The bar is dropping. Passing criteria for high school graduations are lowered like the height of the stick in a limbo contest. Symptoms of this problem are seen in such incidents as removing advanced placement or honors classes from school schedules, lowering grading standards by not including homework in final grades, and lowering test standards. These are all misguided aims at creating student equity, but lowering the bar does not help underachieving students; it only hurts these struggling students.
As parents witness their children dropping further behind, there is a call for a return to structure and more meaningful learning. Parents are calling for more challenging learning goals to prepare their children for college and for life.
Many solutions have been brought to the table, such as increased compensation for teachers, greater budgets for schools, and more available help for struggling students. But one particular solution is on the rise — reinstating Classical Education as a foundation for learning. It’s considered a holistic, “back to the future” style of learning that develops thinking skills and character in the scholars who learn with the method.
Leman Academy of Excellence is one such institution utilizing Classical Education. A K-8 school with campuses in Arizona and Colorado, it also offers virtual schooling for scholars who reside anywhere in the state of Arizona.
Why the magnetism toward Classical Education? In this blog, we’ll explore the reasons and demonstrate why it is foundational to a quality education.
Reviving Academic Excellence
Classical Education’s success is inherent in the design of the Trivium, the blueprint for the model. Divided into three age-related segments, the Trivium outlines the method of mastery for scholars based on their mental development and acuity. The first stage, the Grammar Stage, is for children from five to eleven years old. At this age, children’s minds are “sponges” soaking up a plethora of information from a wide range of exposure. In the Grammar Stage, children are busy acquiring knowledge, memorizing and recalling information.
When the child reaches the age of twelve, he enters the Logic Stage. This is the “middle school” age when scholars’ minds begin to expand to include abstract thinking and can hold onto more complex thoughts simultaneously. At this point, the Trivium directs scholars to higher-order thinking, such as analyzing, comparing and contrasting, synthesizing, and evaluating ideas.
Finally, the high school years are aligned with the third stage, the Rhetoric Stage of the Trivium. As its name suggests, in this stage, scholars become vocal, expressing their opinions, developing arguments, and debating their ideas.
In this way, the Trivium makes students masters of their subjects of study: mathematics, writing, reading, history, science, and humanities. Classical Education contains a rich, content-driven curriculum rooted in the liberal arts.
Unlike today’s public school districts’ education, Classical Education focuses on lifelong learning and cultivates a genuine love for learning.
Developing Critical Thinkers
In the previous section, we examined the blueprint of the Trivium, the model of Classical Education. Now, let’s look at how these stages work together to create well-educated scholars.
In today’s district schools, their goal is to prepare scholars for careers, and that’s not a bad goal, but it’s often pursued to the detriment of teaching them how to think. Knowledge is taught and retained for the purpose of passing tests. For some schools, this goal is extremely important because higher test scores translate into more state funding for the schools. But Classical Education pursues a different goal; it teaches students how to think, not what to think.
Scholars of Classical Education engage in reading and discussing classic literature, which contains rich language and is heavily laden with complex plots. Characters in this literature echo our human tendencies, desires, dreams and goals and are often seen engaging in struggles with morality, law, or authority. Socratic discussions ensue, seeking to answer timeless questions and encourage scholars’ development of virtue, moral reasoning, strong communication, and analytical thinking. In this manner, scholars learn how to weigh opposing thoughts and make informed decisions. Such training and practice produce citizens who know how to think and be decisive. Classical Education today produces societies’ leaders of tomorrow.
Reinvigorating Scholars
Historical events also play an important part in Classical Education. Students are encouraged in the Grammar Stage to learn names, events, and dates of important turning points in history. In the Logic Stage, they study the actions taken by national leaders and discuss different ways events could have been managed. For example, was the Trail of Tears necessary? How could the white man have lived alongside the Cherokee and Chickasaw peacefully? What problems have resulted from moving the county’s indigenous peoples to reservations in the West? When scholars reach the Rhetoric Stage, they might take this discussion further and form an argument for not moving them, citing resources to support their claims. By encouraging scholars to form their own ideas and shape their opinions on humanitarian issues, Classical Education helps them to find purpose and personal identity through education.
Classical Education offers a structured environment yet leaves room for inspiration. When scholars are encouraged to form their own opinions and ideas, a sense of self-value is likewise encouraged. Reinvigorated, they see themselves as people with something to say, and they develop confidence. They also deepen their own sense of virtue, valuing a moral character. They become inspired by the adults they see themselves becoming.
The Leman Academy Difference in Colorado
Classical Education is being valued as a true model for learning once again. This method of teaching is on the rise — at a 4.8% annual growth rate, it outpaces most education sectors. One of the nation’s forefront Classical Education schools is Leman Academy of Excellence. With campuses in Arizona and Colorado, Leman Academy is making a difference in education. According to the U.S. News & World Report, Leman Academy of Excellence scored 54% at or above the proficient levels for reading and 46% for math. Compare that to the national averages of 38% and 33%, respectively. Colorado scholars in public district schools scored 34% in reading proficiency and 33% in math proficiency.
“Amazing school. Excellent curriculum and the school is tuition-free.”
— Leman Academy Parent
“Excellent. We absolutely love this school. Character development integrated into a classical approach is a rare find these days. The quality of education is excellent.”
— Leman Academy Parent
Conclusion
Children spend 13 years of their lives in school, learning and training for life as adults. Classical Education, under the Trivium, is an integrated and consistent approach that powerfully transforms young minds and hearts to become thinkers and leaders in the world. Raising the bar in education is something we must do as a society to better prepare our children for the lives ahead of them. We must answer the call to better education, and Classical Education gives us a time-honored, exceptional path to take.
Schedule a Visit and Experience Classical Education Firsthand at Leman Academy!