Nate Ahern Nate Ahern

Exploring Nature and Technology

One of the beautiful aspects of classical Christian education is that it teaches students perspective and priority. Specifically, it teaches them to look to God first, then to man; to the universal, then to the particular; to nature, then to technology. Each element has value, so the distinctions are in terms of order and hierarchy, not of better and worse. I'd like to take a brief look at the last pair, the relationship between nature and technology in classical Christian education.

A knowledge of the natural, physical world is key to a primary education. Students learn about the nature of reality, its potential and its limitations. The human mind, a physical organ with intangible thoughts, links the natural world with the supernatural. This creates a greater sense of wonder, and a paradoxical union of opposites: students are aware of the ingredients of the world in all their near-infinite variety and order; they learn of the world's preposterous smallness and stupendous magnitude; they see their bodies, that they can be used in wonderful ways, but that reality is not defined by our senses, or by the physical world; that there is the heavenly and immortal realm of the Creator, which is our ultimate home. They learn to ask the question the psalmist asked: "When I look at the heavens . . . what is man that You are mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:3-4)

In a small way, these are some of the reasons why classical Christian education emphasizes simpler, purer uses of the human body and mind: nature walks to complement scientific studies; cursive, with its intimate and dance-like motions; the feel of paper between fingers and the tactile work of pencil annotation; the study of the stars, drawing our eyes physically upward, as when the psalmist lifted his eyes to the hills (Ps. 121:1); the study of traditional music on acoustic instruments, made and performed by human hands; the emphasis on the spoken word, conversation, and speech as ways of imitating the living Word, and of most perfectly developing loving relationships with each other.

Does this mean that technology is a detriment to education? Not at all. Even the word "technology" does not mean what we might think it means: it is any "science of craft," which therefore applies to book-binding, not just to smartphone manufacturing. The point of the emphasis of nature over technology is one of priority only. A study and love of nature leads to a study and love of technology. It is a natural, God-given progression to take the glorious fundamental elements of creation and to use them to create further gifts that glorify God and are a benefit to mankind. Problems only surface when that perspective, or progressional hierarchy, is ignored. Then, technology, in a limited and restricting sense, usurps the tools and the imaginations of students, stealing their work ethic, robbing them of their thoughts, conjuring false and impossibly romantic alternate realities, and deadening their senses to the beauty of creation. The gift of technology becomes a curse. In The Screwtape Letters, a similar scheme is used to drive humanity subtly from God: "The more often [a man] feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."

Classical Christian education is at root about developing thankfulness, both of the natural elements of the world, and of its invented glories, like smartphones, Bugatti supercars, and treat-tossing dog cameras. But like every other good gift from God, timing is key. Imagine if Man had been created on the first day, not the sixth! (Just Adam floating in the void, like in Kubrick's "2001.") We are teaching students the same thing: First know who you are, who created you, and what the gifts are that you have been given. Then, get busy creating and enjoying gifts of your own.

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Nate Ahern Nate Ahern

STEM, Theology, & Classical Education's Weird Uncles

Classical education has some weird uncles.

One of them is the idea that a classical school is where you learn Latin, wear uniforms, and are occasionally allowed to smile.

Another is that classical education is the method you choose if you want your kids to be overly sheltered and unable to ever get a job because of their liberal arts education.

Another is that classical education devalues STEM and mostly cares about old books written by dead white guys.

But accurately, classical education is the most historically successful educational methodology because of one key distinctive: it calls theology the queen of the sciences, the central hub from which all fields of study come.

Picture a wagon wheel. Each spoke of that wheel is a "science," or a primary field of study: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy, Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. But at the center is the hub, Theology. Without Theology, no other fields of study can have any meaningful unity, structure, or validation. Theology is the Queen of the Sciences because she rules and establishes them in a way metaphorically similar to the way God rules and establishes our lives. It is a universal standard, a unifying principle. Without that center there is chaos.

Today, STEM is typically placed in the center of the wheel, replacing Theology as antiquated. But while STEM has great value, directly reflecting God's nature, it cannot answer ultimate questions such as why we are here, what are good and evil, why the problems of ancient man are still the problems of today, what principles validate controversial scientific or cultural advances, and what is the measure of all things -- God, mankind, or individual whim? 

In short, classical education sees the greatest possible value in all fields, because it best recognizes their proper places. It sees, with real practical wisdom, that even though dessert is delicious, you can't have it before you eat your dinner, or before you've given thanks for where it all came from.

