TCA Educational Philosophy
Philosophy Documents
- TCA Model of Classical Education
- Educational Philosophy
- TCA Core Values
- Titan's Creed History
- Age Requirement and Rationale
- Charlotte Mason Philosophy
- Building Habits, Cultivating Character
- Virtuous Character
- Liberal Arts Education
TCA Model of Classical Education
The TCA model of education is whole person focused, relationship based, classically oriented and idea centered. We believe that a classical education intends to cultivate wisdom and virtue within our students. We believe that the aim of classical education is the lifelong pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness and there are unifying, governing principles to be discovered through reasoned discourse. In this pursuit we learn to know, not just to know about. The purpose of a classical education is an appropriate discipline of mind, body, and spirit to enable us to act in accordance with what we know, and it goes well beyond the bounds of information accrued. We believe ideas nourish the mind and consequently offer an integrated curriculum that stresses the importance of great works of literature, art, music, science, math, and history. Classical education is founded in the Western tradition and offers an intellectual framework that is both disciplined and liberating and in the words of Aristotle is complete and sufficient unto itself.
Educational Philosophy
“The Classical Academy exists to assist parents in their mission to develop exemplary citizens equipped with analytical thinking skills, virtuous character, and a passion for learning, all built on a solid foundation of knowledge.” TCA Core Values
As stated in our Mission Statement above, The Classical Academy exists for the primary purpose of developing exemplary citizens. The remainder of the Mission Statement explains what our founders believed to be the qualities of an exemplary citizen: Analytical Thinking Skills, Virtuous Character, a Passion for Learning, and a Solid Foundation of Knowledge. TCA was founded on the belief that the best education provides students with opportunities to grow in both wisdom and virtue. Parents look to The Classical Academy as a skilled and passionate partner in the educational journey of their school-age children—a journey toward becoming thoughtful, wise, and virtuous individuals. We believe that ideas nourish the soul and endeavor to build relationships that cultivate and unleash the natural curiosity of every learner through a stimulating, classically inspired curriculum that honors the whole child.
Classical education is steeped in the liberal arts tradition and is guided by the Trivium, which consists of three stages: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. During the grammar stage, students learn the basic elements of language and concepts and how to use them correctly. In the logic stage, students learn how to reason and consider ideas critically. The rhetoric stage prepares the student to communicate effectively and persuasively. The classical education model emphasizes the study of quality, time-tested literature, history from primary sources, mathematics, science and the arts. This approach to education focuses on the teacher guiding students to contemplate great texts for truth, appreciate the beauty of great works of music and art, and find the good in becoming an exemplary citizens.
In his book, Norms and Nobility, David Hicks defines Classical Education as “the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the liberal arts.” At TCA we approach education with this idea in mind and have articulated this philosophy in our Core Values. The big ideas that flow through this document inform our instructional approach. We are Whole Person Focused, Relationship Based, Idea Centered, and Classically Oriented.
Whole Person Focused
We see children honestly and realistically for who they are. We endeavor to foster a learning environment characterized by compassion, encouragement, and thoughtfully formed habits of mind, body, and spirit that inspire continual growth and self-discipline on the journey toward becoming an exemplary citizen. We cannot simply teach subjects, or information; we must teach the child as a whole person in pursuit of the true, good, and beautiful.
Relationship Based
Teachers masterfully facilitate and support healthy relationships in students’ personal and academic lives. Our curriculum and approach to education foster a joy in learning and a desire for a life-long pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. As we build relationships with students and facilitate their relationships with one another, their community, and the curriculum, we cultivate the intrinsic motivation and natural inclination to learn and grow.
Idea Centered
Inspirational ideas and truths are recognized to be the real food for minds. We guide our students to do the work of learning by engaging with rich texts, primary source documents, classical art and music, and nature studies. Through guided exploration, students are prepared to enter the marketplace of ideas and examine the principles that influence society and their place in it.
Classically Oriented
According to Plato, “Education is most fundamentally concerned with conduct, not with knowledge. The problem with knowledge is that it can be used for good or for ill.” Therefore, we believe the most significant outcome of education is not what a student has learned, but how they have learned to live. TCA is committed to building wisdom and virtue in our students through classic books, rich historical content, and the study of classical art and music. Teachers foster engagement and promote student voice through thoughtful questioning and a classical, discussion-based approach to education.
