If you want to buy a car and show that you know nothing about it, nonchalantly kick the tires, develop a inquisitive furrow in your brow, don't forget the lip and say 'hmm' in a low slightly approving way.
Embarrassingly, I have been there. When it comes to classical education, specifically catholic classical education so have many others. Sadly many just kick the tires. Some out of fear, others ignorance and many more because no one has ever dedicated the time to explain to them what it is.
A few weeks ago I spent a warm autumn day at Chesterton Academy of Milwaukee. As a hometown boy it was a homecoming to a place I have never been. For one, it didn't exist when I attended MUHS, but in reality it has always existed. Is it really so novel and new to see young men and women start their day with Mass in smart outfits that dignify the beauty that God created them in? Before this the headmaster Dr. Eric DeMeuse welcomed the students in the Commons, made announcements and finally asked if any students wanted to share a recitation in order to win points for their House. One very enthusiastic and impish young man recited Hilaire Belloc's Matilda. It was refreshing, it was reverie and it was right. You knew right away that the atmosphere was one of mutual respect and admiration. The esprit de corps was palpable, this was collegial joy and togetherness. Not a saccharine mundane team building waste of time that any teenager worth their salt snorts at, no this was just joy.
We quickly left and all headed out to Mass, students who were late simply came in quietly and found a seat and all were impressively pious. Not because anyone was judging them or their mom was glaring, but because they had enough love and respect to know who they were seeing and what they were receiving; the Eucharistic Christ!
As I walked back to school to attend my first class I was delighted by the manners of the students. The hallways were clean and bright and the students moved on to their destinations without foot-dragging or lollygagging, they really wanted to be there. The first class I sat in was a 12th grade Literature class. They had begun to read Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. There was no grumbling, no bemoaning the fact that the book is large (it is 400 + pages), but rather a steady and studious engagement with one of the greatest writers on some of the deepest aspects of human nature. This is what a Chesterton Academy student wrestles with because it is by its very essence classic and worth it. The format was a discussion led by a teacher who always goes back to the big idea and the big questions while never telling what pupils what to think but how to think; real learning was happening. There was also a bit of laughter and incredulity at the motives and actions of Raskolnikov, but I mean,come on, he just had to kill her! Between laughter, theology and simple human nature so much was explored in that Literature class, I wish you could have seen it. Join me next time when I finish up my visit to Chesterton Academy of Milwaukee so as to preview what life will be like next year in Green Bay for the inaugural class of 2025 at Chesterton Academy of St. John Paul II Classical School.
AMDG,
Patrick McKeown
*****Please pray for us and for the future growth of our school*****