Classical Conundrums: What do classical Christian schools require uniforms?

Originally published in The Classical Difference on 9/23/23

Q: Why do classical Christian schools require uniforms?

A: For a rich, rigorous school, a dress code is usually essential, typically via school uniforms. What students wear is directly linked to what students learn.

To many parents, uniforms may seem like a hassle—uncomfortable, controversial, unimaginative, robotic, or expensive. School uniforms are nothing new in the educational tradition, but they are recently misunderstood.

The basic purpose of school uniforms is to promote good, honest learning, without distractions and without compromising beauty. They promote focus, reduce sidelong glances, and foster unity. Learning class material well is arduous, and uniforms show respect for that task.

But this might not be immediately clear without understanding that everything in God’s world speaks (Rom. 1:20, Ps. 19:1). Nothing is neutral, which means there is no part of life that can claim exemption from the way God made things, and there is nothing—plant, animal, or mineral—that can opt out of speaking. As Bonhoeffer once said of Christians, “Not to speak is to speak.” Just as the heavens declare the glory of God, the clothes we wear also declare something. They either speak well or badly.

Still, uniforms tend to give the impression of robots, not students. Why dress all students the same when no other area of society does that? The answer is that every area of society does that. Businessmen must wear suits. NFL athletes must wear helmets and tights. Swimmers must wear swimsuits. And every public school student must wear whatever is considered most cool. All areas of life have dress codes and uniform policies. So when a classical school student who wears a uniform envies his public school counterpart who does not, he is simply envying a different kind of uniform (and one usually much less classy). He is not envying that student’s freedom, which does not fully exist.

Why do classical Christian schools require uniforms?

While the principle should be the same for every Christian school—dress in such a way that God is honored and academics are the focus–the methods can be different. One school allows navy blue pants, the other only allows khaki. Both methods are perfectly fine.

Students and parents should clearly understand the standard and know that their school’s uniform policy is simply one way of upholding that standard. When this harmony between principles and methods is clearly understood, and everyone knows that it’s not a moral issue, a uniform policy becomes a freedom, not a restriction, and everyone is able to lighten up a bit. ✤

Early on in my parenting journey, I vowed I would never send my kids to a school that didn’t require uniforms. I can’t imagine anyone rejecting this simple way to eliminate the morning stress of figuring out what to wear. Add to that the social, emotional, practical, and financial burdens that clothing in our culture heaps upon our children, and uniforms become freedom! —Mom of 3 CCE students

~NATE AHERN, Principal of Augustine Classical, Lakewood, CO

Education: What Are You Imitating?

Education has a well-known objective: getting knowledge. On a deeper level, education is about learning how to shape one's affections rightly, and about how to make the right choices. In this month's teacher development meeting, we discussed a talk given by James K. A. Smith called "You Are What You Love" (his book here), an idea which encapsulates all educational outcomes. Earlier this week in Logic and Rhetoric School assembly, I shared the following related message to students:

"Humans are followers by nature. Each of us will naturally follow the person or the things we find most attractive. Another way to put this is to say that we all love to imitate. We are copycats. Aristotle said that great art is simply imitation – not just the kind of art that you do when sketching a portrait or building, but the creative art of your job and your life. Our jobs and our lives are either good or bad art depending upon who we are imitating. Two questions arise from this: First, who are you imitating, and second, where is it taking you?

Who are you imitating? If you imitate a rock star, you will become like a rock star – popular and sexy for a brief flash of history, but ultimately enslaved to your own flesh, lonely, and suicidal. If you imitate a great scientist or saint, you will become like the scientist or saint – fruitful, self-disciplined, confident, and glorifying to God. Who are you imitating? You are what you imitate.

Second, where is it taking you? Some of you know the story of lemmings, which are small rodents that live in arctic regions. They are famously known for sometimes following each other off cliffs to their deaths. Away they will go in a long line, one after the other, straight over the edge. They are the rodent version of sheep, following whoever is in front of them. We are like lemmings and like sheep. Is the person we are imitating leading us to death, or to life? Is the interest or obsession that you have leading you to sorrow or to joy? What is its destination? As you imitate, you are on a road. Where does it end? In his mercy, God invites us to imitate him, and to imitate people and things that are like him. His is the straight and narrow path: difficult, but redemptive, and where there is lasting joy."

