Arthur Holmes, in his book Building the Christian Academy, wrote,
If we consider the art or science that is taught, then it is a contemplative life devoted to the truth; but if we consider students and their needs, then it is indeed an active life engaged in the affairs of this world for the common good. It is not a choice between the two, for with a duty to both the discipline and the student, the teacher should in reality be a teacher-scholar.

So which is it: should teachers love their subject or their students? If Dr. Holmes is right, the answer is “yes.”

In the classical Christian vision for education, the teacher is a not simply a technician who has studied the science of pedagogy. Rather, the teacher is a scholar who leads “a contemplative life devoted to the truth.” Should the teacher be skilled in the science of pedagogy? Absolutely. But a teacher’s greatest trait is a love for learning and for truth (historical truth, mathematical truth, language truth, etc.). She shares that love for learning with her students. She is first and foremost a pursuer of truth and of the One who is the Truth.

And of course a classical Christian teacher doesn’t just love his subject; he loves his students. He leads “an active life engaged in the affairs of this world for the common good” 鈥� and what greater good is there than training children to live for God? Students are image bearers of the Triune God. They aren’t pupils filling desks, by which a teacher gets a paycheck. Teachers are called to give themselves away to their students, to invest in them, and to approach them as dearly loved children.

Teachers who love their students but don’t love their subject can never lead their students to love learning. Teaching is always incarnational, and teachers are called to model their love for truth before their pupils in order for them to be transformed into their teacher’s image.

Teachers who love their subject but don’t love their students will be distant, harsh, and self-involved. Learning is drudgery when it’s about the teacher grinding through his pet subject or it’s merely about checking off the stuff you have to do to fulfill the class requirements. That drives students away. But love draws them. Relationships are powerful things.

I can still remember those long periods sitting under my French garden professor (I struggle even to remember his name). But let me tell you about Mr. Grove or Mr. Orlofsky or Dr. Lea. They were passionate for their subjects, but they loved me, too (somehow 鈥� I don’t think I was very lovable back then).

Teachers at 91原创 aim to properly balance passion for our subjects and love for our students. The vision for scholar-teachers, with “duty to both the discipline and the student,” is a worthy vision. It is one we are committed to.

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We have five seniors this year, and they are our team leaders. The rest of the students in the school have been divided up so that all the grade levels are mixed. And they will do everything together on that day. They will all assemble in the Great Room for a morning devotional and then it’s out to the flagpole to learn the team cheer. Once the teams have been gathered, the competitions begin!

I so enjoy this part. It is so touching to see a softer side of our young men come out. None of them hesitate to hoist a little one on their shoulders so聽he can see better.聽This is the day that the big ones forget about math assignments and papers and Latin and Herodotus and speeches and just enjoy those around them. Students at 91原创聽know how to work hard, but they also聽know how to play hard. And play is never more fun than when it is preceded by hard work.

The best example of what this day means to the little ones is found in the interaction between one of our senior boys and one of our first grade boys. The first grader knew that all the students would be divided up among the teams led by the seniors. So he went to his favorite senior and made a special request to be on his team. When the athletic director was finalizing the list, the senior approached her and asked if the little boy was on his team. He didn’t want to let him down.

When did it become a rule that all teenagers are rude and rebellious? Who decided that all teenagers are self-absorbed? The teenagers at 91原创聽high-five the little ones in the hall all of the time. Every day at lunch one of the little ones runs to one of our high schoolers and shares something important with him without fear of being rejected.

Field Day promotes these relationships.聽It is more than fun and games. Field Day is the day when聽those little ones聽get to spend the whole day with the big kids. And to one little boy, Field Day is the day he gets to spend with his hero.

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Miranda’s piece spotlights the fine work all 91原创 students do from day to day, but her piece especially displays the presence, poise, and excellent rhetorical skill endowed to students through the 91原创 classical program. Miranda is growing in both wisdom and, as evidenced in this video, eloquence.

Miranda’s teachers join her parents, Michael and Francesca Kunk, in congratulating her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMSXJeQpVT8

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鈥淭he now frivolously disregarded Trivium — emphasizing the basic classical scholastic categories of grammar, logic, and rhetoric — once equipped untold generations of young pupils with the essential tack and apparatus for a lifetime of learning. These are the very notions that once set acourse the great cultural flowering of Christendom over the past thousand years.

鈥淚ndeed, this sort of educational philosophy and methodology is that which steadfastly affirms that every student, every family, every community, and every nation needs to be grounded in the good things, the great things, the true things in order to do the right things.鈥�

John Buchan (1875-1940)

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Area pastors often visit the 91原创 campus on Fridays to share a devotional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ij-adZTxIA

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