We think classical education is worthwhile. Because of these visits and your interest, we are going ahead with the next steps of starting this school.
In addition to these notes on our observation visits, we thought that the resources below would be helpful to cast a vision for the culture of a real-life classical school.
Paideia and Piety
This is an excerpt from Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain’s excellent book The Liberal Arts Tradition, on passing on a culture of piety through education:
“For the Greeks, paideia [often translated education] meant something more like enculturation. To undergo paideia then is to be initiated into the culture of the city-state, or as Paul used it in Ephesians, to raise children up in the paideia of the Lord. Those who seek to renew the Christian classical educational tradition must keep this full-orbed understanding of education in mind, understanding that transmitting culture is a central aspect of the educational task. In order to pass on a culture there must be something of substance to transmit. Thus, a Christian classical school will not thrive without developing and embodying a proper school culture… As suggested earlier, piety [proper love of God and man] is at the center of our entire endeavor.”
“The Desired Culture”
Here is an inspiring lecture from Terrence Moore (principal of Atlanta Classical Academy) on the culture of a classical school and why it’s worth building. (The audience is other principals, but what better way to hear what a school is like?)