Organizational Structure and Leadership News

Dear ACA Community,

We have some exciting news to announce regarding ACA’s organizational structure and leadership!

As you likely remember, ACA announced in August a search for an executive director to helm the school’s non-academic operations, and we have been actively searching for that leader. While we continue to wait on God’s timing, we have also moved to revive the strategic growth plans for upper school (Logic and Rhetoric) that were in the beginning stages of implementation when the pandemic hit. Those plans include a greater investment in curriculum development and full review of course offerings ; continued and greater exploration of partnerships with area schools’ sports teams to offer more opportunities for students ; strategic scheduling for upper-schoolers to make such participation possible; the soft launch of our new House System; and more.

As we explored what’s possible for ACA’s 6-12 program, it became clear that the upper school needs dedicated leadership to build the program, support and mentor upper-school teachers, attract and retain students, and implement the expansion of the Logic and Rhetoric programs. 

To that end, we’re delighted to announce that, effective at the end of this academic year, Nate Ahern will shift from his head of school role to become ACA’s upper-school principal. Given Mr. Ahern’s incredible success in leading ACA the last eight years, we believe he’s the ideal person to further develop our upper-school program and ensure our students receive the full richness of the Trivium. 

In his tenure at ACA, Mr. Ahern has cast a beautiful and compelling vision for classical, Christian education and guided teachers and staff as they implement that vision daily. Under his leadership, ACA’s enrollment has grown nearly fivefold while every year the academic program has grown in richness and depth. Mr. Ahern has built a talented faculty corps and has taught a range of classes himself, while also handling the wide range of tasks that come with the daily operation of a school. We are grateful for his leadership and dedication to success.  Without his efforts we would not be prepared for our next stage of growth in the life of our school.

Along with the shift in Mr. Ahern’s role, we are equally thrilled to announce that Bridget Dornbirer will become our Grammar School principal leading all K-5 programs. Mrs. Dornbirer arrived at ACA this year as the academic dean bearing invaluable experience in both business and education, having founded the Denver-area Classical Conversations program. She’s been a bright light in our community and an incredible gift to ACA’s faculty and students. 

God has brought together a great team to lead ACA.  With these new roles in place, ACA is now better poised than ever to continue our search for an executive leader. In the meantime, Mr. Ahern will continue to support all programs through the end of the year while the board will provide some additional operational support.

One more note: Mr. Ahern is a beloved and valuable presence at ACA, and he won’t be absent from Grammar school students’ lives. We look forward to shared leadership between Mrs. Dornbirer and Mr. Ahern on K-12 events, and our Grammar students can look forward to Mr. Ahern leading the occasional chapel and participating in other activities. We believe this partnership will foster the strong “throughline” that is a hallmark of classical, Christian education.

We continue to be stunned by the remarkable gifts that God has given to our school and we invite you to join us in celebrating these momentous transitions for our school - transitions that position ACA to continue pursuit of God’s redemptive work in our city for years to come.

All glory be to Christ!

The ACA Board of Directors

Classical Education: Against Data Transfer

I remember a few lectures back at Vanderbilt in which the professor did his best impression of Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" . . . very unintentionally. There was a lot of PowerPoint, but not a lot of vocal inflection. The content of the lectures was good, but it was all I could do to stay awake. Actually, it seemed like it was all the professor could do to stay awake! "He's such an acclaimed educator," I thought. "If only he'd make this interesting."

Unlike these gods of PowerPoint who drone like an old refrigerator, good teachers and good students focus on more than logistics and "data transfer." They don't just execute tasks but instead fully embody their roles.

For teachers, this means they do not download information onto their students' hard drives, straight-faced, or stand in front of the classroom and dictate orders. They do not focus exclusively on their lesson plans and their handouts, or use their voices like sedatives, or like clubs, as though their students were a herd of livestock. Instead, they teach the in-between parts of a subject: they communicate knowledge to minds which come with hearts. They require memorization of textbook terms, but they first make those terms come to life, because all terms represent magical realities. They use lesson plans and handouts with great joy, because they know God is a God of order, and that therefore their students need order. They discipline with love because they know that God disciplines those he loves, and because they love their students as image-bearers who are being refined by fire and water for excellence.

For students, this means they do not measure their intelligence or success by a letter grade, but by their faithfulness in all duties. They do not think certain subjects are more important than others, as though poor handwriting and bad grammar are excusable as long as they "get the right answer." They do not think that personal habits, particularly personal hygiene, are irrelevant as long as they are math and science whizzes. Instead, they study with a sense of responsibility, knowing that simple obedience to a duty is part of learning, even if they already know the concept. They know that a job half done is a job not done, and so they do not use poor penmanship or incomplete sentences, even if they nail the correct answer every time. They take pride in their appearance, since they know that etiquette and hygiene within the classroom are expressions of love, and of the golden rule.

Good teachers and students know that there is a deeper right than being right, and so they live and act with a healthy pride, and a great deal of thankfulness. They accept nothing less than excellence and the best they can possibly do. Then they fill in everything in between: doing the right thing when nobody's looking, obeying simply and without questions, and loving their neighbors as themselves.

These have been our goals for teachers and students since our school's founding, and God continues to kindly bless us as, year after year, we faithfully improve in these ways for his glory.

Thanks & Giving

Friends of ACA,

Here are three curveballs the Bible throws:

1) Cast your bread on the water.

2) It is better to give than to receive.

3) Freely you have received; freely give.

These statements are hard for me to accept, because they do not make logical sense. I expect many of us feel the same way. They also strike an uncomfortable note, creating what might feel like moral coercion toward a dilemma. Either give or feel guilty.

But in this season of annual giving, I am thankful that the loving spirit of God clears this fog away. In love, he moves us to give simply as we are able: to give the widow's mite or to write the big check, or to simply wait on him. ACA needs big giving -- but God knows our hearts, he knows ACA's needs, and we are joyfully confident that he will bless our families and continue to provide for our healthy and growing school.

Families and friends, you are each such a tremendous blessing to Augustine Classical Academy: in your words of encouragement, in your volunteering efforts, in your partnership in the daily grind of homework support to your children, in your financial gifts, in your teacher appreciation gifts, in your annual re-enrollments, and in your prayers.

We are a vibrant school because of you.

In whatever way you choose to support ACA, know that your gifts tangibly support:

• attracting and retaining quality teachers

• improving and expanding quality curricula, including hard assets

• adding teaching space

• providing robust scholarship funding to reach more applicants

• making our classical Christian model increasingly visible to the city of Denver

On behalf of all of us at ACA -- staff, teachers, and leadership -- thank you for being an important part of our school family.

End-Of-Year Giving

Dear ACA Families and Friends,

As we launch our end-of-year giving campaign for 2020—a time when we ask you to prayerfully consider a financial gift to Augustine Classical Academy—I have this thought to share: My children are like some Hobbits. Yours are, too.

You might think that I’m referring only to children’s eating habits, which at my house mirror the six-meals-a-day regimen Hobbits hold dear. (One of my children often asks, without a hint of irony or even humor, for “second breakfast.” Beware of great literature: It can make children hungry.)

No, I’m referring to the training dear Frodo and his friends receive on their quest to destroy the One Ring and save Middle Earth from the evil Sauron. At the end of their epic journey, the Hobbits learn that all is not well in the Shire, their beloved, quiet homeland, and Merry, one of the adventuring Hobbits, tells the powerful Gandalf that it’s OK: The wizard will help clear things up. 

Not so, Gandalf says. “You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you.”

The lesson is clear: The adventure the Hobbits have undertaken has equipped them. They’ve learned the ways of heroes by doing hard and dangerous things, by leaving the decent and dull Shire (where respectable Hobbits look down upon adventure, curiosity, and stories) and figuring out how to fight for good and overcome darkness. When the Hobbits return to the Shire, we learn that Gandalf was right: Frodo and his companions are up to the task of giving hope to the oppressed and ridding their homeland of evil. And they don’t stop there: Instead of leaving the Shire as it once was, they restore, build, tell stories, have children, and create beauty. Samwise even becomes mayor! (I’d vote for him.)

At a time in our culture when fear dominates and courage seems scarce, the education our students receive at Augustine Classical is like the adventures the Hobbits undertake (thankfully without the actual risk to life and limb). ACA provides an education that equips students for lives far from their comfortable armchairs. It teaches them the ways of heroes and then points, over and over, to Christ, the Ultimate Hero of the best story ever written. It reminds me that one day, I’ll be able to echo Gandalf’s words to my children, knowing they’re fully ready for the life to which God calls them.

This is why I invite you to join me in making a tax-deductible gift to ACA between now and December 31. This year, ACA has:

• Its largest enrollment in its 11-year history

• A new homeschool co-op program

• An expanded Rhetoric School curriculum and classrooms

• Met 100% of families’ demonstrated need for financial aid

And we will confer our first high school diploma in May!

Our goal for this year-end campaign is to raise $120,000, and we start with a matching challenge: The first $30,000 we raise will be matched by donors who have pledged $30,000!

Please join us in thanking God for a tremendous academic year thus far and asking Him for more provision--so we can serve not just this generation of students, but also those yet to come. Our prayer is that God sustains and grows ACA so we have a city full of students who 1) know the goodness of a (perhaps too long) Hobbit-inspired analogy and, more important, 2) go courageously where God calls them, fully equipped for the adventure and the work ahead.

Grace and peace,
Hilary Oswald,
On behalf of the ACA Board

Ways to give:

• Write a check to “Augustine Classical Academy” by December 31, 2020

• Donate stock by going to stockdonator.com and clicking on “Augustine Classical Academy” from the list of available recipients. (Our stock donation policy is here.)

• Check in with your company’s HR department and ask if the company matches employee gifts to 501c3s.

• Help us build our donor base! If you have a friend, family member, colleague, or church leader who might find our classical, Christian model of education compelling, please contact Justin Riley, Board Chair, at justin.riley@augustineclassical.

• Or give online here.

COVID-19 Update

On 11/12/20, JeffCo Public Schools announced that, in response to a recommendation from JeffCo Public Health, the district will be moving to remote learning until after winter break. This announcement has perhaps prompted questions for you about ACA’s plans.

ACA will continue to provide in-person learning at this time. Our administration has been in touch with staff at JeffCo Public Health, and it’s clear that the recommendation is directed at a broad, diverse school district with individual school communities that are as large as 2,000 students, plus faculty and staff. What’s more, there is no current mandate to close schools either at the county or state level.

As we navigate this strange year, we first want to remember and point to the tremendous goodness God has poured out on ACA in protecting our community and providing in-person learning. Praise be to Him! We also want to acknowledge that our families, students, and staff have made wise decisions about following protocols and keeping our community safe. Please continue to do so.

To that end, now’s a great time to review the guidance from CDPHE regarding symptoms of illness and when to keep kids home from school. Please take a minute to read guidance on when children should stay home and the flowchart on when children may return to school after being sick. Please note that Jefferson County is currently at Safer At Home Level 3 on the CDPHE COVID-19 Status Dial.

ACA continues to employ all of the initial protocols we outlined at the start of school, including cohorting students to prevent cross-contact of large numbers of students on campus. The best way for us to stay open is to continue all of these measures and for parents to err on the side of keeping a student home if he or she is sick. Please notify the office if you or your child has tested positive for COVID, so we can respond and support your family accordingly.

We remind you of these practices because we do not take lightly the enormous goodness of in-person education for our students. Evidence and experts continue to reiterate what we know to be true: For students who are typically educated at school, the best place for them to learn is in classrooms with teachers. Each week, we weigh possible exposure against the adverse effects of not being in school, and we believe that welcoming students, discipling and teaching them in-person, is the best course for ACA.

Of course, we continue to monitor all available data, and if the time comes when it’s wisest for ACA to move to remote learning, we are prepared to continue to provide high-quality, Christ-centered education to all of our students virtually. Let us continue to pray that this does not have to become a reality!