TCA Core Values
According to Leadership author Patrick Lencioni – “Core Values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of an organization’s actions; they serve as its cultural cornerstones; they are inherent and sacrosanct; they can never be compromised, either for convenience or any short-term gain. They are the source of an organizations distinctiveness and must be maintained at all costs.” In 2008, several of our founders and key leadership took on the task of creating a document that captured the beliefs and values of our founders as they created TCA. In December of 2010, our board adopted and approved this document known as The Classical Academy’s Core Values.
Our Core Values document is deep and rich. The language, formatting, and organization of the ideas are intentional. The first statement in the document is our Mission Statement – “The Classical Academy exists to assist parents in their mission to develop exemplary citizens equipped with analytical thinking skills, virtuous character, and a passion for learning, all built upon a solid foundation of knowledge”. After this statement the rest of the document provides an explanation for what is meant by exemplary citizens, analytical thinking skills, virtuous character, passion for learning, and a solid foundation of knowledge.
The Core Values document is organized using the picture of a tree. This picture is developed starting with the roots section or the Core Beliefs and Values. This section is what grounds us as a school and provides the foundation for everything we do. One of the first statements in this section is “We value children as persons and therefore will regard them as full human beings”. This statement is a guide for everything we do at TCA, from how we treat our students to why we emphasize Socratic questioning.
This is followed by the trunk. This section contains the big ideas of our Instructional Philosophy. Ideas like the use of the Trivium – grammar, logic, and rhetoric – in everyday classroom instruction. Also, our focus on the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness, the use of Socratic questioning, and Charlotte Mason’s philosophies are spelled out in this section.
The third part of the tree is the branches. This section has a sub-heading of “Commitments”. These are often unique commitments that unify all of our schools and campuses. Commitments like “We let kids be kids longer”, and “We commit to stay small – both class size and school size”, are distinctives that help to make us who we are.
The fourth part of the tree is the leaves. This section has the sub-heading “Behaviors and Practices”. These are things that we do as a school community that help to bring our philosophy and Core Values to life.
The final section of the Core Values document is the fruit. The fruit of a tree has a very specific purpose. It is the only part of the tree that is specifically designed with the purpose of leaving the tree. After parents hand a diploma to their child, we want those graduates to leave the school, carrying who we are as a learning community aimed at excellence with them into their future, so that wherever they go and whatever they do, they will be exemplary citizens. Our graduates are the fruit of this tree. This section dives a bit deeper into a description of our founder’s vision of an exemplary citizen.
The Classical Academy’s Core Values Document is the single most important guide for our school. It directs everything we do on a daily basis
Titan's Creed History
In April of 2013, some powerful conversations took place between the board and administration articulating the need to more deeply embed the Core Values into the life of the school. The idea of creating a TCA touchstone, or creed, was brought forward at that time. A touchstone or creed is a motivational, guiding statement that sits at the true heart of a school. It is a test or filter for how well our thoughts, actions, and decisions align with the core values of the school. The shorter length and poetic nature of a creed would continue to help our thoughts coalesce around the Core Values and guarantee a common language in our growth in “relationship, scholarship, and citizenship”.
In September of 2013 work began on the creation of our creed. With copies of the Core Values in hand, numerous constituent groups were asked what they considered to be the primary ideas that make TCA, TCA. Over the next few months, about 200 teachers, 120 students, 40 parents, administrators, provided input and ideas for the creed. Their ideas were captured and prioritized. In each group the main ideas were remarkably similar with slightly different priorities. These ideas were further refined by the Academic Lead Team and a group which included parents, students, administrators, and teachers. Finally, a group was formed to wordsmith the final language. On Monday, March 10th, 2014, the TCA Board of Directors voted unanimously to accept the creed and the plans to integrate the creed into our daily lives at TCA.
It is important to note that A Titan’s Creed should not be read independently of our Core Values. The Creed is intended to be a shortened, “summary”, version of the Core Values and should be treated as such. While it is motivational and inspiring, it was derived directly from the Core Values document and should, at least initially, be read along with the Core Values document.
