroots movement of parents, educators and others is reviving classical education in the Catholic tradition.
Often developing their own curricula, classical education supporters across the country are opening new schools or transforming existing schools into independent and diocesan classical academies where students may read Plato and Aristotle, study Latin and examine the traditions of Western culture.
In some cases, the result has been higher test scores, growing enrollment and interest from other schools and groups who want to copy these models or use the curricula.
Often developing their own curricula, classical education supporters across the country are opening new schools or transforming existing schools into independent and diocesan classical academies where students may read Plato and Aristotle, study Latin and examine the traditions of Western culture.
In some cases, the result has been higher test scores, growing enrollment and interest from other schools and groups who want to copy these models or use the curricula.
- Centered on Christ
It emphasizes teaching young people to think by studying the classics through a Christ-centered program, according to Andrew Seeley, executive director of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, in Ventura, Calif., which promotes authentic Catholic education.
“When I’ve spoken to groups around the country, there is a hunger for this,” said Dale Ahlquist, co-founder and board member of Chesterton Academy, a classical school in Edina, Minn., near Minneapolis.
“Parents really care about their kids’ education, as well they should, and when they see that we are teaching the faith in a really coherent and cohesive way — where it informs everything that we’re teaching and that we’re doing it in an affordable way — they get very excited. They say, ‘This is exactly what we’ve been looking for.’”
Classical education emphasizes what is true, good and beautiful — transcendentals used in the Catholic Church to describe God, Seeley said. Classical education aims to teach students to think and how to reason through reading, lecture and often the Socratic method of group discussion.
Starting in kindergarten, students at St. Jerome Academy in Hyattsville, Md., learn the principles of Western civilization, from ancient Egyptian history through American history, with Christ at the center.
“It’s coming to understand that it was the Church that has carried forward the good of those cultures, while Christianizing those things that were not so good,” said Mary Pat Donoghue, the school’s principal. “I think, for our kids, both as Americans and Catholics, this is their birthright.”
What classical schools in the Catholic tradition have in common is a Catholic identity that informs the whole curriculum and environment, Seeley said. “A Christ-illuminated understanding of what the human person is in all our capacities” is the goal, he said, plus, “how an encounter with Christ and Christian civilization fulfills and develops students in all those capacities.”
Chesterton Academy offers an integrated approach, said Tom Bengtson, another co-founder of the Minnesota school. “It isn’t as though everything is taught in silos, separate from each other. It truly is centered around one thing, which is the Incarnation, and it all works together.”
Christ-centered classical education prepares students to defend their faith, Ahlquist added.
“We want people to be able to stand up and defend the faith in a public way with confidence and with a certain artistic ability to articulate,” he said. “Everything we do at school directs them towards that. We want them to live happy lives, but we also want them to be (Catholic) warriors, defending the Catholic faith.”
- Pioneering Coursework
- Godly Aim
- Diocesan Schools
- Chesterton Model
- Exciting Learning
Read more: www.ncregister.com
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario