The Curriculum

The vision of education that informs St. Gregory’s Academy can appear at once familiar and strange. Although it is traditional, it sometimes disappoints the expectations and received categories by which traditional education is evaluated in our day. At St. Gregory’s we seek to recover the fullness of meaning behind these educational categories so as to overcome the false oppositions that can prevent students from really loving and appropriating the good, the true, and the beautiful. For example, much of the movement to recover traditional education is concerned with the recovery and perfection of reason. In the face of an epidemic of sloppy and addled thinking, teachers apply the remedy of logic. We too prescribe this remedy, but we believe that it is not enough and that left to itself, or the overemphasis of it, produces more disease. Man does not live by reason alone, not even reason perfected by logic. Borne aloft by music and poetry, reason learns new steps that introduce it to a dance in which it moves beyond itself, and becomes a fit partner for the Divine Word.

Liberal Education 

The philosophical perspective that goes beyond the mere knowledge of particular facts to a general framework within which those facts may be understood and provides a connected view of things, was considered by the ancients to be the special mark of a liberal education. Liberal education rises above the accumulation of facts to a vista from which these facts may be seen in their proper relation to one another. The liberal artist ascends to the universal principles of things, for it is only within the framework of such principles that we can even begin to have that vision—the view that sees things as a whole, in which the various parts are related, and through which they exist as parts. Only such a view is adequate to the thing as it is, presenting reality as it is. Failure in this vision can be of serious consequence when the object of our concern is man and the means to his good, for without the understanding of man in his totality we are unable to know what actions are more appropriate to the achievement of that good. The end of liberal education, therefore, is to know the whole truth of things; the truth that Christ said “shall make you free.” It is through the encounter and conformity with the truth that can be said to set a man free; free to think independently of the truth he has discovered. As G.K. Chesterton observed, “the whole point of education is that it should give a man abstract and eternal standards by which he can judge material and fugitive conditions.” To know the truth that grants this freedom, and know it for its own sake, is the purpose of liberal education.

Religious Instruction 

            Underscoring all activities at the Academy is a spirit of reflection upon God, the Source of all that is good and true and beautiful. Students are given instruction in the doctrines and moral teachings of the Church, stressing orthodoxy and obedience to the Magisterium of the Church. The classes in religion include the memorization of prayers and catechism, the reading of Holy Scripture and other significant Catholic texts, and instruction in salvation history, morality, and the sacred liturgy. In the upper grades students study basic apologetics and begin some dogmatic and moral theology. These are approached from a historical perspective – using, for example, the history of Church councils to present Church teaching as it unfolded in its historical circumstances.

            In all, the religion courses are intended not just to test the students’ memory or attention span, but to nourish their interior lives and reveal to them different aspects of the mystery of Christian life, a living union with the Blessed Trinity through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Naturally, this instruction both leads to and builds upon the sacramental life in which the boys routinely participate.

            One of the prime goals of St. Gregory’s Academy is that our boys learn the importance of ordering the whole of their lives toward God. We seek to impress upon them the merit of offering to God all that they do, in work or play. In this we follow the injunction of St. Paul, who says in his letter to the Colossians, “All whatsoever you do in word or work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father by Him.” It is indeed our hope that whatever the boys do—be it in the classroom, the dormitories, the chapel, or on the athletic field—it is seen as an offering to the glory and honor of Our Lord. This Catholic offering provides the best motivation for noble action, to be devoted to one’s vocation, and to avoid placing all one’s hopes and desires in material ambitions.

Latin

            St Gregory’s offers all students an extensive and required course of Latin studies. Essential for full participation in the liturgical life of the school, Latin also provides excellent mental training and facilitates a deeper understanding of the English language and of grammar as a science. As the students gain proficiency in Latin they begin easy exercises in Latin oration and composition. Once the student has concluded the study of Latin grammar, their understanding is enhanced by reading and translating classical and biblical texts.

Literature and Humanities 

            During the first years at St. Gregory’s, we stress reading good books that delight the soul and provide food for the imagination. Literature offers an indirect experience of the ways of the world and the effects of moral virtue and vice through imaginative representations of life and experience. It also serves to stimulate the initial reflections of a young mind on questions central to the human condition and human nature which is the basis of its role as an educator. Literature seeks truth by means of fiction. It carries with it principles, ideals, and lessons which are timeless and universal. In imitating human action, it is able to express ideas of universal and permanent interest to humanity by means of particular affective, moral, and spiritual struggles and events.