Please keep praying for ACA—for protection and provision, for great joy for our students and teachers, for stamina and wisdom for our administration. One day, may our students tell the story of the bizarre and marvelous year when the shakable things were shaken, and they got to see clearly God’s mighty hand at work in their lives through their marvelous school.

The ACA Administration

The Art of Narration as a Core of Classical Education

In our most recent faculty development meeting (held monthly), ACA teachers discussed how to better implement the art of narration in their classrooms as a central teaching practice. The ideas we exchanged were encouraging, and I'd like to share why.

Narration is essentially story-telling. But it's also the ancient and classical practice of retelling what has been heard from the teacher. This simple practice of a student making knowledge his own by retelling it in story form is at the heart of learning, and of making knowledge stick. "Children narrate by nature," said famed educator Charlotte Mason. "Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child's mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any process of disciplinary education." And according to Jason Barney in reference to the Learning Scientists, researchers found that "retrieval practice" (i.e., narration) is "the gold standard . . . the single most important activity to engage in" for strategies that work to improve learning.

While not at odds with other learning practices, narration encourages a holistic, ownership-based strategy to acquiring and keeping knowledge. Students are taught to listen carefully -- very carefully -- and then to retell as much as they can. They can do this orally or via writing, depending on their age and the assignment. The point of narration is not to require the student to remember everything they've just heard or read, but to remember as much of it as they can, in story form, via their own memories. This process is difficult, yet enjoyable and natural. It takes time. Students are trained to think broadly, cohesively, and naturally about what they've learned, instead of processing in chunks, fragments, or from terminology alone.

Implementation is simple and low-key, even if mentally intensive. The idea is to help students of all ages think less in terms of "what happened exactly," or "what precise year did this occur?" and more in terms of "what's next?" This natural training in self-expression and retelling will then promote more natural ownership of details, such as dates and quotes, as time goes on.

I mentioned that our faculty training discussion was encouraging. This is because the art of narration is such an easy thing to implement (little by little over time), and is such a great way in which parents can partner with teachers. You can help your kids of any age practice narration anytime! ACA's teachers are eager to continue teaching your kids via the tried-and-true classical methods we already know so well, but they also continue to look forward to steadily developing the art of narration in their students, for the glory of God and the good of all people.

Evolution & The Age of the Earth

What does ACA believe and teach about the age of the universe and Evolution? Among Christians, these can be controversial topics, and it's important to have awareness about what ACA’s students are being taught.

Each year, a few of our grade levels study the creation account, as well as secular accounts of the origin of the universe. 3rd Grade, 7th Grade, and upper school science courses are some primary examples. Depending on the textbooks we use, some of which are secular, students will encounter a few different views of the origin of matter and of life.

So what does ACA believe, and what are ACA teachers saying to students about it?

The Age of the Universe
There are two primary views on the age of the universe: 1) A young-earth account, which holds that God created the world in six actual days about 6,000 years ago; 2) An old-earth account, which holds that God created the world in six long periods (non-literal "days"), as long as 14 billion years ago, with life created 3-4 billion years ago.

Because a large number of respected biblical scholars and scientists hold to either one view or the other, ACA does not take an official stance on the age of the earth. ACA believes that there is a right answer and a wrong answer between these two options, but that the answer (all else being equal) is not essential to salvation. In other words, if teachers and students believe that God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), if they submit to the authority of scripture in all its parts as without error and sufficient for all things, and if they put their faith in Christ for the remission of sins, believing that he is the Son of God, then they will have eternal life (John 3:16). They will have eternal life whether they believe God created the earth 6,000 years ago or millions of years ago.

In the classroom, students will encounter both kinds of historical timelines -- a young-earth timeline and an old-earth timeline. Teachers will teach ACA's curriculum, but they will always emphasize the personal creative acts of God at the beginning of time, which continue to the present moment. They will teach, without exception or qualification, that God created the heavens and the earth. Finally, they will point students to their parents and pastors as their primary authority in issues of secondary doctrine, such as the age of the universe.

