Blog
Law and the Value of Classical Education
“The out-performance of classics majors isn’t related to the facts and information they memorized or anything written on their diploma. It’s related to the intellectual skills they developed in their studies. In a world where many students are memorizing terms and textbooks, students stand out who receive a real education in grammar, logic, and rhetoric. In other words, students who went to college to get an education outperformed students who went to college to get a degree.”
Why the Trump-Harvard Battle?
Last weekend I watched The Return to the Hiding Place, a film tracing college students’ role in the Dutch Resistance during World War II. The movie contains a powerful scene in which a German officer confronts and threatens the student body president. The Nazi’s dictum struck a chord: “As goes the will of the students,…
Macy Moon: The Family Encourager
Contributed by Josslyn Ervin, Incoming Freshman When Macy Moon Elizabeth Howell arrived on July 6, 2016, she was a tiny baby, full of joy. Born at twenty-nine weeks, she weighed three pounds, two ounces, and was seventeen inches long. Two weeks later, Graham and Libby Howell stood together before a crib. They were about to…
Science in Classical Christian Education
The natural sciences are critical to a proper Classical Christian Education. The four arts in the quadrivium explained the ancient cosmology, providing the pupil with a deeper appreciation of God’s world. Dr. Williams addresses the Christian worldview behind the sciences, and he demonstrates how New Aberdeen students would explore astronomy in a classical setting.
Ministry Preparation at New Aberdeen
“None of these benefits of a classical education are more basic to ministry in the Church than the graces and gifts of Christ. But they can be the means that the Spirit of Christ uses to better equip the preacher, pastor, and churchman for his noble task.”
What Hath Classical Education To Do With AI, Part II: Curriculum
By Joshua Pauling In Part 1 of this series, I briefly laid out how classical education, in its assessment and pedagogy, is ready to handle the AI Age. Here in Part 2, I explore how the same is true for a classical curriculum. Robin Phillips and I address the challenges of the digital age for…
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Classical Education?
The DEI movement is neither “classical,” in that it promotes values that are contrary to traditional Western civilization, nor “Christian,” in that it is necessarily discriminatory based on such factors as race, gender, and unbiblical sexual preferences (e.g. Gal. 3:28; Rom. 1:26-27). DEI threatens the integrity of the CCE programs because it undermines the West’s legitimate cultural accomplishments and the Judeo-Christian values that underline them.
What Hath Classical Education To Do With AI, Part 1: Assessment and Pedagogy
By Josh Pauling, Guest Contributor In the summer of 2024, Open AI, a leading company in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), released its latest version of ChatGPT, called GPT-4o, where the “o” stands for “omni,” meaning all. This “omni-tool” can generate text, audio, and images, speak in a human voice, and perceive and interpret…
Augustine’s City of God
Augustine’s seminal work, The City of God, exposes the reason for classical pagan civilization’s downfall.
Loving Christ With All Our Minds
When educators intentionally omit God from the classroom for the alleged purpose of moral neutrality, another organizing principle and telos will necessarily fill the resulting vacuum. Many Christians have naively accepted what they thought was agnosticism in their educational models, but it turns out to be much worse.
Music’s Role in Classical Christian Education: A Summary
by Ryan Smith, D.M.A. How much does your classical Christian community instill the art of music in its students? Historically, music has held a high place in Classical Christian Education (CCE). The first important reason is more broadly philosophical, while the second is specifically Christian. First, the ancients believed that music was essential for a…
Ditch the Majors and Find Your Passion
By Ryan F. Smith, D.M.A. Want to listen to this article instead of reading? Click here to access our new podcast version. This article is a companion to a previous blog, “Dad, I Need to Pick a Major!”Are you stressed out about choosing a major? You’re not alone. I remember calling my undergraduate advisor during…
Dad, I Need to Pick a Major!