            The Freshman Literature program concentrates on the Romantic mode of the story. The Romantic mode involves stories of adventure, mystery, stock characters, impossible quests, and the inherent wonder of the common and uncommon. Romance typically presents the various facets of human experience from a fanciful, exaggerated, and extravagant point of view, exciting the reader’s curiosity and desire for the good in confronting an uncontrollable reality. The Romance is structured to have universal appeal to the imagination, presenting atmospheres, events, heroes, villains, and conclusions that coincide with man’s yearning for the extraordinary in things which bear the strength of charm, fascination, and satisfaction. The Romance, in portraying the thrilling things of reality, often allows them to exist unencumbered from the necessary obstacles of the everyday. Thus, the Romantic tale bestows upon these realities an impetus and grace and perfection that supersedes the realistic expectations the world applies to such high endeavors, and nurtures the common man in his weariness by allowing his common dreams to come to life.

            The Sophomore Literature course is a study of the myth and various mythologies of the world. Arising out of man’s desire to provide significance to the mysteries of his world, a myth is a purely fictitious narrative usually involving legendary, historical, and spiritual persons, actions, or events, and often embodying some popular conception of natural and supernatural phenomena. In order to provide a context whereby he might judge things beyond his ken, man wove tales that introduced questions and ideas of a cosmic scope, springing from the mystical sensitivity of the human spirit. In almost every culture, myth involves a delineation of the relationship between men and the gods, standards of heroism, and epic feats in their veiled portrayals of truth.

            Although the myth may be rationalized with much advantage, its primal human wisdom and philosophic thought must remain sacred and prevalent to those who undertake to study and learn myths. The real idea behind the purpose of mythology is to reveal the thoughts and feelings of a culture at some point in time, when the imagination was not checked by reason in endeavors to teach and portray. A myth is a holistic portrayal of reality in a particular environment and time, the visionary ideals of that people, and the relations between the various elements of existence.

            Myth has always been a vehicle and tool for teaching, passing on knowledge and tradition, religious beliefs, art, music, poetry, and the ideals and virtues of a people. Thus myth has carried a deep human significance in its expressions for life with its spiritual force and majestic beauty. The myth also possesses universal significance beneath its poetic beauty, presenting events and characters that portray an ideal type which serve as examples for action and understanding human nature. Inherent in the true myth is the capacity of detecting a basic law, not only for all of mankind but in all things. The ancients called these innate ideas in every thing and every human creature the “form of its being.” Thus myths present ideas, and principles whose truths are applicable to all of mankind. They paint pictures of idealism in endeavors, deeds, and ends, and offer shining models for imitation by stirring hearts with the desire for glory, honor, and virtue. The dual purpose of mythology, therefore, is to preserve the wisdom of the ages and present the thoughts and feelings of a generation with elegance and imagination. At St. Gregory’s a special endeavor is made when studying myth to recognize the effects of Divine Providence in pagan tales and the gradual effect that Christianity had on human folklore.  

            As the students refine their ability to read with attention, reflection, and confidence, the study of the good books gives way to some of the great, classical works of Western civilization. The Humanities classes, a series of courses for the Junior and Senior students, emphasize classical authors and the study of the three major humanistic disciplines of literature, history, and philosophy. The Junior year is devoted to reading works by ancient Greek and Roman authors; the Senior year turns to a study of the works from the Medieval and Modern periods of the Western literary tradition. Some of the books read over this two-year period of time are Homer’s Odyssey, the Oresteia by Aeschylus, Plato’s “Apology,” Virgil’s Aeneid, the Inferno by Dante, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, several plays by Shakespeare, plus short stories and novels by British and American modern authors.

