[Content of an address delivered by the Headmaster to parents at an informational dessert, July 29, 2008]
Thank you for your interest in the Summit Academy. We hope that you learn who we are and what we can do for your child. The Summit Academy provides a Classical Christian education that nourishes your child’s soul, teaches objective Truth and moral absolutes, and recognizes our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the center of the school and curriculum.
The Summit Academy recognizes that your child has an immortal soul and that education is transferring an idea from one soul to another. Since Christians believe that all men have an immortal soul, our educational goals and methods must be different from those of modern public schools, which do not acknowledge the soul or our future eternal life. The aim of The Summit Academy is to educate children by providing nourishment for the mind and soul, which together make an inseparable whole. We acknowledge that ultimately the parents are responsible for the education of their children, and the faculty depends on the parent’s participation in the life of the school.
In Holy Scripture, the words translated as instruction, discipline, and training come from the Greek word paideia. Paul says in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not frustrate your children, but rear them in the paideia of the Lord.” The author of Hebrews, in verse 12:5, exhorts, “My son, do not neglect the paideia of the Lord.” Early Christians understood paideia as the total training and nurturing of the child. Classical Christian education shapes character by cultivating the whole person in all areas of life: morals, beauty, truth, music, and art. When these are developed collectively, they prepare a child’s soul for virtue. The Summit Academy cultivates wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty, to the end that, in Christ, we are better able to know, serve, and enjoy God.
The Summit Academy teaches that Truth is objective and morals are absolute. This is the foundation for children to stand upon as they learn and grow. There is no substitute for Christian education, because non-Christian education is inadequate. No one who is concerned for Christian morals can be satisfied with modern education. Modern education is disjointed and does not teach the whole person. It has removed Christ from the center of the curriculum, and, with no central unifying principal, learning has disintegrated and been divided into separate, unrelated subjects. Knowledge has become specialized without regard for the human soul. Modern education is always experimenting with developing new methods, instead of relying on that which is True: Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Modern education has no moral foundation. John Dewey, the father of modern education, was profoundly affected by Enlightenment philosophy, which had one purpose in mind -- to discredit Christianity. Enlightenment philosophers were engaged in a cultural battle for people’s hearts and minds and hence in a life-or-death struggle with Christianity. Dewey said, “We must disentangle our thoughts and feelings from religious morals telling us what we ought to do, must detach students from Christ’s teachings, so they will get in touch with their own personal values.”
Instead of teaching a child to consider one of the most important questions, “What ought I to do?” modern education has encouraged him to judge right from wrong on the basis of what is pleasant or unpleasant to himself. Consequently, young people are growing into self-centered adults constantly seeking to gratify their own desires. However, Christianity has always stated that morality is much more than the sum of the “personal values” that individuals choose for themselves; morality is not subjective but is universal and rooted in a permanent Good, in a higher moral law, in the being of God.
The Summit Academy recognizes that Jesus Christ permeates every aspect of the school. He is the Word, the Logos, the central unifying principle of all things. Jesus, the Word, binds every subject together in harmony, makes sense of all things, and lifts learning and knowledge to the realm of eternal meaning. Envision a circle, with Christ in the center and our curriculum emanating from Him. Although there is not a separate Bible class, Holy Scripture is integrated into all classes. It is read everyday: in the morning, at lunch, and in all subjects.
Students of Greek learn to understand Scripture in its original language. In Humane Letters, we read classic works, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to The Red Badge of Courage, in which authors have wrestled with the central question of who is God. In science, we delve into the personal writings of some of the great scientists, such as Newton, Kepler, Boyle, Maxwell, and Faraday. What students find woven throughout the technical scientific language is honor and praise of God as the Creator of everything visible and invisible. Johannes Kepler, who discovered that planets orbit around the sun in an ellipse, wrote, “While I struggle to bring forth this process into the light of human intellect . . . may the Author of the heavens be favorable, the Bestower of mortal senses, Himself immortal and Superblessed . . . Holy Father, keep us safe in the concord of our love for one another, that we may be one, just as Thou art one with thy Son, Our Lord, and with the Holy Spirit.” Like Kepler, we cannot separate the study of God’s creation from God Himself but find ourselves moved to praise him as we consider all His works.
The Summit Academy provides a Classical Christian education that nourishes your child’s soul, teaches that Truth is objective and morals are absolute, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is the center of the curriculum. Please consider becoming a member of The Summit Academy family and allowing us to work with you, the parents, to cultivate in your children wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty. May we all, in Christ, be better able to know, serve, and enjoy God.