Classical education had its beginnings with the

Greeks and Romans, evolved and matured in

the Middle Ages, and was revived and then

flourished during the Renaissance.  It was the

prevailing approach to education in the United

States and Europe until the twentieth century,

producing great thinkers and leaders, including

America’s founding fathers.  By 1950, however,

the United States had replaced classical

education with “progressive” education.  As Dr.

Christopher Perrin, classical school headmaster,

states, “It is this progressive form of education

that we have all received, making our

knowledge and awareness of classical education

limited.  It is our progressive educations that

make us think of the classical approach as

foreign and novel – even though the classical

model has reigned for centuries and the

progressive model is the novelty.”  Classical

education has experienced a resurgence over the

last twenty years as educators are rediscovering

its merits.

“Is it not the great defect of our

educa2on today that although we

o6en succeed in teaching our

pupils subjects, we fail lamentably

on the whole in teaching them

how to think? They learn

everything except the art of

learning.”  Dorothy Sayers

It would come as no surprise if the headmaster of a Christian school began the year by talking about excellence in education or growing in God’s grace. Certainly you would expect the headmaster to affirm the school’s commitment to assist you in your desire and responsibility to pass on God’s truths to the next generation. But a funny thing happened on my way to writing that message – I read an article that my wife, Sheila, had given me months ago.
Sheila is a compulsive pursuer of knowledge. One of her passions in life is to study what great Christian men and women have written about the Christian mind and the need for Christian education. She keeps an extensive journal of quotes that she finds compelling, and on several occasions each year, she shares some of them with our faculty and staff. Quite often she leaves me articles to read that she believes will help us grow as a school. Her pursuits are a driving energy behind the school that Westminster has become today.
A few days ago as I was attempting to clean up my desk from the massive amount of paperwork that tends to accumulate over the summer, I found several articles that Sheila had given me back in March! Naturally I was embarrassed that they had sat hidden under a stack of papers for so long and decided to read them immediately. When I did, I realized what God would have me share.
So often our concept of education revolves around the accumulation of facts required to pass a test or to advance to the next level. I’ll admit that we like high Stanford scores and high SAT scores (of which Westminster has both); they demonstrate a level of knowledge that helps us to feel we are heading in the right direction. Certainly we are proud that our own Sam McClelland was named the Oconee County Star Student last year for having the highest SAT score out of all Oconee County high schools. In fact, Westminster has won this award 2 of the past 4 years. We are also very pleased that all 10 Westminster seniors who applied to the University of Georgia were accepted (a rate of 100% when the average statewide rate was about 30%). We are delighted when our math teams dominate ACSI competitions and our Robotic team finishes 3rd in the state. But my hope is that these accomplishments would be viewed as steps on the path to acquired wisdom rather than simply a result of accumulated knowledge.
The article Sheila gave me was from a book written by Tom Garfield, head of Logos School in Idaho, entitled “Putting Feet on the Trivium,” which discusses implementing the classical model of education in Christian schools. In the article Garfield notes:
“There is a tremendous amount of wonderful material and knowledge out there! If content were everything, the be-all and end-all of education, then personally I would advocate for a whole year of history spent on Theodore Roosevelt. It could easily be done. But scripture calls us to strive and yearn for wisdom, not the mere accumulation of facts or knowledge. A wise man may not recall everything he was taught. But he will know how to gain or re-gain knowledge if he was taught well.”
We all recognize that it is not possible to know everything. Physicist Thomas Young, who died in 1829, is considered by many to be the last man who knew everything there was to know at that point in history. In today’s world, though, information is increasing exponentially. What we want is to help Westminster students develop a strong spiritual and academic foundation, coupled with an intellectual curiosity. This intellectual curiosity will help them to know where and how to pursue truth, even if they must learn or re-learn the facts.
Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding (NIV).” Later in the chapter, Proverbs 2:10 says, “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” Finally, Proverbs 1:7 reminds us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
When viewed in the light of scripture, it is quite obvious that learning begins with our relationship to God. As our relationship grows, we gain understanding, and as understanding grows, we gain wisdom. My prayer then is simple: May we as families grow in our love for our great Savior, may we pursue biblical wisdom, and may learning truly be an act of worship.
As we have worked through the difficult decision in the past week to cancel our varsity football season, we were forced to deal with the natural disappointment that a setback like that will bring. Rest assured, though, that our school has not lost the clear vision that the Lord gave the founding families over 20 years ago. That is, with a heart desiring excellence, we will pursue truth, pursue relationships, and pursue God.
Under His Mercy,
Dana

I wanted to give you a quick update on the status of our fundraising effort to meet the current cash shortfall. Before our March 30th Day of Prayer and Fasting, our Board of Directors had donated to the school over $40,000. Since March 30, our school families have contributed nearly $30,000, for a total in excess of $70,000 toward our $350,000 goal.

As I said at the meeting, the money has come in like manna. Exactly what we need, when we need it, in order to meet our obligations. Our faith and trust in the Lord has been strengthened in countless ways. I have prayed that once this crisis has passed, we will clearly see God’s hand and know that only He deserves the praise and the glory.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this journey is the tremendous love for, and commitment to, Westminster that I have seen from our families. It is obvious that the families of this school have a deeply held conviction about seeing their children develop a solid foundation for their faith. It is also humbling that the families believe Westminster is a vital part of that process. Your deep belief in the school only makes us more committed to do the best job possible.