            Though it is universally recognized that the humanities have assumed a central role in education for the transmission of culture throughout the history of Western civilization, and that to be unfamiliar with the poetry of Homer and Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare means largely to remain an uneducated human being, it may come as a surprise to hear that the purpose of the humanities is not to convey knowledge to us about our past, but rather to humanize us. As R.V. Young wrote, “At the center of imaginative literature or poetry, then, is mimesis or imitation: the representation of human life – or more precisely, the representation of human experience. We are naturally curious creatures, but not merely in the manner of cats and monkeys; our specifically human curiosity is inspired by our consciousness – our awareness of the world around us and of our selves situated within it. This self-consciousness necessarily entails a recognition of other selves, other souls. The poet is important because, by expressing himself, he opens up to us the mind and heart of another, and the knowledge of our likeness and difference from others is essential to our self-realization…” The knowledge of human nature and the human condition that the humanities yield is the basis, therefore, of its educational role.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the liberal art of intellectual nourishment, as cooking is the servile art of physical nourishment. Rhetoric makes truth effective. It is not simply more and more grammar or more and more logic any more than cooking is more and more vegetables. Rhetoric is rather making something out of the sentences and the arguments that grammar and logic have supplied. Aristotle defines rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” The purpose of studying rhetoric is three-fold: first, to understand and be able to apply in daily and academic realms the fundamental principles of rhetoric as taught from the Western canon (Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Cicero); second, to awaken students to the guiding powers of rhetoric; third, to understand that the essential quality of a rhetor is not only his skill at speaking or his ability at prose but also his ethical virtues.  In short, as Aristotle argues, the truly good rhetor is he who is skilled in speaking and writing, but also he who is ethical, just, and magnanimous. Or, as the Roman orator Quintilian defined it: Rhetoric is the good man speaking well. Without the qualities of the good or virtuous man, a talented rhetorician can easily and quickly pervert the use of rhetoric by using it selfishly instead of to lead others to the good.

Logic

Logic is the art of reasoning well in order that the end of reason, truth, may be attained with more surety and ease. Although the students will already have begun to develop the logical art through their rhetorical exercises, a full year’s course in classical formal logic develops in the students a perfected logical habit through exercises pertaining to definition, division, and inference. But as it is impossible to study logic without engaging in some theoretical considerations of philosophy (e.g. an introduction to the Categories, the predicable relations, the different kinds of cause), the course has as a secondary purpose the introduction of some fundamental philosophical principles.

The course opens with a reading of Plato’s Meno that the boys may acquire a taste for philosophic inquiry and the importance of defining terms, the first step in the art of logic before proceeding to a more systematic inculcation of the forms and modes of definition, judgment and syllogistic reasoning. The second semester, conceived as an introduction to philosophy and particularly the study of ethics, begins with Plato’s Phaedo and discussions concerning the end and good of man. Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy serves as a continuation of these reflections and concludes the year with an investigation into the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, courage and justice.

Mathematics

            Mathematical studies at the Academy begin with an emphasis on proficiency in basic math skills and concepts and then continue with two years of algebra and one year of Euclidean Geometry.

            The purposes of the algebra courses are to complete the students’ mastery of the concepts and skills of basic high-school level algebra and to stress manipulative calculating skills over calculator practice. Students who show sufficient academic progress may be allowed, if schedules allow, to take an advanced math tutorial in trigonometry or calculus. However, we believe universities are the appropriate venue to teach advanced mathematics. We provide a solid and sufficient pre-college foundation in mathematics while remaining true to our commitment to a non-specialized education in the liberal arts.

Euclidean Geometry

Plato said, “geometry is the knowledge of that which always is, and not of a something which at some time comes into being and passes away…it tends to draw the soul to truth and is productive of a philosophical attitude of mind.” Geometry provides the student with a real experience of truth. At St. Gregory’s Academy we study demonstrative geometry in its purest form. The students learn and take turns demonstrating the whole of the first six books of Euclid’s Elements. The Elements is a classic example of scientific knowledge, which is a knowledge founded on the understanding of everything that comes prior to that knowledge. Such a mode of learning helps to ensure that the learning is genuine rather than the simple memorizing and manipulating of formulas. It also rigorously forms the mind to think clearly and logically, thus paving the way for philosophical and logical reasoning.

The geometry class at St. Gregory’s is much more than just a math class. Not only is the geometry better learned and grasped through Euclid’s organic method, but also the student receives a rigorous exercise in clear and organized thought and how to reproduce that mode of thought. Such an experience will profit a student interested in seeking the truth, no matter what its form. The geometry course is a difficult and demanding encounter with mathematics, truth, and beauty, therefore leaving lasting impressions on the students and also the teacher. We say that teaching is a species of friendship at St. Gregory’s. Friendship, however, implies some sort of common ground on which the friends might meet. When studying Euclid, both teacher and student stand humbly before the eternal truths manifested within his pages.

American and World History 

            St. Gregory’s offers separate courses of historical studies during the 9th and 10th grades: American and World History respectively. These studies are incorporated within the Literature courses and the Integrated Humanities Program following a natural order from ancient to modern times. The focus of both classes is guided by the two-fold thesis that God in His providence has guided the course of history for the salvation of souls and that individual men can by their actions and words affect the course of history. As much as possible the courses are taught in narrative manner trying to capture the drama in the stories of great individuals and great events. Students are expected to know the data of history (names, places, dates, etc.), but such data is not to be presented in abstraction from its context of those stories. Thus, students begin to develop a historical sense: a real and profound understanding of men and events, together with the recognition of progress and decay in human culture.

