“Isolating the student from large sections of human knowledge is not the basis of Christian education. Rather it is giving him or her the framework for total truth, rooted in the Creator’s existence and in the Bible’s teaching, so that in each step of the formal learning process the student will understand what is true and what is false and why it is true or false.”
Francis Schaeffer
There is a myth that exists which basically states that classical Christian education and modernity cannot coexist. It is often assumed that, because a school is “classical,” it cannot be “modern.” Also, it is often thought that this lack of modernity causes classical Christian schools to fail to adequately teach mathematics or the sciences. However, cCe neither eschews modernity nor many of the luxuries it affords educators and students. Also, classical Christian students perform well in advanced areas of both math and science.
cCe recognizes that many of the leaders of the golden era of science were classicists. Also, classical Christian educators recognize that a person cannot adequately study God while disregarding the sciences. However, these same educators recognize that a person cannot adequately study the sciences while disregarding God. Therefore, classical Christian schools typically postpone the study of science until students have gained a working knowledge of God and His Word because it allows them to better view science from a biblical-Christian perspective. At GCA, students begin a formal study of science in second grade. When GCA students enter the logic phase of their education, they enter into a study of the more advanced sciences. At GCA, we neither avoid the sciences or technology such as computers nor do we view them negatively; we simply recognize that there is a proper time to integrate science and technology into the developmental stages of learning.
cCe endeavors to take each student to his or her highest potential; in order to do so, we must realize that humans are not programmable machines. Humans are works to be made. Ecclesiastes 3:11a says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” When we, as classical Christian educators and parents, lay an all-encompassing educational foundation, we produce doctors, authors, ministers, and even scientists, electricians, and plumbers who can think, reason, speak, and write well. There are no gaps in the educations of these people because they received a properly founded education before they received a specialized education.
Essentially, cCe focuses on all areas, including math and science. How will a student truly understand the whole if he or she has only learned some of the parts? Let’s teach them the whole so that they then know all of the parts.
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