Like so many things in God’s plan, I am convinced that these current struggles will only make us more focused, more diligent, and more grateful. I have no doubt that next year we will be a better school. This fall we adopted a new Plan for School Governance, a Plan for Student Success, and a comprehensive Strategic Plan for the next five years. We now have the opportunity before us to strengthen our school financially and solidify its long-term viability. In addition to raising the funds to meet our needs now, we will reduce our costs going forward. We are currently looking at every aspect of our program with the goal of not only reducing cost, but also doing our job even better next year. We believe the families who send their children to Westminster are spending a significant part of their disposable income on us because they believe we can provide a service to them that no one else can provide. We are honored by that belief and compelled to fulfill our families’ expectations.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek to finish the fiscal year (ending June 30, 2009) on a strong note. We are grateful for those who have already contributed. We have included an envelope with this letter to use if you would like. I will keep you up-to-date with our progress every few weeks.

Under His Grace and Mercy,

Dana James, Headmaster

I have been very fortunate to be named a Van Lunen Fellow for the 2008-2009 school year.  I recently attended the first of three weeks that the Fellows will spend together over the next year.  The first meeting was in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the campus of Calvin College.  There are 22 of us, and we have the great privilege of learning from some of the best Heads of Schools in the country.  One of our instructors, Jim Marsh from Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, Missouri, challenged us to view excellence as “the process of being better than you once were.”  With this in mind, I am challenging myself and our faculty to consider what we can do to be better this year than we were last year. Excellence is a word that is tossed about by virtually every school, but how can we truly know what is excellent about our school?  We know that we can point to past successes, and we do have great things to which we can point.  What I like about Jim Marsh’s definition of excellence, though,  is that it is not about what we have done, it is about what we are doing to improve.  Scripture calls us to do our work “heartily as unto the Lord.”  I believe that this command is indeed a call for excellence.  We honor our Lord when we work to the best of our ability and continually challenge ourselves to improve. At Westminster, we will honor your choice to let us help educate your children by doing our job with excellence.  Please pray for each of us as we strive to do an even better job this year. Thanks,  Dana  (I Timothy 1:5) 

At the monthly meeting of the Board of Directors Wednesday night, Westminster took one more step in the next great phase of our school. We decided to add a third kindergarten class and a second 2nd grade class. We, of course, do not have enough rooms in the lower school building to house these classes. So the building begins!!We are currently deep into the plans for the new high school building that we plan to move into in the fall of 2010 – but we need classrooms now! We were considering trailers, but we have decided to build what the University of Georgia calls a “surge building.” We have decided to use the building that had been discussed as a field house to be initially constructed instead as a classroom building with three or four classrooms. We would relocate some of the upper school classes there, freeing up space in both the lower school building and the administrative building for the new elementary classes.The board decided to go in this direction in order to save the school money in the long run. Instead of investing over $60,000 in trailers that we would only use a few years, we will invest the money in a building that can later be converted to satisfy other needs (like a field house!). This is a much better use of the resources God has given us.Refinancing our debt will initially pay for this building. We have been able to take advantage of the recent lower interest rates and free up the funds to build these classrooms. Looking ahead, this building will then become part of our total expansion.I am excited about the growth we are experiencing. As we sit here at the end of February, we are at a record level of re-enrollment. Many of our classes are full or nearly full. Praise God! May we continue to honor His blessing on Westminster.More later….Dana“The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5

I mentioned in my previous blog that Westminster is still a young school. As a young school, our growth has been clearly evident. I believe that we are now entering the fourth great phase in the life of our school. The first was simply the decision to start a school. The second was the decision to move beyond eighth grade and start a high school. The third was the decision to buy land and build at our present location. The fourth will involve the expansion of our current facility.

We are now very close to maximum capacity for our current facility, and we have no more space available to create new classrooms. The board has been looking ahead for the past two years to determine the best way to proceed in expanding our complex. It is our desire to increase the available resources to our staff, but not to lose that covenant, familial atmosphere we all enjoy about Westminster.

We do need to grow. We need more classrooms, an additional science lab, an expanded media center, and a second gymnasium. Further development of our property will also give us a second entrance to the school, along with additional parking.

The board and the administration are working on the details, and you can expect more information about this ”fourth great phase” during the coming year. Please pray that we will honor our Lord in all that we seek to accomplish.

Dana

“The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5

A new feature of our school website is the Headmaster’s Blog. It is my hope to use this blog to communicate philosophy, anecdotes, announcements, etc. Westminster is growing to be a strong ministry in our community, and looking ahead, I want to see our school focus on two things.

First, I want to see Westminster remain true to its strong founding vision – namely, to be a covenant Christian school with high academic standards. In coming blogs I will discuss these two ideals.

Second, we must continually look at every aspect of the school to identify areas that can be improved. While we have founding principles that are non-negotiable, we must not be unwilling to grow and change as we mature as a school. Westminster is now beginning its 19th year of instruction, and this year we will graduate our 10th class. In the educational arena, though, we are still a young school.

As you read these blogs, please feel free to respond to me via e-mail. I look forward to our interaction.

Dana

“The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5