Classical Education & Christian Approach

 
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
 

A Christian Approach

At Smith Prep we are dedicated to the worship, obedience, and service to God the Father, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that Christian education proceeds from the Word of God, which provides the only framework from within which man can properly evaluate this world. Because truth demands a unified field of knowledge, all pursuits in the various academic disciplines are evaluated in the light of the Holy Scriptures.

Classical Education

The Classical model of education has three distinct emphases, namely a Grammar stage, a Dialectic stage and a Rhetoric stage. These stages follow along with the intellectual development of the child, which is the great genius of this paradigm.

The Grammar Stage (grades 1-4) is designed to fit as many facts into the youngster’s mind as possible. This stage continues until the students are prepared to look at issues more critically.

The Dialectic Stage (roughly grades 5-8) helps students look at issues from more than one angle and helps them ask the question, "What is being said, and is it true?" This stage encourages the student not to just memorize facts but to analyze whether those facts are logical and biblical.

The Rhetoric Stage (grades 9-12) is the stage in which students desire to express themselves, so the major focus is to communicate compellingly and skillfully in both writing and speech.

At no time should we think that these stages are mutually exclusive. Rather, at all times we wish for students to become lifelong learners of new information, look at issues critically, and seek clear biblical answers to questions and issues that confront them.

 We recommend the reading of Dorothy Sayer’s article "The Lost Tools of Learning".
You may download it by clicking here.