Earlier this week I began my response to parents’ request for a clearer articulation of the classical liberal arts curriculum. I published the article “A Good Man” to provide us all with a model of what we are seeking to build through our instruction. Yesterday, I created a new Curriculum Overview on the CLAA website. Today, I continue my response with the next piece of the puzzle–the first look at the CLAA Academy Diploma Program.
Thus far, the CLAA’s student body has been very young as we’ve concentrated on starting young students at the beginning of the classical liberal arts curriculum. I spent 2 years creating a Petty School program little ones and am now moving up with the students into the 2nd level of Classical Grammar this year. As time goes on, the program’s development will increase in pace because the higher courses are much easier to teach than the lower courses.
To give parents and students a view of where this all heading, I am happy to release, for the first time, what will be the CLAA’s Academy Diploma requirements. These are the courses that will be required for the conferring of a CLAA Academy Diploma upon any CLAA student. You can read the details here:
Please note that this is NOT intend for this to be used as a curriculum guide for any students. There are many other studies that would benefit a child that are not a part of our Diploma program. For example, I believe our Catechism and Religion programs are going to prove to be extremely valuable in helping our students to cultivate orthodox, prayer-oriented lives–yet they are not required for the classical liberal arts diploma. Some students will need to take different paths to complete our Diploma requirements. For example some students will charge into Grammar at age 8, while others may need to study English Grammar and not be able to begin in Classical Grammar until age 12 or 13. The Diploma requirements are the bar that will mark the essence of a classical liberal arts education–that is what the Diploma will signify.
What is different about the CLAA’s curriculum is that we do not waste time trying to perfect the art of mastering 3rd, 5th and 7th grade standardized tests. Why? They are not important. So long as the state’s minimum requirements are satisfied, our students can keep their eyes on the final product: their adult education. Ultimately, this all that matters in life and the efforts and expenses made to look impressive at each (artificial) grade level prove to be wasted. No one will ever care what a child’s 3rd grade CAT test scores were and it makes no sense to orient the education about such insignificant measures.
What will also be different about the CLAA’s Academy Diploma program is that it will allow students to earn our diploma by means of examination, eliminating the modern need to “pay and play” until one has finished jumping through non-academic hoops to gain an academic award.
Also, you can see that Religion has no part in our diploma program. We do not believe that a required course of religious studies is necessary for the receipt of a classical liberal arts diploma.
I believe that this will greatly facilitate our collaboration in restoring the historic classical liberal arts curriculum and I look forward to discussing this with you.
God bless,
William Michael, Director
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
First of all, thank you for this. I noticed that you have English Literature on the list. However, you mentioned in an older post about English Literature that no one will be able to take English Literature if they do not first take English Grammar. Is this the same English Literature that you are referring to in the diploma requirements? If so, can a student take English literature without first completing the English Grammar program?
How is the Grammar program broken up into the different categories that you mention in the diploma? Is each of the 9 categories a different CLAA course?
Thanks again.
Darcy
I. English Literature will, of course, be open to students completing our CLASSICAL Grammar courses. I will not, however, admit a non-CLAA student into our Engilsh Literature courses who has not taken OUR English Grammar courses. They have to understand the language as the authors did or these will degenerate into “Great Books” courses, which we will never offer. Classically educated students will not only understand English as the authors did, but will have shared in their education!
II. The Grammar divisions are individual courses. Grammar IA is the most difficult of all, so don’t think you should multiply the difficulty of Grammar IA times NINE!
III. I’m arranging the Greek courses separately for students who don’t want to study Greek.
WM
Perhaps what Darcy means is whether Latin Etymology is Grammar IA, which I believe is the case. Then, Grammar IIA is Syntax.
Grammar IB and following would be the Latin reading courses, yes?
Yes. More detail (and one correction) looks like this:
IA = Latin Etymology (Theory & Exercise)
IB = Latin Reading (St. John)
IC = Greek Etymology (Theory, Exercise & St. John)
IIA = Latin Syntax (Theory & Exercise)
IIB = Latin Reading (Cicero)
IIC = Greek Syntax & Reading (Theory, Exercise & Plato)
IIIA = Latin Prosody (Theory & Exercise)
IIIB – Latin Reading (Vergil)
IIIC – Greek Prosody & Reading (Theory, Exercise & Homer)
Greek seems to get less attention, but that is not true. The theory learned in the A-level Latin courses is largely the same for Greek. Thus, we can get Greek theory AND reading into a single course.
