Showing Kids How to See
As we seek to educate our children well under the classical Christian model, we can eventually come to the general sense that we're doing something different and good but be unable to say exactly how it is different. And while "being different" should never be the basis of an educational model, we must always be able to articulate the basis of our children's education as in Christ -- and Christ is gloriously different from our fallen world.
Classical Christian education is different as it very simply teaches Christ as the foundation of all subjects -- not just an add-on -- and this means that we are able to take meaningful joy in all things. All things are his gifts to us. The result is a rich joy that goes all the way down, does not ring hollow, and allows us to truly see.
Seeing, particularly with wide-eyed wonder, is so important for children. This is one of the main things we're after at ACA as a classical Christian school: to show our children how to see. Show them how to name things (as Adam did). Show them how to enjoy things (as God does). Show them how to love.
Man by nature tends to criticize and dislike because of our sin; God always loves. Think of it this way: in the Garden of Eden, there was a single tree of "No", and thousands of trees of "Yes". In other words, God loves to say Yes to us, and that is how we should be toward our students. We give them learning as gifts. We teach them the quadratic formula as information, but we teach it more importantly as beauty that reflects God's orderly character. We teach them the anatomy of insects as information that reflects God's love of artistry. In short, we teach our students to notice, to see, to laugh, and to give thanks.
As we walk through our children's lives together as both educators and parents, let's help them to love God's world by showing them how. Let's practice seeing God's love of beauty in all life's details so that they will look outward with thanks, not inward with selfishness. Above all, let's thank him for the profound gift of kids who will, if we are faithful, rise up and call us blessed (Prov. 31:28).
Grace and Peace, Nate Ahern
The Arbitrary Nature of School Uniform
School uniforms.
Hassle. Uncomfortable. Controversial. Unimaginative. Robotic. Problematic.
But do they have to be? School uniforms are nothing new in the educational tradition, but they are recently misunderstood. For a rich, rigorous school, however, a dress code is usually essential, typically via school uniforms. This is rooted in the fundamental purpose of a school—to educate well. For a Christian school, it’s to educate well by scriptural standards. This purpose drives everything else, from vision to curriculum to discipline policy to dress code. What students wear is directly linked to what students learn.
The basic purpose of school uniforms is to promote good, honest learning without distractions. Uniforms support the primacy of excellence in academics 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.” So just as the heavens declare the glory of God, the clothes we wear also declare something. They either speak well or badly.
Not only does everything speak, but everything has its place. A great question to ask of pretty much everything is, “What is it for?” Baseball caps are for the outdoors, not the dinner table. Bluegrass is for barbeques, not church. A man who interviews for a respectable job wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt won’t get the job—and not because the shirt is evil. The problem is the place, not the thing.
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.
A uniform policy could also be seen as an arbitrary set of rules. Why blue Polo shirts and not green? Why a zippered sweatshirt and not a hoodie? Who’s to say? The answer is that a uniform policy by definition is arbitrary, and that is a good thing. A school could have chosen green shirts, but they didn’t. They could have allowed hoodies, but they didn’t. Sometimes these decisions are based on good solid morals (miniskirts probably belong in the trash, not in school), and other times it could go either way and isn’t a moral issue at all.
The issue here is the difference between principles and methods. The principle should be the same for every Christian school—dress in such a way that God is honored and academics are the focus—but the methods can be different. One school allows navy blue pants, the other only allows khaki. Both methods are perfectly fine. One is a pear, the other is a banana, but both are fruit. And God likes fruit.
So students and parents should clearly understand the standard and know that their school’s uniform policy is simply one way of upholding that standard. But even though it’s only one of many ways, it is the established way for that school and should be honored as such. When this harmony between principles and methods is clearly understood, and everyone knows that it’s not a moral issue (button-downs are “better” than Polo), a uniform policy becomes a freedom, not a restriction, and everyone is able to lighten up a bit.
And what about beauty? A uniform policy is meant to reduce distractions for the sake of academic excellence, but it should never sacrifice beauty. Schools should choose styles and items that are classy, sharp, and lovely—even if simple by other standards.
Last, enforcing a dress code policy necessarily involves a bit of grit and discomfort. Any kind of law creates resentment and sin (Rom. 7:7), and so complaints about uniforms, and violations of the code, are no surprise. Students test boundaries as a matter of course. But any discipline must be driven primarily by joy, or else it will be ineffective. Violations should have consistent consequences, but those consequences must be administered with mercy and joy, not finger-wagging and condemnation. The consequences must be real, but they must almost be light-hearted—the entire purpose of school uniforms will fall flat otherwise. Any school can get students to obey the standard if their stick is big enough (and busy enough). Not every school can get students to love the standard. And unless students love a school’s standard—whether the uniform policy or something else—they will simply grind their teeth, say the right words, do the right things, and count down the days till they can get the heck out of there.
