Kern seeks to define the essence of classical education in response to questions about its various approaches. He argues that the essence is developing virtue, particularly wisdom, through engaging in a great conversation about ideas from history. To do this, classical education utilizes the trivium, Greek and Latin, and great books, but these are tools rather than the goal. Understanding classical education fully requires seeing it as a process of cultivating wisdom and virtue, not just gaining knowledge. While illuminating, one article cannot capture classical education fully and many will struggle with definitions until experiencing the educational process.

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C o v e n a n t A c a d e m y e x i s t s t o c u l t i v a t e l e a d e r s e q u i p p e d t o h o n o r
a n d d e f e n d t r u t h , g o o d n e s s , a n d b e a u t y , a n d p a r t n e r s w i t h p a r e n t s
t o t r a i n s t u d e n t s b y w a y o f S c r i p t u r e a n d t h e c l a s s i c a l l i b e r a l a r t s
t o b e d i s c e r n i n g , a r t i c u l a t e f o l l o w e r s o f J e s u s C h r i s t .
CcOoVvEeNnAaNnTt AaCcAaDdEeMmYy
COVENANT CONVERSATIONS
Vol. I, No. 1, December 2009
Last Friday night I sat at a table with a board
from Jonathan Edwards Academy, a school
in Massachusetts, and one of the board
members said something like the following:
cation out there. We hear about the trivium,
the Greek and Latin approach, the great
books approach. What is classical education
I can find no adequate expression for how
much that question meant to me.
Is the essence of classical education the
trivium? Part of the problem here is figuring
out what we mean when we use the term. As
we all now know, Dorothy Sayers was using
the term in a way it had never been used
before. If, when we say classical education,
we mean the trivium as Mrs. Sayers used it
in her brilliant essay, then classical education
On the other hand, the idea of the trivium
goes back to the ancient Greeks. The trivium
comprises the verbal arts those skills we
need to use language properly. It would be
hard not to regard them as essential to
classical education. And so is the
Quadrivium.
Is the essence of classical education Greek
and Latin? Well, if it is then Plato and Aris-­
never learned a lick of Latin. Historical facts
compel us to remember that the root of
classical education is Hellenic. But for Chris-­
tian Americans in the 21st century, it would
be silly to exclude the Roman expansion of
the classical world. It is, after all, the cradle
of the gospel.
Is the essence of classical education the
Great Books? Once again, if so, the classical
authors were unable to read most of them.
But what they were able to participate in was
what we now call the great conversation,
which is what the great books embody. This
would seem to come very close to the heart
of classical education, for it is a conversation
it is a great conversation. The reason it is a
great conversation is because of what they
of classical education.
So what is classical education in its es-­
sence?
are willing to read the books educators wrote
between 500 BC and 1800 AD. What did
Plato want? Aristotle? Socrates? The stoics?
Cicero? Quintilian? Basil? Erasmus? Luther?
The Jesuits? Charlotte Mason? David Hicks?
What are they all talking about in their great
conversation?
Each of them had one immediate priority or
another that was, in varying degrees, unique
to their situation. But the one common goal
and the controlling goal of all of the great
educators has always been, will always be,
and can only be, virtue in particular the
virtue of wisdom.
We use the trivium, Greek and Latin, and the
great books to carry on a great conversation
about how we can become virtuous people.
By Andrew Kern
Copyright CiRCE Institute
What is Classical Education?
"Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your
ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my
mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of
old: which we have heard and known, and our
fathers have told us. We will not hide them from
their children, showing to the generation to come
the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His
wonderful works that He hath done...that they
might set their hope in God, and not forget the
works of God, but keep His command-­
ments." Psalm 78:1-­4, 7
We, the faculty and administration of Covenant
Academy, are very pleased to present the inaugu-­
ral issue of Covenant Conversations. May our
gracious Lord be pleased to use its contents for
the furtherance of His kingdom through the mar-­
velous means of Christian classical education.
Student Spotlight
Junior High
A Comparison of Isabel: Taking Wing by Ann Dalton
and Cecile: Gates of Gold by Mary Casanova
Isabel and Cecile
In a time when deaths were common and girls were expected to be mature by the age
of twelve, there lived two different girls: Isabel from England and Cecile from France.
Both were sent away, but for two totally different reasons. Isabel was sent away for mis-­
behavior while Cecile was sent away as a reward. Both were taken care of but Isabel had
court. Two different girls lived out two different stories.
An essay by Madelynn Beckman, 4th
grade
Reflections on The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
In the book Canterbury Tales, a short story
was told by a priest who was trying to relay good
morals to his audience. The story was about a
rooster named Chauntecleer who made a pride-­
ful decision to sing in front of a fox. After narrowly
escaping a painful consequence of that choice,
ture who stubbornly shuts his eyes when he
blinded by his pride. Chauntecleer literally meant
that he should have kept his eyes on the fox
when he was singing, but figuratively, he meant
that we should keep alert to our surroundings,
examine the big picture, and not be blinded or
manipulated because of our pride and feelings.
An example of a real life scenario would be
flattery, because if people flatter you then it could
most likely affect you in some way, which could
be to their advantage. One of the many morals
in this story is to beware of flattery.
An essay by Wes Joslin, 7th
grade
Kern defines classical
education in response to the
various approaches and
models being taught since
the movement began. He
identifies the essence of
use of] the trivium, Greek
and Latin, and the great
books to carry on a great
conversation about how we
can become virtuous (wise)
enlightening concept that
recognizes virtue and not
merely a head full of knowl-­
edge as the goal of educa-­
tion. However, classical
education cannot be fully
understood by reading just
one article.
Many people struggle to
understand classical educa-­
tion and are searching for a
good precise definition. But
first they need to see the
process involved. Over the
past few decades, the
rediscovery of classical
education has come about
piece by piece through the
efforts of a number of dedi-­
cated, godly people. As the
pieces come together, our
definition becomes clearer.
This summer at the ACCS
conference, a keynote
speaker commented in
amazement how far the
movement had developed.
He was referring to the
number of ideas and work-­
shops being presented as
well as the number of
schools popping up across
the country.
In order to understand
Christian classical education
rightly, we need to engage
in the conversation. We
have more to talk about.
Elements such as the con-­
cept of story, reason,
beauty, and propriety have
been added to virtue and
are essential to classical
education. Underlying all of
these is the foundational
belief in God and the reali-­
zation that He is the basis
for truth.
By Sherry Joslin
Covenant Academy
Junior High Faculty
Student Spotlight Elementary
(below)
After reading selected literature, the students of Covenant Academy are learning to think
deeply about issues, ask good questions, and discern moral principles that reflect truth,
goodness, and virtue. Through interactive class discussions, the students are learning to
process and articulate their thoughts on the text. They are participating in the "great
conversations" of the literature and are succeeding in discerning the ideas for themselves.