Age Requirement and Rationale
According to TCA’s analysis, younger kindergarteners (those beginning before or barely 5) have a disproportionality higher rate of struggle throughout their school careers. Based on this review, past performance, and the additional thoughts below, all incoming students must meet strict age requirements.
Students must turn 5 years of age on or before June 1st of the intended enrollment year to start kindergarten. For example, if a student’s birthday is June 12th, that child misses the cutoff for the fall and will start kindergarten a year later in the enrollment year that the child turns 6. All cut-off dates will be upheld with no exceptions. In addition, students must also meet the age cut-off requirements to enter 1st grade. Accordingly, students must be 6 years of age on or before the June 1st deadline that precedes the academic year in which the student wishes to enroll in 1st grade. These deadlines and age requirements apply to both the Traditional Elementary and the Cottage School Program.
Rationale for Age Requirements for Starting Kindergarten at TCA
- Enrollment in Kindergarten is one of the most important events in a young person's life and impacts the entire family dynamic. Although children vary widely in their social and intellectual readiness for this big step, most children benefit from waiting.
- Research indicates that most children, especially boys, are not developmentally ready for the academic and social demands of a classroom setting until closer to age 6 and gain valuable life skills when given more time to play and explore.
- Students develop a better sense of security as they grow, which eases their introduction into a classroom community.
- The kindergarten program at TCA is academically rigorous and on par with many 1st grade classes across the district, with students engaging in real reading and math instruction as well as history, science, and beginning writing, spelling, and grammar.
- A study from Stanford University found that delaying kindergarten for a year can provide mental health benefits that last later into childhood. The study found that children who wait show significantly lower levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and social anxiety. These benefits persisted into late elementary school and early junior high.
- As students progress through school, being younger affects how peers perceive them as they continue to develop behind their classmates physically, socially, and academically.
Charlotte Mason believed that “regular time in nature to observe for himself would help a child build up that important mental storehouse of images and experiences. Such a storehouse will help that child springboard into learning about things he has never seen too.” Be on the lookout for our monthly newsletters that provide ideas and activities to help you prepare your child for a successful kindergarten year. Enjoy the extra time to learn with your child, you will never regret the investment of time.
Charlotte Mason Philosophy
Classical education endeavors to impart basic knowledge of core subjects, train students to think critically, instill a lifelong love of learning, and develop learning tools which can be applied to any field of study. A rich collection of successful teaching methods has been passed down through the classical tradition. A tradition committed to building appetites for lifelong pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness using classic books and art, nature study, and a focus on the history of western civilization. Having adopted the classical model of education to help bring us to this end, our elementary school integrates the teachings of Charlotte Mason to help bring us to that end.
Charlotte Mason was a turn of the century British educationalist philosopher who believed that children are born persons thirsty for knowledge with a desire to learn and a need to be nourished through authentic curriculum and real experiences. She described education as “an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” These ideas are embedded in our Core Values and guide the instructional approach at the elementary level.
We regard the belief expressed by Charlotte Mason that “Education is a Life” as one of our foundational philosophies. We value an education that cultivates virtuous character including excellence with honor, courage, compassion, and relational grace. Where inspirational ideas and truth are recognized to be the real food for the child’s mind. We seek to uphold the historical pillars of society—truth, beauty, and goodness—by engaging with living books, primary sources, idea centered instruction, and experiences that cultivate curiosity and stir awe and wonder regarding the natural world. To prepare a child for the future, we must help them live it fully now.
Following Mason insistence that “Education is an Atmosphere” that must be carefully cultivated to promote the natural stages of learning. By this, Mason believed that atmosphere is defined not just as the child’s environment, but the formation of proper conditions for learning. As such, we endeavor to foster and nurture a warm learning environment. Elementary teachers begin with the notion that intrinsic motivation produces a desire to learn when external rewards are used sparingly. This fosters competence and confidence in students when sincere praise is applied to genuine accomplishments and there is an expectation of excellent work with a high level of academic mastery. In the elementary classroom, high expectations are facilitated through the compassion, encouragement, and support of a teacher who has a deep passion and interest in the material being taught. Students adopt the belief that it is important to “be our best, do our best, and give our best” when they feel seen and respected by a caring teacher and are expected to do the work of learning and perform the act of knowing.
