Classical Christian education was the only method used in Western Civilization for nearly two thousand years. It is based on three notions.

First, human brains develop skills in stages, and we should work with those natural stages if we want education to be enjoyable!

Second, rather than believing that every child must (or can) develop the world’s greatest ideas on their own, we believe they should first explore the thousands of years of culture that came before them. This culture is their inheritance— an amazing legacy— and it provides the best pathway for them to take up their role as the next generation of the Great Conversation.

Third, we believe that Truth exists; there is a means to tell the difference between what is bad, good, and great. We believe that the precepts given to us by God are our the best measurement of that is True.

(The above image is of Universidad Santo Tomas de Aquino, the first university in the New World, just two hours away from CCCA.)

Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind.

The early years of school build upon what young brains naturally, necessarily do: absorb information! Just like those young brains can memorize every Pokemon and its evolved forms, they can absorb and retain planets, animals, poems, and math facts. By doing so, they are systematically laying the foundations for advanced study.

In the middle grades, we build upon what students most love doing: questioning and crafting arguments.

In the high school years, students are trained to express themselves, persuasively and creatively. This classical pattern is called the trivium.

(Thi above image shows various stages in the processing of Dominican cacao, or chocolate, grown in our schoolyard. Like guiding a young mind, processing chocolate occurs step-by-step, and is a lot of work. But the results are very much worth it.)

What do Copernicus, Martin Luther, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein all have in common?

Two things: They all had a Classical Christian education, and they all made meaningful contributions to The Great Conversation.

Classical Christian Education only exists because our culture believes that every person has the ability to contribute something of value to the Universe…but that they are unlikely to do that if they are forced to start from scratch! Instead, we believe that students are most likely to fully develop themselves if they are given the chance to first learn from God’s great works in nature, and humanity’s great achievements in literature, science, the arts and mathematics.

We live in an era in which education for the masses is deveoted to the training of workers. A classical education is devoted to developing adults who are informed by, and who can inform The Great Conversation— the ongoing construction of a culture of ideas and artifacts that are True and Beautiful.

(The above image is of Cristo Redentor overlooking the city of Puerto Plata, an hour from CCCA.)