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Nate Ahern Nate Ahern

Education is Never Neutral

Education is never neutral.

This is an incredibly important reminder for me as a parent. Everything speaks, and everything that speaks has to stand somewhere -- it has to believe something. Thankfully, classical Christian education is not neutral, teaching children the glory of knowledge and of God. But public, charter, and private schools also speak. They also stand somewhere with a set of beliefs. What are they saying to this generation of students?

Let’s remember the important goals we share for our children. Let's remember the non-negotiables. Education is a battleground for their hearts and minds. Our goals for them are high academic achievement and faithful hearts. If we ascribe to the myth of neutrality, those goals are lost.

This Christmas season, remember our children's minds and hearts. ACA's vision for education is high and good, and it takes continued robust funding. 

Our 2017 Matching Grant Drive is a wonderful way to help. To educate the next generation of children for the glory of God and the good of all people, we need tangible gifts from people just like you. Join me in praying about ways we can each give back to ACA. No gift is too small.

Grace, peace, and blessings to you and your children.

Nate Ahern

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Nate Ahern Nate Ahern

The ACA Graduate

An ACA graduate takes action in life. She knows that knowledge is worthless if it isn't applied, and so she has missional habits for the sake of her personal development, her family, her job, and her broader community.

What does an ideal ACA graduate look like? This should be in constant view for teachers and parents together. Without alignment of expectations between family and school, poor results and dissatisfaction are simply a matter of time. With alignment, achievement moves steadily onward and upward.

An ACA graduate is a life-long learner by choice. Almost everything interests her, and while she has her own vocation and area of expertise, she is always eager to learn more, and widely.

An ACA graduate comes from a diverse social and cultural background relative to his peers. His ethnicity, gifts, interests, and goals may be unique.

An ACA graduate has a unified moral outlook relative to her peers. She sees the authority of scripture as the foundation for ultimate truth and as sufficient for faith and practice in life.

An ACA graduate is diligent in everything. He understands that duty and hard work are commanded by God, and he sees what good gifts they are.

An ACA graduate is committed to excellence. She takes full responsibility for getting the job done, whatever the cost, and she does it joyfully with all her heart. 

An ACA graduate is at peace with his failings. He knows that he is always a child of God who is deeply loved by his Father.

An ACA graduate takes action in life. She knows that knowledge is worthless if it isn't applied, and so she has missional habits for the sake of her personal development, her family, her job, and her broader community.

An ACA graduate serves. He stoops and gets his hands dirty. He understands that fulfillment and blessing in life come through faithfulness in trials and faithfulness in mundane routines.

An ACA graduate seeks leadership in high places. She understands that all honest jobs are honorable, but that God has also called his people to high things. She seeks influence for God's glory and for the good of all people.

An ACA graduate impacts culture. He knows that action and innovation are needed in families, churches, cities, and foreign countries. He knows that he is a unique instrument designed for a greater cultural purpose.

An ACA graduate is thankful. She sees the gift and the magic of life, despite its hardships, and she strives to pass on the blessings she has received to her own children, and to her children's children.
 

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Classical Education Brian Brown Classical Education Brian Brown

Why Classical Must Be Essentially Christian

Augustine Classical Academy has, and remains committed to, a classical and a Christian approach to education. One can find schools that are classical and one can find schools that are Christian, but why do we insist on holding to both of these ideals in the same institution? 

One of the most powerful and alluring features of classical education is its integrated approach to learning. It recognizes that the world is not a disparate set of individual categories, but that everything is connected to everything else. History cannot and should not be understood apart from literature and science and math and ethics. Life is vibrantly integral; it is an interconnected whole. Classical education recognizes this about the world and adopts an approach to learning that embraces this sort of world. But such a view of the world comes from somewhere. A randomly generated universe gives us no reason to expect that anything is connected to anything else. But if we live in a created universe -- created by a Person who has done so with great intentionality, then we can reasonably expect to find a world where everything is connected to everything else. Science and history and math and morality and beauty all held together by a God who designed it that way. But such design requires a commitment to thinking about the world as one who believes in a God like this. Without this “religious” component to education, we lose one of Classical education’s greatest strengths.  

Secondly, classical education aims at the formation of human beings. It recognizes that education is formation. This is why ACA doesn’t simply exist to teach students to know truth, virtue and beauty, but to train students to love and practice these things as well.

