It is February, 1776.
Relations with our country’s sovereign and legislature have been crumbling for years now. You remember the Stamp Acts, don’t you? And the Tea Tax? We had such fun unloading those tea crates into Boston Harbor! Last spring British troops tried to grab munitions we had stockpiled at Concord, in Massachusetts, but we showed them! Yes, we sure showed them. And have you heard about that recent arrival, Thomas Paine? He has written a new pamphlet he calls Common Sense, and it says we shouldn’t just be arguing with England, but America should be its own separate country. What do you think of THAT?
It is February, 2026.
We are rapidly approaching our nation’s Sestercentennial (which our Latin students can break down for you as “two and a half” and “hundred”) or Semiquincentennial (which they can tell you means “half of five centuries”). You probably remember some of those stories in the first paragraph from when you were in school. If you’re old enough (as I am) you will remember the nation’s bicentennial (aka “two centuries”) celebrations from 1976. They are important in American history, and rightly so!
But what makes those stories important? History is more than dates; it is the study of people, ideas, and motivations. The American Revolution question is not “When did they rebel?” but “Why did they rebel?” And it is followed by “What do we learn from this?”
One beauty of a classical education is that we don’t just rely on modern pundits to tell us the answers. While most schools, both public and private, depend on facts rehashed into textbooks with easily-answered questions, at the Academy we read the Thinkers who shaped the Founders. We find out what Plato, the two Catos, Cicero, and Rousseau thought of government and its purposes. We can read the correspondence between Jefferson and Adams. We measure their ideas by the yardstick of the Bible. We compare the American path to the French path (or 150 years later, the Soviet path) and debate which led to more lasting happiness, and why.
Our Creator designed us with the ability to reason, and with it came the responsibility to reason. Aren’t we more than “rational animals”, some as philosophers described us? So much more! Created in the image of God we are rational, moral, and spiritual. While most American schools teach some version of the facts, at The Classical Academy we know we are teaching students. I am happy I can say those students grow each year and graduate as young adults equipped with skills, discernment, and a spiritual understanding that God has put them in this world by a good and loving purpose, with a hope and a future.
Whether 1776 or 2026, eternal things hold true. If you know anyone who would like their sons and daughters to be part of all this tell them to look us up. And thanks, as always, for letting us help build your children into the great people they will become.
