The Classical Christian Education Advantage
Insights from Byne Christian School's Academic Administrator, Amy Haynes
Introduction:
Why am I passionate about classical Christian education at Byne Christian School?
I have been involved with classical Christian education for around 15 years now. My kids are 16 and almost 21; Caleb is a junior here at Byne and Sadie is a junior in college.
I think that all of you can relate to the excitement when you have children and realize the incredible potential that is there and almost simultaneously the weight and fear when it hits you that you, as the parents, are their guides to life and the world. As my little girl was entering school, I began wrestling with some really big questions like: What is the purpose of life? My life? My children’s lives?
Unveiling the Purpose of Life:
The Lord had been gracious in showing me who He was, and I, for the first time, was learning that faith and intellect were not opposed to one another. I began to really see that the purpose of my life was to bring Him glory. And the way to do that was to live with every part of my life centered on His truth. And I knew that one of my greatest desires in life was for my children to have a relationship with Christ. I wanted to know I had done everything within my power to show my children how to know and love the Lord.
As I would drive my daughter to and from school every day, I had become burdened with the amount of time I was turning my little girl, the most precious thing in my life, over to be taught by a non-Christian institution. And that led me to the second huge question:
Questioning the Purpose of Education:
Many schools believe it is about training for a specific vocation. But I knew the purpose of education was way more than finding a good job or career. True education is about forming the soul. As I considered how to educate my child, I realized the magnitude of the decision. The choices my husband and I made for our kids’ education would monumentally influence what my children believed and loved.
Who do I want my children to be, not just when they’re graduating at 17 or 18, but when they are 30, 40, and 50 years old?
Life’s Purpose and Education Aligned:
I realized that the purpose of life and the purpose of education were the same. To know God. To make Him known. To glorify Him and to enjoy Him.
Discovering Classical Christian Education:
I researched all kinds of schools, models, and pedagogies. Some were good. Some were not. Classical Christian education was incredible.
The goal of classical Christian education is formation, not merely information. It is about creating opportunities to experience joy in the Lord and set our affections on what is true, good, and beautiful. Teaching for virtue rather than knowledge alone shifts the focus of education to who we become, not what we know.
Interdisciplinary Learning:
A classical Christian education also helps students link subjects together. There are clear connections between subjects—the Bible is factually intertwined with history, history is linked to art, art to philosophy, philosophy to culture, culture to the sciences, and so on. Children learn the “big ideas” that have been proposed throughout history and see not only how they have influenced our culture but also how to view them in light of God’s Word.
The Bible as the Foundation of Truth:
The Bible is the foundation and standard of Truth in every subject in classical Christian education. God is not confined to one aspect of life, and He should not be confined to a Bible class. All truth is God’s truth and is the basis of all learning.
The Trivium: Training the Mind:
Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, and systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. (This is the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric).
Equipping Minds to Discern:
Classical Christian education teaches students to think well, speak well, write well, and discern what is true, good, and beautiful, all while cultivating their knowledge and devotion to God through Christ.
Our culture is saturated with things that are not true. So many people accept ideas and philosophies simply because they do not know how to discern the truth from a lie. They do not know how to spot a fallacy or reason through an issue.
Conclusion:
We, as parents and grandparents, are all educators. And it is our responsibility to give our children the tools they need to think critically, to know what they believe, and to defend it. They need to know the hope of Christ. That it is true. That it is logical. That it is intellectual. That it is personal. That it is joy. And they need to be able to offer that in a winsome way to a world that desperately needs it.
That is what classical Christian education does. And that is why I am so passionate about it.