The ideas of Truth, Virtue and Beauty require some basis in reality. They must to come from somewhere. Without some norm for these things, truth becomes nonsensical, goodness a matter of preference and beauty simply a matter of taste. Schools that attempt to divorce truth, goodness, and beauty from some objective standard are left without the most powerful and anchoring idea in all of education: the Why. Why does 2+2=4? Why does a triangle have to have 3 sides? Why is human cellular structure so complex? Why is it heroic when Bilbo deceives Thorin?  Why is it wrong to cheat on my spelling test? Christianity -- and importantly the whole view of the world which Christianity provides -- unapologetically answers all of these questions. Secular educational models (like what is found in all public schools and many private institutions) are left without any way to root what is taught in the classroom to anything outside of current social norms, or what seems to work. In other words, the transcendent is lost, and there is nothing to anchor life in outside of ourselves. Such an approach to education tends to turn all of society inward, producing a general drift towards rootlessness, triviality, and rampant individualism.

A Christian education is free to anchor the formation of our students in a transcendent view of the world. A world where there are actual things like truth, goodness and beauty. A Christian education is free to anchor this education in the beauty of grace: a God who is not only there, but who loves and redeems His people. The label Christian in classical Christian Education provides the overarching context for everything we teach, while classical provides the delivery method. We want our students to know, love, and practice truth, beauty, and goodness because we want our students to know, love, and obey the God has created those things and revealed them to the world. 

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Brian Brown is a founding Board member of Augustine Classical Academy, where all three of his children are enrolled, and planting pastor at Trinity Church Denver in Golden.

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Classical Education Samantha Cohoe Classical Education Samantha Cohoe

Why Study Latin?

When you study Latin, and even more so when you teach it, you will at some point be asked why. Why bother? What is the point, some benighted soul will ask you, of learning a language no one speaks? If they really want to vex you, they might even refer to it as a “dead language.”

And although I’d rather not, even I have to admit that it’s a fair question. I’ll also admit that it always baffles me a little. Not because I can’t think of reasons, no! But because I never know which one to pick first. Usually the people who ask this question want to know what practical benefit I find in Latin. And though I certainly do find practical benefits, those are not the reasons I love Latin, and not the reasons I hope you will, either. Nevertheless, I will lay out these reasons here, in order from most boringly practical to most sublime, and let you judge which you find the most compelling.

First, you may have heard that English is based on Latin. This is not entirely true, as English is a Germanic language, whereas Latin spawned the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, inter alia). English, however, was heavily influenced by Latin as well as by these Romance languages, so much so that around half our words have Latin origins, including most of the fanciest ones. This means that the study of Latin not only prepares you well to learn many other languages, but it teaches you a great deal about English, as well. This brings us to our most boringly practical reason to learn Latin: Latin students crush their SATs. This is just a fact.

Second, Latin is an ideal vehicle for the study of language itself. At Augustine Classical Academy, our kids learn English grammar through a wonderful grammar curriculum, and that is fantastic. But our kids already know English, which makes the abstract grammatical structures harder for them to see in English, since they use it so intuitively. Latin, on the other hand, is not just unfamiliar, it is highly inflected. This means that it shows grammatical structure through the endings of words and not through the order of the words, as English does. This forces students to think about grammar in a way that is unfamiliar and unintuitive, which assures that they then grasp it in a secure, high-level way.

Third, Latin is important throughout almost the entire history of Western Civilization. Ever since the Romans took charge of the Mediterranean world from the Greeks, Latin has been the language in which the most important conversations in history took place. More of the theology, philosophy, science, math, history, and literature that we study was written in Latin than in any other language. Anyone who wants a scholarly career in those fields will certainly need a knowledge of Latin.

And this brings me to my fourth, and favorite reason for learning Latin. That is the glory of the language itself, and the literature and culture it opens up to those who know it. From classical love poetry, to the high rhetoric of Cicero; from the sermons of Augustine to Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, the Latin language contains much of the most beautiful and profound reading you will ever have the pleasure of doing.

But the barrier to entry into these texts is high. It takes years of study before the typical student can read Latin fluently enough that it constitutes a pleasure rather than a chore. If you have a child in the trenches of Latin-acquisition, it’s possible they might not always feel the labor is worth it. To encourage them, you might tell them how well Latin will help them perform on their college preparatory tests. You might remind them what an excellent grasp of language and grammar they are obtaining, how well they are training their minds, and how well-placed they will be to learn any other Romance language they might wish to learn in the future. These are all very good, very true things. But what I hope to give them, above all, is the feeling of accomplishment and joy that comes when, after years of hard work, the glories of the Latin language and its literature come alive before them.

