organization or plan but to add outward impulse to a movement in classical Christian education to which the stakeholders owe a debt of gratitude. We believe this endeavor so worthwhile and the business of education so important that many wise readers will see this as worthy of prayerful, financial and professional support. As it has been said, “no matter how big your vision is, God’s is bigger.” May the Lord bless the work of our hands. I propose an orderly roll out of a strategic plan to reach an entire metropolitan area or a region by starting, growing, maturing, replicating and multiplying communities of teachers and learners through classical Christian schools. These slides illustrate the process. Starting: Open a school location no matter how large or small. Assemble a core launch group of like-minded people that share the common goal of starting a school of a particular kind. necessary start up capital and operate in the black on the basis of tuition and fees as soon as possible if not in the first year. Do all the preparation work from establishing a non-profit, to developing brand/identity logo, finding facilities, marketing and recruiting, faculty, staff and families. Establish a core curriculum program for the development of the Christian mind for a selective group of qualified teachers, students and parents that are committed to the ends established. Focus – major on this major before branching out. Do first what only you can do best in your region. Open the Add arts, athletics and leadership opportunities to enrich the learning and growing experience without departing from the mission to develop Christian liberal artists. Growing: Seek to grow the first school location in quality and enrollment
rewarding! I looked forward to each class session because I agree with the late, Christa McAuliffe who famously proclaimed, “I touch the future. I teach...” before she died in the shuttle explosion. Headmasters, you touch the future every time you teach any school constituency. exponent of Academy mission as stated in 1.b. Chief exponent of a Christian world and life view Education begins with a presupposed view of God, humankind and the world. Whether consciously or unconsciously all humans have a worldviewish outlook that influences thought and action and therefore teaching and learning. To the Christian this view is self consciously revelational, based on the presupposition that God is and that he has spoken to us through the revelation of God to man in the books of the Old and New Testament scriptures wherein lie the fundamental answers to our questions about life. The non-Christian must search elsewhere whether in a mythical spirituality or some kind of a synthesis. When studying anything, one must uncover the underlying worldview of the author, his thoughts, his character or a policy to gain understanding and perform analysis. The importance of this process for the teacher cannot be underestimated as the outlook of the student shaped over time in the classroom will one day determine how each will live, and move and have his/her being. There are many worldview paradigms helpful to this process but one most helpful to the Christian teacher is the assumption of a paradigm. In the first phrase of the 4th C Nicene Creed, much that is relevant to the Christian’s worldview is articulated, “We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” We understand that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1, 2 ESV. We realize from Genesis as summarized in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that God made the world, including humankind out of nothing and declared it all very good. He completed His work in six days, including creating humankind in the image of God, stepped back and said, “I like it!” Further, we understand from the
Old and New Testament people and events. Later he/she learns systematic and biblical theology. Finally, students study apologetics—the articulate and defense of Christian belief so they can contend for the Faith in any arena of life and thought. Since the classical school is a gymnasium for the mind and for the body, it therefore includes physical education, and athletic competition. Originally the Greek gymnasium focused on military arts such as wrestling, archery, missile (javelin) throwing and horsemanship. This is one of the best places to develop student fortitude, teamwork, leadership and stamina. Therefore, a classical liberal arts education is a well-rounded preparation. And finally, as said Francis Bacon in Of Studies, “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.” Therefore, a classical education is a complete education developing in the student a virtuous, well-trained habit of mind and body for the glory of God. As classical educators, we endeavor to prepare citizens of the City of God to aim for a life that knows and reveres, speculates and acts upon the good, that loves and reproduces the beautiful and that pursues excellence and moderation in all things. We aim to prepare learners and citizens for life. This is classical education, a Christian education in the liberal arts. Sources Used: Aristotle, Available Means of Persuasion Bauer, Susan Wise The Well-Educated Mind, The Well-Trained Mind Berquist, Laura Designing the Classical Curriculum Leonardo Education of a Renaissance Woman Joseph, Sister Miriam, The Trivium Sayers, Dorothy The Lost Tools of Learning