Education Model

To teach students to think, reason, and approach life with an Orthodox worldview, the Holy Trinity Orthodox Christian Academy has adopted a modified Classical method and curriculum, firmly rooted in the Apostolic Faith.

The modern proponent of the secular Classical approach was British writer and medieval scholar, Dorothy L. Sayers. In an essay entitled, The Lost Tools of Learning,” Miss Sayers asked: “Is not the great defect of our education today…that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils subjects, we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning.” To remedy this, Miss Sayers proposed reinstating the Classical form of education used in the West during the Middle Ages.

In the secular Clasical approach, children are taught language and thinking skills that can be used to approach any subject, according to the Trivium, a three-stage methodology that corresponds to a child’s cognitive development stage: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These stages closely parallel the three levels of spiritual development: purification, enlightenment, and unity with God. The goal of an Orthodox Christian classical education is to produce students able to live out and give strong witness to the True Faith as adults.

THE TRIVIUM

The Grammar Stage (Grades 1-4)

The stage when children most readily receive and memorize information-just the facts. The grammar stage focuses on spelling, reading, grammar, and writing; arithmetic; the study of Latin; and developing observation, listening, and memorization skills. The goal of this stage is to master the rudiments of language and develop a general framework of knowledge.

The Logic Stage (Grades 5-8)

The stage when children begin to demonstrate independent or abstract thought, usually becoming opinionated or argumentative. Instead of suppressing the child’s tendency to argue, the instructor molds and shapes it by: teaching formal logic, analysis techniques, and interpretation of facts; and helping students to formulate sound conclusions. The goal of this stage is to equip the child with language and thinking skills capable of detecting fallacies in an argument.

The Rhetoric Stage (Grades 9-12)

Rhetoric is the art of communicating well. Once a student has obtained knowledge of the facts and developed the skills necessary to interpret and arrange those facts into sound conclusions/arguments, he must develop the skill of clearly communication them to others. Classical education trains students to “think through” and articulate concepts to others-persuasively, if appropriate-both verbally and in writing.