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Classical Education Nate Ahern Classical Education Nate Ahern

The Trivium in Riddles

Let's make three quick mental pictures.  They're simple riddles of sorts, and each one is a picture of the Trivium.  However, each separate picture is incomplete in some way, lacking one or more of the Trivium's stages.  The question is this: Which stage is pictured, and which stages are missing?

1) First, picture a construction site, an apocalyptic expanse of gray dirt.  Piles of sand, rock, rebars, and I-beams flank the excavated abyss.  Workers in hard-hats examine clip-boards while growling cement trucks idle in the lot, waiting to pour. Finally, an artist's rendition of the finished building is posted on large sign -- a sneak-peak for everyone of the finished product, months away.  But then you hear the foreman say, "That'll do it, boys! Job well done." The site is abandoned and no more work ever done.

2) You see a carpenter at his bench with a magnificent array of tools spread in front of him.  Dovetail chisels, planers, coping saws, fretsaws, routers, carving knives, a lathe -- all of the finest quality.  The carpenter sets to work.  First, he picks up a delicate chisel and begins to hack a stone in two.  The chisel quickly dulls and snaps. Next, he picks up a carving knife, and, instead of setting it to wood, takes it to his garden and begins digging rows for his seeds.  When done, he returns to his work-bench and switches on the planer -- but his hand slips, and he neatly planes off his palm.

3) You are watching a televised debate. The issue at hand happens to be one you feel strongly about, and you listen closely.  However, you are soon disappointed: the debater arguing for the view you support is unquestionably the stronger speaker, but he is completely unlikeable.  In fact, he's disgusting. He chooses the perfect arguments, but he is perfectly arrogant.  He smirks and mocks his opponent. When the debate is finished, he has won hands-down, and truth has prevailed.  Or has it?  You realize suddenly that you had been hoping he would lose.

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Classical Education Nate Ahern Classical Education Nate Ahern

Traditional Classrooms and Student-Centered Learning

Depending on who you talk to about kids, you might encounter two different ideas about classroom structure: the traditional model and the student-directed model.  A classical school is one of many examples of the former, and a Montessori school might be an example of the latter.  The basic issue comes down to this: are teachers the primary drivers of what and how a child learns, or do the child's interests dictate what is taught, and how?

Though ACA is a traditional school, this is an important topic to think about. Is there anything a traditional classical school can learn from student-centered or student-directed methods, and vice-versa?

One of the benefits of nontraditional student-centered learning, for example, is the humility it fosters in teachers.  Teachers, particularly at more advanced academic levels, can easily become egotistical or self-centered.  They view themselves too highly and are too easily frustrated with, or disdainful toward, their students.  Student-centered learning, such as Montessori schools provide, force the teacher to constantly look outside of themselves.  Teachers are attuned to the student as an individual with unique interests, and they learn to respect and foster those interests.  This is a crucial skill for teachers to develop, as students learn best when they feel recognized, encouraged, and appreciated. They are humans, after all, and need love and validation.

On the flip side, a student-centered environment can be dangerous for children.  While it fosters affirmation on a personal, short-term level, it may not provide some important structures that all children need.  For example, when student choices are emphasized, this assumes students have a standard from which to make a good choice.  Would they rather learn to spell or play with blocks?  I would have rather played with blocks.  Would they like to draw or memorize the multiplication table?  I would have rather drawn.  This thought experiment does not mean that drawing or playing with blocks are bad (they're actually good), but it does mean that poor choices can be made.  For everything there is a season. Are teachers facilitating poor choices in their students by allowing student direction at inappropriate times?  One of the reasons we educate our children at all is because we know they don't yet know how to make good choices.  Allowing them to make repeated bad choices doesn't make them creative and independent; it just makes them even better at making more bad choices.

Another way of saying this is to think about your backyard fence.  Few parents release their kids to play outside without one.  With a fence in place, however, most parents do (and wisely) let their children roam at will.  They head for the sandbox, find sticks, dig in the dirt, and kick the ball -- all as they please.  But the fence is there the whole time.  So are other rules the parents have set up: don't throw baseballs at the window, and don't pick up fat black spiders.  With these structures in place, a child's freedoms get a whole lot better.  They're safe, and they're following the rules life comes with. In other words, fences facilitate freedom.  Without one, kids are in the street, and here comes the UPS truck driving too fast.