WM
I could jam all of this stuff into one course and call it “CLASSICAL GRAMMAR I”, “CLASSICAL GRAMMAR II” and “CLASSICAL GRAMMAR III” but it would keep the kids from progressing in the THEORY, which is most important. I give the kids a little bit of St. John’s Gospel in Grammar IA, but I want them to get immersive reading experience and no more distraction from their theory work. Greek will fly by…it is easier to learn than Latin. For example, when a student can read, “IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM” in Latin, how long do you think it takes him to figure out, “EN ARCHE EIN HO LOGOS”? EN = IN, ARCHE = PRINCIPIO, EIN = ERAT, HO LOGOS = VERBUM. It’s just easy once you know one.
Thanks WM and thank you Jared. That is what I was wondering. Also the fact that Grammar IA is the most difficult is good to know since it has taken us some time to get through (but they have really learned so much!)
Parents often ask, “But when are the kids going to learn ENGLISH Grammar?” My answer: “You mean AMERICAN English Grammar? NEVER. That’s the point of classical education. Classical Grammar will teach us the art of speaking well and that should direct our English. That’s the difference between Shakespeare (who studied classical Grammar) and the 50 million people who graduated from American high schools (who studied “English”). Shakespeare is a master of the English language whose language skills transcended his generation…they’re struggling to write paragraphs.
Will the students be required to complete all the Enrichment courses listed to earn the diploma, or will they have the option to choose from the list? For example, would Child A be able to complete Art History, both Natural History courses, and World Chronology, but not World Geography, Music History, and Drawing? Not that we wouldn’t want to take all of them, but I was just wondering.
Thanks,
Tina
Yes. I believe that the courses listed give us the ability to say of a student, “This student knows what we believe a student representative and graduate of the CLAA should know.” That’s what a diploma is SUPPOSED to be…but rarely is today. Once schools begin allowing substitutions and exceptions, the whole point of the diploma is lost. One does not need to receive a CLAA Academy Diploma to go to college or finish high school as a home-school student. Such a student would receive the “diploma” of his/her home school. To receive the CLAA’s Academy Diploma, however, that list of courses needs to be completed. That’s what the diploma will mean…and very few will have the honor of holding that diploma, which is the point: to distinguish and honor them for an extraordinary amount of stability, diligence and perseverance.
Thank you. That makes perfect sense.
Dialectic falls under Reasoning – part of Aristotle’s Topics, it seems.
See the new Curriculum Overview page I made. Explains everything.
http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/page.cfm/page/238/Classical-Liberal-Arts-Academy-Curriculum-Overview
Exciting stuff.
For the child that has the opportunity to “charge into Grammar” at age 6, rather than age 8, could it be to his/her ADVANTAGE to take the English Grammar classes for 2 years as a transition to Classical Studies?
My 6 1/2 year old has a high aptitude for language/memory work, etc., and he’s making decent progress in Grammar I. But my nearly 5 year old is more of a “plodding thinker” who I imagine would struggle more with the classical studies at age 6. Wondering if I’d sell him short by planning on English Grammar (and practical arithmetic) for a couple years…
Sure. Our English program is NOT going to be anything like what you find in the workbook homeschool programs. In fact, it was watching my wife try to explain a Seton English Grammar lesson one evening that made me say, “There’s no way we can do this. This is useless.” in 2007. Our English will be proven English Grammar instruction actually taught by men who were classically trained and understood the philosophy and purpose of language studies. The source texts I will use as the core of the English instruction are from the 17th and 18th centuries and they’re awesome. No way it will disadvantage anyone. You’ll see in a few weeks. -WM
Mr. Michael,
There is no religion requirement for the Diploma program. This is interesting. If I remember correctly (perhaps I don’t), St. Augustine organized the CLA rightly by orienting the studies for students towards the true end of mankind: spending eternity in the presence of God. This pursuit of man’s true end can only occur as it should in the Catholic Church. The CLA taught outside of Catholic Church would be less than taught within the Catholic Church (assuming teachers and students are actually striving towards the perfection of the Christian life as the Church teaches).
Recently, you posted about some sort of course involving a Protestant Catechism. Your hope was that, with students possessing the ability to reason, the actual differences between Catholicism and Protestantism would be clear and the students would recognize the truth of the Catholic faith and the errors of Protestantism.
Are these ideas related? Can non-Catholics pursue the CLAA Diploma? Is it your expectation that within this pursuit or at a later time, as a result of this pursuit, the non-Catholics would come to the Church because they would have the educational background to see Truth?