Dr. Ryan F. Smith Dad, I can’t wait to go to college! But I need to decide on a major for this application. There are forty-two possible options at this school, and 138 at the other one. How do I pick just one? Have you considered attending New Aberdeen, where you can earn a degree…
A Vision for Student Life at New Aberdeen
Dr. Ryan Smith Diligent study. Pursuit of Christ. Service to others. But what else can you expect as a student at New Aberdeen? A vibrant student life is crucial for a positive college experience. This is how you develop deeper friendships, relieve stress, discover new interests, and for some, find a spouse. Pursuing wisdom includes…
Why Claudine Gay’s Resignation Matters to You
Dr. Ryan F. Smith Yesterday, Dr. Claudine Gay, the President of Harvard University, resigned after an embattled six-month tenure at the helm of our nation’s most prestigious institution. While these developments might seem localized, the issues related to Harvard are a bellwether of the American academy. Her resignation centers around two issues: anti-Semitism and plagiarism….
The Immutable Son and His Incarnation
Rev. Matt MarinoReprinted with permission from ReformedClassicalist.com The word “incarnation” is a construct of Latin words for “on” (in) and “flesh” (caro). Most immediately, the English word derives from the older French word incarnacion. In the Greek of the central passage in John 1:14, it is just the common word that we see Paul always…
The American Dream: On College Admission & Circular Reasoning
by Dr. Brian PhillipsReprinted with permission from CiRCE Institute (2021) Peter: I’m studying for my exam tomorrow.Socrates: And why are you doing that?Peter: I’m studying to pass my course, of course.Socrates: And why do you want to do that?Peter: To get a degree, of course.Socrates: You mean all the time and effort and money you…
On Teaching and Learning Classical Languages: A Reformation of Reason and Method
Mr. Carter Ehnis, M.A. Last year, I began rereading the works of C.S. Lewis. As I worked through Surprised by Joy, I came upon the oft-quoted passage where Lewis tells of his first encounter with Homeric Greek: We opened our Books at Iliad, Book I. Without a word of introduction Knock read aloud the first…
What (and Why) Is Tenure?
Dr. Ryan F. Smith The modern tenure system is a product of the secular academy’s effort to protect academic freedom. It is not surprising that the function of academic freedom, and specifically tenure, is a matter of much debate in Christian higher education.Quotations below are taken from the AAUP’s website, where the historical documents mentioned…
Milton, Meet Handel
Dr. Ryan F. Smith Classical music can help students learn classical texts imaginatively. Music enlivens poetry in magical ways. When great classical composers and poets collaborate, the results can be exquisite. Such was the case when the eminent eighteenth-century composer G. F. Handel composed a now unfamiliar oratorio using the poetry of John Milton, entitled…
How to Read a Book…According to Milton
by Dr. Cole Jeffrey Guest contributor Milton’s lesser known political tracts reveal his philosophy of reading During the 1640s, England was divided by a bitter civil war. Two political factions, the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, fought for control of the government. The Royalists believed power should be controlled by the monarchy, while the Parliamentarians believed…
Why Study Paradise Lost?
The power of Paradise Lost is not only in presenting Christian truth in a classical form, but also in reshaping that form according to Christian truth. It therefore represents a kind of conceptual prototype for Classical Christian Education as a whole, which seeks to assimilate the best of classical learning within its Christian commitment.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Both Scripture and biology provide objective standards for understanding our sexualityBy Dr. Ryan Smith “If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you…” From Rudyard Kipling, “If” Kipling’s insight is nowhere more evident than in the news that St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, fired Dr….
The Supreme Court and Higher Education:
48 Hours in Review
The Supreme Court has made two significant decisions that affect higher education
Viewing Education as a Garden
By Dr. Brian Phillips In Poetic Diction, Owen Barfield wrote, “If we trace the meanings of a great many words – or those of the elements of which they are composed – about as far back as etymology can take us, we are at once made to realize that an overwhelming proportion, if not all,…
Integrating Faith in the Academy: Three Core Components
By Dr. Ryan F. Smith All problems of modern academic liberalism are, at their root, theological. The fundamental error in secular academia is the denial of the Triune God, coupled with the intellectual and moral void that spirals out from this rejection. In contrast, spiritually faithful colleges – those which are liberal (“free”) in the…