            The Freshmen study the history of North America and particularly the United States. The course begins with the story of Columbus’ discovery of America, Cortez’s conquest of Mexico and the struggle between the English and the French for the control of North America. From there the focus shifts to an understanding of American history, the Revolution, the writing of the Constitution, and westward expansion. A special emphasis is given to understanding the issues, characters, and battles of the Civil War. This class culminates with a trip to the battlefield at Gettysburg. The class proceeds by the use of biographical and anecdotal material attempting to comprehend the events and issues by coming to know and appreciating the lives of the eminent men involved, e.g. Columbus, Cortez, St. Isaac Jogues, Wolfe, Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Lee, Grant, etc.

            The title of the Sophomore history course is World History. Proceeding in a manner similar to Freshman year, the class begins with Greek history and introduces the great Greek leaders and philosophers and, through them, gains insight of the cultural treasure the Greeks handed on to the Church and the world. The course then traces the history of Rome from its modest beginnings to its height of power to its demise, keeping in mind how God made use of this human creation for His divine purpose. In the second semester the material closely outlines the rise of the Church by special attention to those individuals who cooperated with God’s grace to build and expand Christendom. A special emphasis is given certain saints and heroic men and the impact on the course of history. St. Benedict and his Rule receive special attention for their influence on history and on the community life within the Academy. The class culminates in a trip to the Benedictine foundation in Clear Creek, Oklahoma.

Natural Science 

            St. Gregory’s curriculum includes a four year series of classes in the natural sciences emphasizing natural history and including botany, zoology, earth sciences, biology, and physics.

            The scientific discipline of Natural History is a biological discipline that seeks to approach the living organism on the level of the individual in its own sphere in order to arrive at the truth through observation, hypothesis, and experiment. Natural History involves a poetic, philosophic, and imaginative approach to the natural order, seeking to experience first-hand the realities studied and appreciating the beauty inherent in the balance and processes of the created order.

            Natural History Freshman year, we stress direct contact with nature by making use of the possibilities afforded by our rural setting, large grounds, and opportunities for extended field trips. This serves to develop observational skills in addition to increasing knowledge and fostering a healthy respect and love for the created order. Students learn the names and properties of natural objects and are required to clearly describe their observations. This first, participatory knowledge of nature supplies the necessary foundation for a true understanding of the created order. A sense of wonder towards the inscrutable mysteries of nature provides the impetus towards a more mature comprehension of the ways of the world. The first goal, then, is the general experiential knowledge that everyone should possess. Only then do the students advance to the more theoretical and specialized studies in the upper grades.

            Sophomore year science is an introduction to geology, oceanography, meteorology, and astronomy. The course explores various points of contact between faith and the sciences, with discussions that center on the Galilean controversy, and the question of uniformitarian and evolutionary assumptions.

            Natural History for the Juniors focuses on the art of scientific observation of the story of life in the natural sphere and the strategies, tactics, and goal of the science. Special attention is given to the development of the eye to see things with more clarity through exercises in observation, artistic rendition, and guided field investigations. The students are challenged thereby to discover and attempt the process of natural history to strengthen their powers of perception and come to the truth about living things in the natural realm via experience, examination, and experiment. Studies are done in animal behavior (ethology) and instinct as well as a consideration of the two-fold role of man in nature as a steward of God’s creation: the poetic and practical. The objective of the course is to develop in the students an eye and imagination that will grow into a vision of the Divine image as it subsists in the things that He has made. 

            Seniors advance in their scientific pursuits through the study of classical conceptual physics. This course is named from the Greek root of the word “physics” meaning “nature.” It derives its approach to the science from the ancients, despite its resemblance to a modern physics course. In fact, this course might be more accurately described as a “history of science” or even a “philosophy of science” rather than “physics.” The purpose of the course is to give students an understanding of the development of ideas about the physical world and a perspective from which to judge the accomplishments of modern science.