The Creation Account and Macro Evolution
There are three primary views of the origin of matter and of life in the universe: 1) That God created matter and life in six actual days or periods of time in a personal and intimate way, and that God continues to sustain all creation by the power of his hand. This is the traditional Genesis account of creation. 2) That God created matter and life according to macroevolution (Darwinian evolution), beginning the initial process of creation and subsequently allowing principles of macroevolution to indirectly create each successive life form. This is typically known as theistic evolution. 3) That there is no god or creator, that matter appeared spontaneously or is eternal, and that matter and life formed and evolved by processes of chance and natural selection.

ACA considers only the first view to be biblical and therefore rejects theistic evolution and standard macroevolution as error. While the Bible is not explicit on the age of the universe, it is explicit that God created all things, separately and lovingly, by the Word of his mouth (Gen. 1:1). "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). ACA holds that theistic evolution and standard macroevolution require regular death (natural selection) as a means for the evolution of life, a contraction of God's life-giving nature. ACA does not deny the presence of microevolution, which are verifiable changes over time within a species, but only denies macroevolution, which are major evolutionary changes from one species to different species.

In the classroom, certain grades will (by design) learn about macroevolution for the sake of learning both sides of an issue, for strengthening faith, and for learning how to defend that faith, but they will primarily be taught that God created the heavens and the earth in a personal and specific way. They will be taught that macroevolution is a scientific theory (in the scientific sense of the word "theory"), that elements of that theory have scientific support, but that the theory overall is scientifically suspect, unverifiable, and unbiblical. Even though ACA does not consider the biblical creation account to be secondary doctrine, students will still often be encouraged to talk further with their parents and pastors. They will also be encouraged to be humble in their learning and in their opinions, and to thank God for his gift of reason, science, and scripture, all of which are compatible.

If you would like to discuss this further or be provided with additional related resources, or if you would like to explore ACA's views on other secondary or controversial topics, please reach out here. You can also review our statement of faith, which points to our ultimate authority in all issues, here. For information on our Controversial Subjects Policy, please see our Parent Handbook.

Above all, it is our desire to be faithful to the Word of God, submitting to its truth with all humility, thankful for God's gift of rigorous scientific inquiry, and always seeking the wisdom of God in all things.

Why Do We Have A 4-Day Academic Week?

We’re glad you asked. Many of our families tell us that they love the four-day week, though not everyone knows why ACA has a slightly pared-down schedule.

The primary reason is partnership with parents. We believe parents are their children’s first and best teachers, no matter the child’s age (or the parents’ mastery of Latin nouns). Our schedule allows parents to support and supplement classroom instruction by giving students time at home, and it gives families time to do additional things together, such as spend a day hiking, take a long weekend trip, visit a museum in the city together, work on a service project, develop new skills or hobbies, and much more.

The second reason behind our four-day week is ACA’s emphasis on time well spent: Wise use of time coupled with diligent, age-appropriate focus on a task develops in our students the ability to tackle the work at hand and to learn diligence. From diligence comes joy! You work hard on a task; you see the fruit of your labor; you feel good about it! So often the world flips this order. It says: If you feel good about something, do it. ACA says: Work hard on this task for 10 minutes (if you’re in kindergarten) or an hour (if you’re in ninth-grade) and then see what you’ve accomplished, and then praise God for it! Genesis 1-3 shows us that work is rooted in God’s design for human life and flourishing, and it shows us that the fruit of that work is beautiful and the response to it is delight and joy. 

Of course, there are myriad other benefits to our academic schedule: We see fewer mid-day absences or late arrivals with a four-day schedule because parents can schedule appointments (such as routine doctor visits and dental check-ups) on Fridays. Students get some well-deserved rest and play time (and extra sleep!), even as we accomplish our curricular goals each week. Teachers attend professional development and staff meetings on Fridays, which keeps ACA from having a smattering of days off during the year that interrupts the regular rhythm of the academic week.

Bottom line: Education is not merely the development of knowledge and skills. It’s also the formation of affections and daily practices; it teaches students how to orient their lives. Our four-day schedule enables us to teach the curriculum, shape godly practices, and also to leave room for other good things in our students’ lives.