Classical Education Model

What is Classical Education?

For more than two thousand years, classical education has underpinned Western civilization. It’s given us leaders such as St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Frederick Douglass, and our country’s founders. Originally, scholars of ancient Greece and Rome developed classical methods to equip students with the virtues and skills needed for leadership. During the Medieval Era, Christian leaders refocused these methods toward proclaiming God’s glory using the Trivium (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric) and Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music). 

America saw the decline of the classical approach in the late 19th century with the rise of progressive education. However, in the 1990s, many stepped in to revive it, taking inspiration from a 1940s essay by Dorothy Sayers which emphasized teaching students “not what to think but how to think.” 

At JECA, we seek to grow wise, capable students using the best elements of the classical model. Among our many distinctives, JECA students learn Latin, read primary sources like Plato and Augustine, and write and defend a senior thesis paper. We also use the Trivium, which tracks well with a child’s natural stages of development:

• The grammar stage (PreK-6) focuses on memorization and absorbing information.
• The logic stage (7-8) develops critical thinking and reasoning skills.
• The rhetoric stage (9-12) emphasizes articulate communication and persuasive expression. Includes a capstone senior thesis project.

What does a JECA graduate look like? Meet Mariana Eidson, who won the 2024 Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) Chrysostom National Oratory Award. Seniors from all 475 ACCS schools all across the country can compete in the award. Her speech titled “Live and Let Die: The Problem of Death Denial and When to Pursue Palliating Solutions” was a summary of her capstone senior thesis paper. You can watch the entire presentation here.

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