            The course begins where science began with the study of astronomy and the heavens. Having established a basic understanding of the motions of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets, students examine the ancient Greek understanding of the motions of the heavens. We look at the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and especially Ptolemy. The course then traces the development of the explanation of the motion of heavenly and earthly bodies through the works of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, followed by Newton and his laws of motion and universal gravitation, and a brief introduction of Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity. The course concludes with the reading of Augros’ The New Story of Science, which gives an understanding and perspective on some of the progress and surprising discoveries of modern science.

Music

            At St. Gregory’s music is given its due as a profound means to form character and delight the soul. Music is perhaps the strongest vehicle for expressing man’s sensitivity and desire for the deepest reality, his wordless jubilation or inexpressible sorrow. Music falls squarely into the formal subject matter of philosophy precisely because it has the power to make us wonder. By its very nature, it lies so close to the fundamentals of human existence and conveys to the listener a most intimate meaning which is quite distinct from any meaning communicable by words.           

But music does more than express what any individual artist might feel within himself. Music has the power to call us out of ourselves to participate in something greater. For Plato and indeed for the Western tradition in general, music was integral in the art of education because it mysteriously mirrors the impulses of the soul and imitates moral states. Music not only presents the good to our intellects, it adorns it, like becoming raiment on a beautiful woman, and thus has the power to move us wholly—intellect, will, and even body—to that good. “A hymn, O God, becomes thee in Sion.”

            At St. Gregory’s Academy the students learn and sing both traditional secular music and sacred music, but music is not an important part of their daily routine—it informs all they do. Apart from folk music class and Gregorian schola practice, the boys sing for Mass and Compline, at leisure or banquets, in the vans and during athletic events.  They sing about love, war, brotherhood, heroism, villainy, humor, sadness, joy and God Almighty. In fact, it is hard to think of any aspect of their experience that is untouched by music, and this is precisely why their education at the Academy is so precious.  According to Plato, the end of education is to teach men to feel pleasure and pain at the appropriate things. How could this be better accomplished than through music? For music orders our passions, placing them in the proper relation to our intellect and will. And how much better when that music is sung in unison with others? For by moving us to the good, it orders our whole being, placing us in our proper relation to the good and those around us.           

            St. Gregory’s is much greater than the mere sum of its component parts and it calls each boy to step outside of himself to participate in that greatness. As in any symphony or orchestra, harmony is achieved by a group of individuals, each with a unique role, playing the same song. At St. Gregory’s, all are striving for the same goal of unquenchable and eternal bliss, singing one song, and each member has his own part. As our Western tradition asserts, man is a social animal and each individual’s good can only be found in the common good. It is of first importance then that each find his proper place in relation to those around him. In one of his last works, the Laws, Plato claimed that music does not merely serve as a model for external order and man’s proper relationship to society. It affects that order. For in a song, though each performer has his unique part, the good is not only being conceived but also affirmed by all the participants. Thus, not only are their bodies and senses moving in harmony, so are their intellects, emotions and wills. By participating in the greatness of the whole, each young man at St. Gregory’s reaches a level of individual greatness he would never attain on his own. Boys who would never sing a note in their lives must learn their part in their music class, in Compline, in the Mass and thus are given the means to discover their place before God in an atmosphere of music and silence, and fall in love with those things they are in harmony with because they are beautiful, true, and good.

            Therefore, since music is such a powerful art that penetrates the human soul and body, often without conscious realization, and bears strong influence on the formation of character, the types of music the students are exposed to, learn, and sing at St. Gregory’s Academy are chosen with care. It is mainly divisible into three categories: sacred, classical, and the music of a people, or true folk. Sacred music is the highest of these three, as its immediate aim is the elevation of the soul to the praise and glory of God. Consequently, it is the most sublime and beautiful form of music, having been perfected throughout the ages by the Church. As sacred music leads the soul to God, ordered classical music instructs the soul, and encourages the discipline of the mind over the body. True folk music aims to affect the human heart in its testimony to a tradition reaching back thousands of years. Its melodies contain the wisdom of the ages. The emotions it provokes are true and edifying; it teaches men to feel accurately. 

            The music of the Academy, befitting a Catholic gentleman, promotes prayer, love, right thinking, joy or appropriate sadness, and righteous indignation. St. Augustine tells us that God is a symphonic conductor coordinating the beauty of the cosmos as one grand ineffable song. When we realize this we see that music and poetry, the music of words, are not decorations on the edges of life’s serious matters, but a participation in the very love that moves the stars. The Academy gives a large place to music and poetry in its program of formation. These arts of the muses, which in our day too often lead the young away from God, should awaken and inform the soul of the student so the he can take his place in the universal chorus of divine praise.