Grace and Peace, Nate Ahern
Science: Carrying the Torch
An increasing number of Americans are aware of classical education, but with a few misconceptions. "Brand recognition" is increasing, but an understanding of its basic ideas still has a ways to go. In an average conversation about classical education, most people want to know what careers are available to classically educated students, or whether science is taught effectively (or at all). Common assumptions are that classical education does not teach science effectively, or that classically educated students rarely become scientists. These assumptions are unfortunate, because largely false, but we do need to understand that they are held for a reason. And the question is legitimate: “Where are our Christian scientists?”
Augustine Classical Academy heartily embraces the sciences as a crucial part of classical education, beginning in the Grammar School and continuing through our nascent Upper School. In teaching science, ACA is committed to the interconnectedness of knowledge and to the truth that all knowledge is God’s knowledge. Science, like Latin, is part of God’s truth. Science, like history, reflects God’s character -- and like all other subjects, it is necessary to know God as fully as we can. Simply put, science education at ACA matures students into whole human beings who see a complete and beautiful picture of God’s reality.
At ACA, we believe that science classes are important – not just a necessary evil. God has given us two primary forms of revelation: specific revelation through the scriptures and general revelation through creation. General revelation is the physical world, and therefore general revelation involves the sciences. Can we know God fully by minimizing an aspect of his revelation? Can we expect to impact our culture for Christ and yet be ignorant of a large part of his character? Knowing God means becoming experts on the created order.
Second, we think science is beautiful. Students – especially young students – are good at seeing amazing and beautiful things. As they get older, they copy us and stop looking. We want to keep the glories of creation alive in science classes. As we move through the Grammar School and into the Upper School in 7th grade, students will begin studying basic aspects of astronomy, meteorology, geology, oceanography, biology, zoology, botany, physics, and chemistry. These are all worlds to explore, and everything to be seen is beautiful. Our goal is to cultivate a true appreciation of beauty that does not fade, but grows with age.
Third, we believe science requires hard work. The beginning elementary grades are no exception, so students may find themselves making an adjustment they’re not too fond of. There is lots of memorization and lots of detail. But we’re with them to show the way. The survey of science subjects is beautiful and rich, but it is difficult. Yet this prepares them for the rigors of biology, chemistry, and physics in high school and holds them to the high standard God has set for all of us in life.
Finally, ACA seeks to raise up godly scientists to live for the glory of God and the good of all people. We realize that science is not the most important subject by any means, and we realize that not all students are called to careers as scientists. This is good. But regardless of calling, we want to raise up students who know their science well, even if they are writers, attorneys, or pastors vocationally. Whether a student becomes a musician, a teacher, or a biochemist, we want them to be able to speak the language of science. Science is relevant. Who will carry the torch into the fray of stem-cell research, for example? Of drug development? Of human cloning? Of eugenics, euthanasia, and abortion? Of Darwinian Evolution and its consequences? Who will defend a creation account persuasively? Who will defend it on a legitimate scientific basis? And on a different note, who will continue to make brilliant practical advances like the light bulb, the vaccine, and the iPhone? Are we content to leave it to others?
And who will claim the beauty of things through all this? The matchless, unjaded wonder of things? If we are to truly influence our culture for Christ, we must know what God is saying about what he made, and we must love it. We must be as nimble navigating the sciences as we are Latin and Logic. In short, we must be creators, like God.
Grace and Peace, Nate Ahern
Getting Our Hands Dirty
When things go wrong in life, a natural reaction is to blame the system. The cookies turn out lousy: "Last time I'm using this recipe." But the recipe only might be the problem. Sometimes, you've just got a distracted cook.
The classical Christian educational system is wonderful, currently going great guns. But it is not a Salvation Machine, and there are plenty of reasons why it might actually be turning out occasional rebellious graduates who really know their logic (bad combination), and who embrace postmodern secularism full-stride the first week of college. What happened? So much for classical Christian education.
But often the problem is not the system, or the set of standards, but rather the way that system is being carried out. Chesterton once said that "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." The same could sometimes be said of classical education -- a top-notch system, but occasionally pursued in the wrong way. Then when things go wrong, the classical model is blamed, not its sub-par execution.
So how do we nurture students to have a deep love of learning and a deep love of God? How do we get classical Christian education right?
By showing them how. It's the classic "Go Fish" card-game rubric: you can't ask someone for a Queen unless you've already got one. And we can't expect our kids to love the classics (or the Bible) when we don't. We can't tell them to hammer their homework while we watch the game, surf Facebook, or never appear from behind our careers. Our children will love what we love, they will hate what we hate, and ultimately, they will act how we act. What we dictate to them from our impervious parental thrones will have little effect unless we come down to earth, put on some flesh, and get in the trenches with them.