We carefully cultivate wisdom, virtue, and a love of learning by developing healthy habits. Charlotte Mason speaks of “Education as a Discipline” and following through on the musts in life where healthy habits of spirit, mind, and body are formed thoughtfully and responsibly. Authentic character and freedom are developed when one learns to submit to the proper authority and accept correction, done with kindness, as a form of invaluable feedback.
Mason also refers to “Education as the Science of Relations”. To fulfill our mission, teachers masterfully facilitate and support healthy and beneficial relationships between the children and their families, teachers, and classmates, as well as texts through the study of mathematics, history, quality literature, and nature through the study of science.
In the elementary school, teachers carefully consider the learning environment when they decorate and organize the classroom. Visually pleasing wall hangings and décor that add to a sense of calm as well as accent lighting and carefully arranged furniture create a welcoming atmosphere in the classroom. Welcoming students at the door with a kind word and a handshake gives every student a sense of belonging. Teachers make a sincere effort to guide instruction with questions that promote a safe environment for students to voice their ideas and questions.
It has been said that “habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters.” We therefore work diligently to instill habits of mind, body, and spirit that will benefit students for the rest of their lives. From expecting work to be carefully and neatly completed, to learning to respect every member of the class, each habit gained cultivates a person capable of self-mastery. We desire for students to build habits because, as James V. Schall states, “the person who is most free is the one who has the most control over himself.”
Laying this foundation in elementary school allows the secondary student to seek and recognize truth, to contemplate and appreciate beauty, and to choose to do good as they develop into exemplary citizens.
Building Habits, Cultivating Character
“We value an education that cultivates virtuous character including excellence with honor, moral courage, compassion, and relational grace.” TCA Core Values
Training a child’s character begins with the notion that character matters. Cultivating traits that allow students to be successful in school and flourish in their adult lives begins with bringing to life excellent qualities of character. In this virtue centered learning community, we are dedicated to our mission of developing exemplary citizens. Charlotte Mason believed character traits were in essence habits—“Habits of thought and habits of deed. Habits of gentleness, courtesy, candor, respect for others, and truthfulness” to name a few—and define a virtuous person.
Character and temperament stem from habits of behavior. “As Aristotle taught, people do not naturally become morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, as the result of lifelong personal and community effort.” (Jon Moline) What we desire most for our students is a heart change. To change at a heart level requires an understanding that kindness and generosity, integrity and virtue matter. This takes the effort of a community to master but results in becoming part of a civil society aimed at the good, the true, and the beautiful.
While acquiring knowledge is important and necessary, becoming a person of virtuous character is essential to human flourishing. At the elementary level, we begin by nurturing our students with good ideas, worthy work, and carefully chosen curriculum. Through the best of stories, fables, and fairy tales, we build a foundation of what is precious and noble. Through hands-on experiences in science, we build a love of nature and an appreciation for beauty. Through the study of math and history, we build an understanding of truth.
To build these habits and cultivate virtuous character we first recognize and respect the child as a whole person—one with flaws and ignorances to be sure but one with every capability of mastering themselves, acting with moral courage and treating others with compassion and relational grace. Therefore, we expect failures and setbacks as habits are being learned and respond to every child with respect and encouragement as we offer plenty of opportunities to practice and improve. Charlotte Mason suggests “root out the bad habit gently by keeping the child close by and reinforcing the good habits with positive attention and authentic praise.” When children understand there are musts in life and they build healthy habits of mind, body, and spirit, they acquire an authentic character and freedom that will serve them well their whole lives.
As part of this endeavor to cultivate character, teachers masterfully support and facilitate healthy habits of mind, body, and spirit to cultivate the continual growth of self-discipline. Students in elementary school receive feedback and evaluation on their progress in establishing these healthy habits in a supportive and encouraging atmosphere. This brings a level of accountability to the continued development of habits and prepares students well for navigating junior high and high school where personal accountability to continue growing in virtuous character is expected. In the end, we desire for every student to be prepared “to be their best, do their best, and give their best” as they enter the world outside of The Classical Academy in pursuit of the rest of their lives.