God made our children to love rules, and he also made parents to love their kids.  So when we ask our children, "Are you making the right choices?" we should first be sure they know what the right choices are

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Classical Education Nate Ahern Classical Education Nate Ahern

Classical School: Filling the Void

The human mind doesn't like empty spaces.  Ask someone to articulate a hypothetical space in which there is nothing (really), and you won't get a good answer.  We can't properly conceive a true void; the closest we can get is to visualize a space without air that is black.

The human mind needs content.  Fortunately, this is the way God created it, but it means that we will always seek out content to give ourselves meaning.  On a simple level, we love to ingest information.  On a higher level, we adopt values and beliefs.  We look at the world and interpret it, Christians by the revelation of the gospel, others by their observations of the natural world or the traditions they have received from their cultures.  Where there is a question, humans want an answer.  Where there is a void, we fill it.  But with what?

Both grownups and children desire fullness.  For adults, our voids are often of loneliness or disillusionment, and so we turn to gossip, pornography, an illicit relationship, or another worldview.  We fill ourselves with what we think will provide satisfactory content to our empty spaces.  Our children do the same -- but usually not until the late high school years and college.  All through their growing-up years, they are subconsciously deciding what is meaningful and what is not, what is beautiful and what is distasteful to them.  Once they get a measure of independence, they either accept or reject the content they've been given. And -- here's the rub -- they finally make those decisions based on what has given them the most joy.

Our children are always famished.  So as parents or educators in a classical school, what are we feeding them?  Stale bread and tepid water?  Of course they will want more, and they will want what's forbidden.  But if we serve up feasts, good and often, and with plenty of laughter, why would they want to turn anywhere else?  Scripture, stories, art, music, crafts, projects, biographies, myths and legends, hymns and psalms, good food and dancing (yes), star-gazing, mathematical puzzles, discipline, joyful standards, the creeds of the faith, and a family unified -- serve these up (little by little, day by day, always-and-ever upward), and there will be no voids your children need to fill.  But when those empty spaces falsely demand attention, your children will know where to turn.  They serve a faithful God.

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Classical Education Nate Ahern Classical Education Nate Ahern

Trivium: Rhetoric

Over the past few weeks, we've had a closer look at the classical trivium.  Yesterday, you may have seen Kaylyn Wilson's overview here, and I've also mentioned some specifics of the Grammar Stage here and of the Logic Stage here.  What could possibly come next?

Why, just so.  The Rhetoric Stage.

The Rhetoric Stage is the capstone of the trivium.  It is the telos of all prior years of study since Preschool, the goal, the crown and glory of the whole classical-ed show.  Until this stage is reached, the Grammar and Logic stages are only incomplete preparation -- valuable in their own right, but weakened and compromised without unification.  Rhetoric is a queen with her crown, the picture of unity, strength, and power.

Rhetoric brings true beauty to knowledge.  And so rhetoric is wisdom adorned.  Far from the byword it is today -- "That's just a buncha rhetoric . . ." -- this stage fixes all knowledge to the standard of God's beauty, and it speaks like he speaks.  It writes like he writes, creates like he creates, and loves like he loves.  Unless that universal model of beauty is learned, what might happen to knowledge?  To a disconnected Grammar and Logic?

Many things, from the silly to the tragic.  Sans beauty, brilliantly-educated minds give soporific speeches via monotone PowerPoint.  Those that conceived the great cathedrals are gone, and "the architecture of servitude and boredom" (as Russell Kirk once said) produce industrial slums.  The "suicide art" of Jackson Pollock and the irreverent and nihilistic "Piss Christ" of Andres Serrano are hailed as masterpieces.  The ruling elite see the stunning magic of the infant human form as inventory to be chopped up and sold to the highest bidder.  And if there is no beauty, no standard for loveliness, who are we to object?  Let our children use their classically-educated minds to find their own truth.

But the earth is full of God's glory, and it is crying unending praise to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  What is all our knowledge and logic without the living Word?  What is beauty without the Glory of Christ?  What is love without incarnate Love?  We lay all our learning at His feet -- from Grammar to Logic to Rhetoric and beyond -- in recognition that He is the author and finisher of all.

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