Religion, in our generation, is not a means of uniting, but dividing. It is a sad reality, but every family has their own religious scruples or convictions and if we try to make any sort of rule, it’s just met with endless complaints, fussing, etc.. Ultimately, I don’t need to deal with that as a teacher of the classical liberal arts. We are very straightforward about our ideals in the CLAA, but I don’t believe it would serve our intentions for the diploma program to make a particular religious path the “approved’ path. If the Church is generous in allowing freedom to Christians in such matters, I am not going to start drawing lines.
I completely agree with what you say about the classical liberal arts outside the Church. The problem however, which I believe most modern Christians fail to appreciate, is that the world is better with something than nothing. It’s not my desire to spite non-Christians or boast of our superior achievements. My aim is to draw Christians and non-Christians to perfection (as I pursue it myself) and “better” is closer to perfection whether one is a Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or Atheist.
My opinions on ecumenism and the classical liberal arts were formed in a shadowy way when Pope Benedict visited the US a few years back. I heard him speak to a diverse religious audience and his message was strong that we need to reason together beginning on our points of agreement. Well, there’s a method to reasoning and I believe that the more broadly we are able to teach the classical liberal arts, the more we support and serve the evangelization of the world.
The problem for modern Protestants, and the reason I believe the Church is gentle towards them is that they are NOT the Protestants of the 16th-17th centuries. Those Protestants were disobedient and rebellious Catholics. Modern Protestants hardly even know what either Protestantism or Catholicism is. I believe that when modern Protestants study the actual doctrines of the Protestant Reformers, they will quickly realize that they do not share the Reformers’ views. For example:
That was the belief of the Westminster Assembly in 1646! These were the men who were anathematized at Trent, not modern Protestants.
So, yes, I want the diploma program to be open to non-Catholics because it is good for anyone who would pursue it.
So “the core courses” of the CLAA have changed, after two years.
And the Enrichment classes are required now to get the diploma. Hmm….
I predict that the first student to get this diploma will be a 28yo latinist or lawyer.
1. Nothing has changed. It has only been arranged so that parents and students can understand it more easily. The challenge for me is helping others see what is going on. The core courses cannot change. There is Alvarez’s Grammar, Aristotle’s Reasoning and the Rhetorics of Aristotle and Cicero.
2. There was never a CLAA Academy Diploma program until I published this post, so it is impossible that anything could have changed.
3. If the first student to get this Diploma is a 28 year-old Latinist or lawyer, who cares? I don’t care. In 2008, I was told that no kids would ever finish my Grammar I program. I knew kids did the work in past generations and they would learn to do it again. I ignored those people then and they’ve been proven wrong. In short, THEIR CHILDREN couldn’t do it, so I was supposed to believe that no one could and make the program easier. There are plenty of easy programs available, I don’t need to create an easy program. I see the work CLAA students are doing and I know they will get this done in time. The bar is high and it will take time, but our students will get it done. Kids did this work in history, Christian parents in many places are committed to helping their children do it and in time, when CLAA schools are established we will routinely lead children to achieve this. The inability of some students to not be able to do it will not determine the goals we pursue. This bar will one day be the norm for our students and there will be hundreds of graduates who form a very respectable fellowship that no one can buy their way into. That has been my goal since I established the CLAA.
I’m having an early Alzheimer then. Polish version.
As far as I remember, the core courses for two years were Cat, Gram and Arithm.
Enrichment courses were not even considered to be essential. You have always encouraged people to study the three core courses, and add Enrichment only if/when possible and not districting from the core courses.
I understand that the vision is getting clearer now.
And, yes, who wouldn’t want a CLAA school by them. Are there any groups of families who are considering starting one? `
Those courses are the beginnings of everything else. The enrichment courses are easy and can be taken at any time, that’s why I have always told families to get their kids moving in Catechism, Grammar & Arithmetic. However, what most people don’t seem to understand is that everything will move increasingly faster over time. Kids will fly through Greek after learning the Latin Grammar. Kids will fly through Reasoning and Rhetoric compared to Grammar. Therefore, if we delay in Grammar, we delay EVERYTHING. That is why I have always told people: GET THROUGH GRAMMAR. Without that, the kids can’t go anywhere, so it doesn’t matter if you have Chronology going well.
As for schools, yes…we’re already working on it. I should have our boarding school ready here for September and I am getting started with two men on the development of CLAA schools in two places, along with several parish faith formation programs. Me and my pipe dreams.
“If the first student to get this Diploma is a 28 year-old Latinist or lawyer, who cares? I don’t care.”
Does this mean that adults can enroll in any of the courses? I have older children who have “finished” their school age education because this academy didn’t exist when they needed it!
However, I think that they would benefit from them now just as much; as would I! I rather like the idea of working for the diploma at my age….
My younger children are thoroughly enjoying their courses and they will be adding more as they settle into this style of work.