True classical Christian education isn't for kids. It's for families. Want your kids to be good readers? Read to them aloud (regardless of age) -- then become a systematic reader yourself. Want them to memorize lots of Scripture? Join them in it. Want them to be joyful Christians, resisting peer pressure to be sullen, self-absorbed beauty-haters? Sing with them, do yard-work with them, play in the sandbox with them, and (above all) laugh a lot with them (hint: difficult).
The Pharisees didn't get this part, and that was their problem. Law and no love. Rules and no joy. Christ came into the world and showed his disciples the joy of the law -- but he got his hands really dirty doing it. This is classical Christian education (and parenting) in a nutshell: do what Christ did. Be the gospel for them, and show them day-to-day how Christ died. In other words, show them life.
Grace and Peace, Nate Ahern
Plug-and-Play Education
It's old news that classical Christian education in the US is rolling, but it's still welcome news, and relevant. Over the past 35 years, significant momentum has developed, with solid national test results, low school crime rates, interested students, rigorous classes, and wide-ranging subjects. And it's all time-tested.
At ACA, our students study hard. They memorize, lots. They recite Scripture, Church creeds, and the anatomy of insects. They study Latin, logic, phonics, mathematics, history, theology, and the rich stories of traditional children's literature. They chant about respecting authority, respecting class time, and obeying teachers "right away without delay." And they walk in lines.
Classical Christian education: saving our children's souls one day at a time.
Or does it? One of the trickiest aspects of our sin nature to understand is the simple fact of our sin. It exists, and it gets into everything, including our educational ideas. We see evil in the world, and we try to fix it -- autonomously. We want to comfort, love, eliminate poverty, and create holy-and-Ivy-league-ready students, somehow thinking that if only we implement the right systems or run enough clinical trials, we'll eventually solve problems for good. But that's exactly where our human problem lies: we try to fix things with things, not with Christ. We claim Christ, and then we put our trust in stuff, or systems, or school philosophies. The problem is not our love and compassion for our children or our neighbor, which Christ inevitably uses for his glory; the problem is our compassion apart from Christ. We want the efforts of our love to fix it, and for the problem to be done.
This is a trap all too easy to fall into with classical Christian education. A neat-and-tidy education formula. "The way to raise godly children is to find a godly school. A classical school, ideally." Plug-and-play education. Problem solved.
True. Maybe.
But Christ wants our hearts, not our systems. The whole-truth way to raise and educate godly children is to know nothing but Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) and to model that for our kids. ACA won't do that. Other classical Christian schools can't do that. Only Christ can. The beautiful and outrageously simple key to a rigorous Christian education is submission to Christ. Only then does a classical Christian school come into the picture for Christ's glory -- and Christ will make it glorious. Without him, all the chants in the world won't make our children see Christ's beauty. Classical Christian education is a method -- and a very good method at that -- but Christ is the way.
Onward for excellence and the glory of God!
Grace and Peace, Nate Ahern
Kaylyn Wilson on Classical Education
Classical education places primary importance on the fundamentals of learning. There is a certain rigor and discipline about it, but with a primary focus on developing character and virtue. Beginning in the Medieval period of history, classical education has used the three stages of “the Trivium”, a method of learning that is based on the developmental stages of the human mind. In other words, the Trivium takes the natural ways that a child’s mind develops and works with the grain.
THE THREE STAGES OF THE TRIVIUM
1. Grammar (ages 5-10)
During their younger years, children posses a great natural ability to memorize large of amounts of material even though they may not understand its significance. This is the time to fill children full of facts, such as multiplication tables, geography, dates, events, plant and animal classification; anything that lends itself to easy repetition and assimilation by the mind. This phase of the Trivium focuses on exposing children to a wide range of literature and facts in all areas of study, encouraging memorization. Overall, it allows young children to simply soak up knowledge as the young sponges they are at this age. Much of the work is language arts (grammar, spelling, phonics, copy work, reading) and mathematics facts.
2. Logic or Dialectic (ages 10-14)
Students begin to ask “why” and learn about cause and effect. They learn how different subjects and events relate to each other, and how to approach subjects more analytically. This stage also begins their formal study of logic. Students begin to use reason to ask questions based on the information that has been gathered in the Grammar stage. It is during this stage that students no longer see the facts learned as merely separate pieces of information but start to put those facts together into logical relationships by asking questions.
3. Rhetoric (ages 14-18)
The final stage of the Trivium combines the knowledge of the Grammar stage with the logic and abstract thinking of the Logic stage. Here, students begin to write and speak effectively, creatively, and persuasively. They now develop the skills of organizing information into a well‐reasoned format that is pleasing to read or hear. It is also the time of more specialized study and training, as the student has been given the tools of learning that are necessary for the study of any subject. By this stage, the student should have the thinking skills and mental discipline that is necessary to tackle the difficulties associated with any area of future study.