2021 Plenary Talk | 55:10 | All Grade Levels, Academics & Curriculum, History, Philosophy
Summary
Classical and Christian educators claim home-field advantage over the history of Western instruction. We resist today’s fads in education by grounding ourselves in earlier eras. We prepare our children for the future by taking our cues from educators in the past. But then we discover that witnesses from the past do not always speak with one voice— what then? What is classical and Christian education? Such questions grow more perplexing when we see the adjective “classical” attached to a wide range of educational wares: classical day schools, home schools, online schools, and charter schools; classical curricula and publishing houses; classical ed degree programs; classical teaching strategies; classical standardized tests; classical blogs and podcasts. What is it about us that makes us classical? Is it the beliefs we espouse? –the books we read? –the methods we employ? –the arts we practice? –the virtues we commend? –the ideas we ponder? –the communities we serve? It’s enough to give you vertigo. This presentation may not answer every question, but it will remind us of the past as we chart a way forward together.
Speaker
CHRISTOPHER SCHLECT, PhD, has worked in classical and Christian education for thirty years. Chris is the director of the classical and Christian studies program at New Saint Andrews College, where he also teaches courses in history and classical rhetoric. He has also taught advanced courses in history at Washington State University, he has interpreted historical sites as a ranger for the U.S. National Park Service, and remains active with his historical research related to American Protestantism in the early twentieth century. Chris has taught many subjects in grades seven through 12 at Logos School in Moscow, Idaho, where he also coached a high-achieving mock trial team for 24 years. He now serves classical and Christian schools around the country through his teaching, consulting, and training activities. Chris and his wife, Brenda, have five grown children, all products of a classical and Christian education, as are all their spouses. They have seven delightful grandchildren who remind them of God’s faithfulness.
The Association of Classical & Christian Schools presents Repairing the Ruins, the ACCS annual conference, copyright ACCS. You may make additional copies of this recording for use by your school but please do not sell any copies of the recording, or post it on the internet.
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