Classical Education Sees Resurgence in Private Schools

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(Newswire.net — April 3, 2013) Prescott, AZ — Relying on the time-tested formula of education which has produced such leaders as Abraham Lincoln, G.K, Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R Tolkien, a small but growing number of private schools across the country are returning to the “Classical Education” model in an effort to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s great minds.

Although the classical education model is unfamiliar to most of us today, it was actually the dominant method of education in our country for the majority of its history. “Up until the early 1900s, various forms of classical education were the norm for the United States and Europe… (however) Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, various forms of progressive education began to take shape and gradually supplanted the classical model” according to Christopher Perrin, author of “An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents.”

However, not everyone has been enamored with the results of the current educational system in the U.S., and of late a growing number of private schools have been founded on the premise of returning to what they believe is a better, “sound and proven” philosophy of education.

“We live in a culture that focuses on telling children what to think, rather than how to think things through for themselves,” said Kyle Maestri, headmaster of Trinity Christian School in Prescott, AZ.  “This kind of classical education was successful for hundreds of years and is still relevant today.”

The classical education model is as much a process as it is teaching method. Students are encouraged to ask questions and look for answers.

“Classical education is a long tradition of asking questions and digging up answers, consulting others, then asking, seeking and finding once more. It is joining, as one writer puts it, the ‘Great Conversation.’ That means reading great books (the classics), studying them, mining them, talking to others about the influential ideas they contain. Whatever else classical education is, it is an ongoing series of questions and answers,” wrote Perrin.

At the same, time students are still instructed in basic concepts of math, reading and writing with history and social studies included. What sets the classical education model apart is how this information is taught to the children. “Children do learn the ‘ABCs’ and ‘One, Two Threes’ of course. But they also learn how to apply this knowledge. That’s the important part. If you know something, that’s good, but if you know it and know how to apply it, that is even better,” Mr. Maestri said.

For more information visit www.trinitychristianaz.com or call (928) 445-6306.

ABOUT TRINITY – Trinity Christian School is one of only 346 classical Christian schools across the nation, and the only one in Northern Arizona. It offers the only Christian high school in the burgeoning Quad-cities region of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey/Humboldt.