Sometimes understanding what a classical school is can seem somewhat like the men who follow orders in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. Like you’re charging forward on the battlefield of education and hoping the leaders don’t blunder. Unlike the men in the poem, we welcome questions from parents who seek understanding and clarification. Not every decision will be liked, but decisions must be made, and this can still feel a bit bewildering to the folks on the ground moving through the paces of classes – taking orders, as it were.
The war that is the education of our children is not one of politics, rather language.
Thus, Columbus Classical Academy does not engage on the battlefield of partisan politics – something Mr. Gibson goes over with every family during CCA’s Family Interview process –CCA is not a political counterweight. We expect our families to participate in politics and understand that we are political beings, but what CCA is particularly cognizant of is the scholars we have before us are not ready nor should they be expected to take part in partisan politics as a matter of course at school.
That is not to say CCA doesn’t acknowledge the current culture – policies are made based on reality and those things that are Good, True, and Beautiful without apology or waver, but as we partner with parents of all political persuasions, we remind them that partisan politics is not a part of our mission.
Columbus Classical Academy will engage in the battle over words – language. C.S. Lewis, in his essay, The Death of Words, says that “the truth is not simply that words originally innocent tend to acquire a bad sense. The truth is that words originally descriptive tend to become terms either of mere praise or of mere blame. The vocabulary of flattery and insult is continually enlarged at the expense of the vocabulary of definition.” When adults take children’s literature and poetry away from them based on modern, perverse definitions of words, we make that which is good evil – a slippery slope indeed.
C.S. Lewis, further notes that “to save any word from the eulogistic and dyslogistic abyss is a task worth the efforts of all who love the English language.” A classical school like CCA will use the rich and beautiful language of the materials outlined in the Program Guide all while teaching definition and context of words such that when a scholar grows up and hears a beautiful word twisted, they will recognize it and eschew perverting it themselves. This lack of ignorance will serve the scholar well; superficially shielding a scholar from a word that they don’t yet know has a twisted version creates an ignorance that can be despised once revealed.
The Hillsdale College K-12 Program Guide is the tool CCA uses to instill these foundational ideas. Classic materials are carefully chosen, ordered, and implemented with Western traditions central to the study of history, literature, philosophy, and the fine arts. In addition, we take seriously the study of literary, moral, philosophical, political, and historical traditions per the Hillsdale Program Guide key characteristics and employ pedagogical techniques that are teacher-driven and scholar focused. Scholars must first be educated using rich language and taught about the world they live in, and then articulate political opinions well with persuasive rhetorical skill using words with meanings that are rescued from the post-modern lexicon of base filthiness. So, while Columbus Classical Academy is not a political warrior on the landscape of education wars, we may be considered a language warrior – proper definitions, context, connotation and usage make literate graduates. It prepares them to know what they know, write about it well, and defend their ideas with conviction and clarity of language that returns us to the foundational meanings of words – thus making words more meaningful. The use and misuse of language is where education wars will rise or fall – charge!
