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(Morning Call) - In this era of Common Core, STEM and standardized tests, launching a school with a medieval curriculum sounds quixotic. But the Orthodox churches of the Lehigh Valley intend to do that very thing, bringing the trivium and quadrivium (more on those later) back to the fore of education.
“Classical education is on the rise. We’re living in a deprived area in that regard,” said Cyril Gary Jenkins, a member of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus who is president of the fledgling St. Constantine School of the Lehigh Valley.
Right now, St. Constantine exists only in name, as the board of directors seeks a building to house it. Jenkins said a community survey shows the tuition-based private school could launch in the fall of 2021 as a K-5 or K-6 facility with about 100 students, mostly from the six Orthodox churches represented on the board.
Ideally, it would expand into a K-12 school, with students of any faith — or no faith — welcome to enroll. Tuition has yet to be determined, but no one would be turned away for lack of funds.
“We have every reason to believe lots of non-Orthodox would come,” said the Very Rev. Andrew Damick, pastor of St. Paul, noting a potential wellspring of students in the area’s home-school population. Damick, who home-schools his own children, said parents in that community would likely be drawn to a faith-based liberal arts curriculum.
Classical education, rooted in Western antiquity — think Aristotle — and refined during the medieval and Renaissance periods, is rooted in seven fields of study divided in two sections.
The trivium (a Latin phrase meaning “the place where three roads meet”) includes grammar, logic and rhetoric — subjects that train students to read and write well, reason properly and express themselves persuasively.
These skills form the foundation for the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.
In Europe and America, it was the prevailing method of study for centuries, giving way to pass-fail grading, standardized testing and other practices that supporters of the classical method consider sterile, narrow and pragmatic.
“The emphasis [of the classical school] is on the things that last,” said Jenkins, a history professor retired from Eastern University in Delaware County. “We’re really trying to classically model the soul. We don’t want faculty who think teaching is just a lesson plan."
The revival of classical education began in earnest in the early 1990s, largely driven by Christian communities unhappy with the state of public education. The Association of Classical Christian Schools in Idaho, a Protestant group founded in 1994, has more than 300 member institutions in 46 states and seven countries. The schools serve about 40,000 students.
The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, founded in 1999, lists nearly 140 diocesan and independent schools offering a classical curriculum. Secular schools also use the model. The Classical Education Institute lists scores of publicly funded classical charter schools.
St. Constantine’s elementary class days would begin with time in chapel and include periods ranging from 30-75 minutes, including a 45-minute recess. Classes would include math, science, reading, grammar, foreign language, music, Bible study, theater and art.
“In high school they would have a heavy dose of science and history, as well as public speaking and debate, along with courses in logic and rhetoric,” Jenkins said.
“There will be no cellphones at this school,” he added. “We won’t be no technology, but we will be minimal technology.”
The school is modeled after the Orthodox-affiliated St. Constantine School in Houston. It was founded in 2015 and serves children from pre-kindergarten through college.
Damick and Jenkins hope to match its success. The primary challenge now is finding a building, preferably in the mid-Valley area.
In time, they hope to turn out classes of young people who have delved deep in the wisdom of antiquity — lessons that prepare them not just for a career, but for life.
“We can complain about what’s happening in education, or we can do something good,” Jenkins said. “We’ll form them in how to actually be thinkers.”
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“There will be no cellphones at this school,” he added. “We won’t be no technology, but we will be minimal technology.”
ReplyDeleteGood for them!! I believe that a schools/community stance toward this is a 'canary in the coal mine' indicator.
"Ideally, it would expand into a K-12 school, with students of any faith — or no faith — welcome to enroll..."
Mistake. There is no "no faith": those with alleged "no faith" in fact have a faith, which is modernism/secularism. The soul of this faith is the antithesis of: "“We’re really trying to classically model the soul". They no doubt believe they will have a critical mass of souls to absorb the no-souls and help turn them. They probably overweight the health of their own souls (as a community) and their ability to absorb anti-classical souls...
I pray for this wonderful endeavor.
ReplyDeleteAs some one who has been heavily involved in stem/steam education and workforce development for over 50 years,,,I see a great flaw in this model and a lack of responsibility to the student body,,,,,,we not have a huge skills gap and a lack of pragmatic knowledge, application, and understanding of the basic skill sets employers are seeking,,,,a high school diploma and a college diploma are beginning to be viewed solely as certificates of attendance,,,and they do not attest to skill sets nor skill set competency,,,ergo we are beginning to seek skill set certifications to supplant the academic diplomas,,,,the major problem in our present educational model is too much unnecessary theory and not enough application,,,,,the description of this new school is scary because it is touting an outdated model,,,,an one that may create a some what educated person but one who will not be employable and become more of a paracite,,,,this not only concerns me but scares me. We continue to Foster a lack of relevancy with the real world,,,as such we are a great disservice to our parishioners and to our children. A classic education is solely for the rich who live off the generosity of their family or the political system,,,as such their efforts do not generate wealth,,,,,we need to prepare our young people with the skills of generating wealth,,which inturn advances our society,,our community,,and put church. For the past 20 years I played a leadership role in the stem,/steam arena and know the lay of the land quite well,,,,,we need to be more sensitive to the long-term career options that will be available to our youth,,,,
ReplyDelete"A classic education is solely for the rich who live off the generosity of their family or the political system,,,as such their efforts do not generate wealth,,,,,we need to prepare our young people with the skills of generating wealth,,which inturn advances our society,,our community,,and put church...."
ReplyDeleteRespectfully, you could hardly be more wrong. A classical education prepares the mind and soul for Reality with a captial R including the ability to understand and absorb 'techne', whereas a technical/utilitarian/stem education prepares a person for a narrow utilitarian life of being a "worker" and "creating wealth" (just as you say) while doing nothing for the soul of the individual, community, or nation.
Life, family, culture, county is not about "prosperity" and to put such a thing first is just anti-Gospel, anti-Christian, and anti-human. The secularized and secularizing anthropology behind this idea of what education should be has had its time in the sun Mr. Klancko and it has been found wanting (which was entirely predicable).
Lord have mercy