Virtuous Character
“As Aristotle taught, people do not naturally become morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, only as the result of lifelong personal and community effort.” ~ Jon Moline
Our efforts to foster and develop a community of people purposefully striving toward virtuous character have been in the forefront of our mission since our inception. The choice to adopt a classical approach stems from the fact that character has always been the primary goal of classical education. “In contrast to knowledge acquisition or skills mastery, growing virtue in our students is about strengthening their internal moral structure and their moral imagination. It is fundamentally a project of formation, changing a person for the good in pursuit of it.” Kolby Atchison, Virtue Formation.
A virtuous life can only be attained through constant and consistent practice. We recognize children as whole persons and believe that we can never teach only a mind or only a heart—we must endeavor to teach the whole child. To this end, we have a responsibility to foster growth in both wisdom and virtue.
Ancient educators such as Plato argued that students must be taught virtue. Our founding fathers recognized that a free, democratic society worked only with a moral people. Students, therefore, need praise, encouragement, and commendation equally as much as they need training, guidance, and correction.
In Norms and Nobility, David Hicks asserts that “a wise and virtuous citizenry is rooted in a love for liberty and virtue.” Because the classical approach educates both the heart and the mind recognizing the student as a whole child, the student is truly prepared for a full and productive life.
Becoming virtuous begins with self-mastery. In his essay, A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning, James V. Shall explains that “The classical writers used to relate self-discipline to liberty. The person who was most free was the one who had the most control over himself. The person who was most unfree was the one who was ruled by pleasures, money, or power. Self-discipline does not, however, solve the question of what is knowledge or truth or good; self-discipline is a means, not an end in itself.” Therefore, we begin to train habits in kindergarten and strive to instill habits of mind, body, and spirit by practicing specific behaviors throughout their educational journey. Habit formation is never easy, but once habituated to the true, good, and beautiful, making the best and most productive choices becomes second nature and a wise and virtuous person emerges, and an exemplary citizen is formed.
Liberal Arts Education
Liber. Latin for “free.” But what does it mean to be free? Certainly this idea, being free, conjures up all manner of thoughts in our brains. Who is free? What does freedom really consist of? Is freedom an illusion? Is anyone free? Are we all free? In today’s America, we have a diminished view of freedom as freedom from all constraints, and thus as license to do as we wish. However, when we look at Latin, it has a different word for “freedom from” or “license,” licentia, as opposed to the idea of freedom, or libertas. The difference is key, for true freedom, libertas, is not freedom from but freedom to, or at least is not freedom from what we think of as limiting us today. True, classical, freedom serves to free us from our own misunderstandings and misapprehensions so we can choose the good, not to free us to do whatever we want. This positive freedom (freedom to) is the basis of a truly free society and is a necessary part of an exemplary citizen; and so, an education in the “arts of freedom” (Latin: artes liberales) lays the groundwork for such citizenship.
The idea of a Liberal Arts education is an ancient and well-traveled one, stretching back at least to Classical Athens, with some refinement in Rome, further clarification in the Middle Ages, and is still with us today. Rather than examining how the Liberal Arts have been taught at various times or what they consisted of (for instance, the Medieval concepts of trivium and quadrivium), I would like to focus on why a Liberal Arts education is important and valuable, especially in developing exemplary citizens. The Roman philosopher Seneca had much to say about the topic, but his ideas are best summarized here in his 88th Moral Epistle: “Only one study is truly liberal: that which gives a person his liberty. It is the study of wisdom, and that is lofty, brave and greatsouled.” Once again, we notice the focus on Liberal Arts for the purpose of acquiring liberty or freedom; wisdom, in this conception, frees us from our ignorance in order to pursue truth, beauty, and goodness, for this is where our focus truly belongs. Wisdom, along with truth, beauty, and goodness, however, are such broad ideals, with such wide-ranging applications, that they do not fit neatly into one specific area. This is where we can see the value of a Liberal Arts education, one that serves to free us to pursue the good.
For a Liberal Arts education does not prepare one for a specific job or career; this is the purpose of vocational or technical training. Ideally, it does not even prepare one for anything specific other than the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness, through freeing one to pursue these in a variety of ways. Thus, from John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University we can agree that: “This process of training, by which the intellect, instead of being formed or sacrificed to some particular or accidental purpose, some specific trade or profession, or study or science, is disciplined for its own sake, for the perception of its own proper object, and for its own highest culture, is called Liberal Education…” We should notice that the reason for studying the Liberal Arts is the Liberal Arts themselves, for when we succumb to the temptation to instrumentalize our teaching or learning and give it some immediate, practical purpose, we have lost the larger view of liber as free; we must be truly free to pursue the highest truths, not have our learning sacrificed to the immediate.
What does this look like for our broader curriculum and in our day to day lives and classes, then? How to carry out a Liberal Arts education well? I propose several keys/reminders. First, we study Liberal Arts for their own sake. I stress this point because modern society constantly forces upon us the perceived need to give some practical, utilitarian explanation for why we teach or learn anything. The terms are nearly ubiquitous: career ready, 21st Century preparedness, practical skills, and the like. This is not to say that a Liberal Arts education does not provide such things; however, none of them can be the purpose for such an education, rather when we study the Liberal Arts we do so because of the intrinsic value of what they are.
Second, the Liberal Arts introduce us to foundational thought and ideas. Through reading and study of classic (not only Classical!) works of philosophy, history, music, science, mathematics, or any other area, we have the ability to grapple with the best that has been said, written, or made. In our mission to build and to be exemplary citizens, exposure to influential prior thinkers is invaluable. As Matthew Rose writes, “Liberal education examines the greatest works of philosophy, history, art, and literature because they lend themselves to be studied in a special way--as enactments and depictions of the activity of human intelligence itself.”
Third, they teach us how to think. Returning to Matthew Rose’s quote about “the activity of human intelligence itself,” through careful reflection upon such great works, we see the best of human culture in action, which helps to shape our own thinking and intellectual development. Should we agree with all anyone we study has said or done? Certainly not! But should we look to them as exemplars of how to approach the process? Indeed we should.
Fourth, they are holistic and interconnected. This aspect of a Liberal Arts education is the greatest challenge I see from the perspective of a high school teacher. Much like the temptation to commodify learning, the temptation to compartmentalize it is also ever present. However, when we undertake the ideal path of the Liberal Arts, we learn to make connections between and across disciplines. What historical influences inspired John Locke to write his Second Treatise on Civil Government? What was the intellectual environment in Russia when Dostoevsky was writing The Brothers Karamazov? What impact might Euclid’s Elements have had on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (see the article Lincoln and Liberal Education by Christopher B. Nelson)? An education in the Liberal Arts prepares one to seek the true, good, and beautiful wherever they may be found, not merely in one area of study, and as such opens up possibilities for deeper thought and reflection across the curriculum.
Fifth, the Liberal Arts help us cultivate curiosity. Did you find yourself wondering whether you knew the answers to the questions above? When we really learn to think through our various areas of study, we should strive to discover how one idea relates to another, or even better, how they all relate to one another. While this may come more naturally to some, I would hope that the more we learn, the more we want to learn; thus, the more connections we make, the more we want to try to make further connections. This approach to learning, while it might not give us the practical knowledge to perform a specific task, is actually as useful as it gets, for through it we develop a clear method of thinking and the ability to learn new things.
Finally, I would like to return to the idea of the freedom acquired through a Liberal Arts education. I began with the thought that this type of education should free one from ignorance and misunderstanding to allow the pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful. I would like to finish with the idea that it also has the practical side benefit of freeing one to pursue further any education, work, or personal interests without being limited by a specific path or skill set. Or, as Robert Harris puts it, “Thus while a liberal arts education may not teach you how to take out an appendix or sue your neighbor, it will teach you how to think, which is to say, it will teach you how to live. And this benefit alone makes such an education more practical and useful than any job-specific training ever could.” We of course should not seek a Liberal Arts education for this purpose (I hope I have made that point clearly enough!), but what a side benefit to have!
Further Reading/Sources of Inspiration:
- Robert Harris “On the Purpose of a Liberal Arts Education”
- Christopher B. Nelson “Lincoln and Liberal Education”
- John Henry Newman The Idea of a University
- Matthew Rose “Liberal Education for Freedom”
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca Moral Epistle 88