Providence Hall Classical Christian School

Our Christian Foundation

In the modern world, we can see passionate debate about the nature and design of education.  Even as the debate continues, there is much agreement on the central expectation of education. Virtually everyone believes that students should be given the basic building blocks of knowledge, which they may then use later in life. But, this is the point at which disagreement usually begins. What are those building blocks? For those interested in the work of Providence Hall, this should be one of the primary questions asked. What do we believe those building blocks ought to be?

We believe when Christianity is properly understood it presents us with a complete world view. It will lend perspective and interpretation to everything.  At Providence Hall, the Christian worldview is the “lens” through which we see, understand, and teach all things.

The unique commission of a Christian school is to teach students to think well and to think Biblically. Students should learn that Christianity offers an expansive understanding of the nature of the world and the meaning of human history. Though only the Holy Spirit can change hearts, students can be taught how to scrutinize many kinds of assertions according to logical and Scriptural criteria. Our task is to provide this Biblically grounded understanding of the world, together with the means to defend it.

Christianity begins with the reality of the triune God and His self-revelation in creation, Christ, and the Bible. From this reality flows a host of implications, which students must learn to recognize and to apply to a variety of questions. For example, the reality of the Christian God means that our world is created and subordinate. Our ultimate allegiance should be given only to God, not to human ideologies or institutions or to any creature. However, the Christian doctrine of creation also teaches that the world is good and to be enjoyed and that humans are created in God’s image. We learn to reject philosophies that deny the value of human life, of marriage, of family, of government, or of any divinely ordained institution.

Formulating a Christian worldview is nothing other than submission to God’s command to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5). While our human reasoning is flawed, we have in Scripture an infallible guide to truth, beauty, and goodness. Using God’s gifts of language and reason, therefore, we strive to apply God’s Word to every area of human life, thinking through the ramifications of our faith, which is the aim of a Christian education.

God is the source of true knowledge which is a coherent whole; thus teachers at Providence Hall have the task of integrating the content of all subjects and of relating all of life to the unchanging truth of God’s Word. They also strive to exemplify Christian principles and godly living in their lives.

Our goal is to serve parents in their responsibility to teach their children. Our teachers are the delegates of the parents, assisting them in the education of their children, but never usurping their God-given parental prerogative and responsibility.

Psalm 78:5-7

5 He established a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6 that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7 so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments;

Our Classical Foundation

In classical education we see a return to the roots of Judeo-Christian education. Throughout the ages, Christian thinkers in the West have drawn upon a common store of literature, theology, philosophy, science, and history. To impart this wisdom, they have leaned upon educational techniques that were initiated in antiquity and perfected throughout the Middle  Ages and the Renaissance. Today, classical education revisits both the techniques of antiquity and that body of knowledge represented in the greatest art, science, literature, and history of our culture.

Classical education has a long history and Christians recognized early on that the tools of Graeco-Roman education could be used by the church.  In adapting the classical idea to the requirements of teaching Biblical doctrine, they used its emphasis upon language, logic and science, with precise articulation as a powerful means of communicating Christianity.  Today, grammar and logic are abandoned because they are seen as boring or irrelevant.  Rhetoric which is disciplined and structured has been left behind in favor of the worship of freedom and subjectivism.  As a result, we have a loss of moral and aesthetic standards.  The rediscovery of classical education gives us back the lost tools of learning about which Dorothy Sayers and others write so eloquently:  the pursuit of the eternally true, the unassailably beautiful, and the immutably good.

Historically, American education prior to 1900 was predominantly classical and Christian education founded on the bedrock of Graeco-Roman culture and of the Protestant Reformation. Instructors were often ministers with training in classical languages and literature, and in Protestant theology. The “progressive era” at the turn of the century (1880-1920) brought a radical shift in education, from an emphasis on mental discipline to a focus on content, with a desire for social efficiency and building self-esteem; from teaching the traditional subjects of Latin, Greek, and mathematics to offering a wide range of electives, including vocational courses; from preparing students for college, which required Latin and often Greek, to training them narrowly for an increasingly technological marketplace; from the challenge of disciplined hard work and excellence to the leveling effects of egalitarianism.

Methodology and Content

At Providence Hall, “classical education” refers to both methodology and content. How we teach is as important as what we teach. The pedagogical methodology is the Trivium. Teaching by use of the Trivium gives a solid foundation for communicating all of the content. The content emphasizes passing on the heritage of the West.

 In the Western world, our way of life, our theological and intellectual history, our laws and social customs have all been handed down to us. In other words, our culture has grown from the heritage of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. As the Gospel spread throughout the ancient classical world, the early Christians developed a teaching method, which revolved around what were called the Seven Liberal Arts. This grew and developed down in the Middle Ages and had remarkable success.

The first three of these Seven Liberal Arts (those that apply to the educational years K-12) were called the Trivium and comprised the means by which students were given the “tools of learning.” Our adoption of the Trivium as a method of instruction is essential to the formation of a classical school.

The Trivium includes three stages. During the Grammar stage (essentially K-5), students learn the fundamentals of disciplines (parts of speech, multiplication tables, famous battles, state capitals, etc.) in order to build a framework of knowledge on which later information can be hung. Questions of who, what, where, and when are the focus. The Dialectic stage (essentially the junior high years) brings the fundamentals of disciplines into ordered relationships. The goal is to equip students with the thinking skills necessary to recognize sound arguments and ideas and to detect and correct fallacious ones. This stage addresses the questions of how and why. The function of the Rhetoric stage (the high school years)  is to produce students who can use language, both written and spoken, to express their thoughts eloquently and persuasively. Because there is a correspondence between the elements of the Trivium and the stages of child development, this progression is in keeping with the developmental needs of the student.

The goal of the Trivium is not primarily to educate students in what to think, but in how to think – thoroughly, maturely, and Biblically.

Our role at Providence Hall is to teach our students the tools necessary to attain a broad and critical awareness of the world and human society. Scripture, theology, history, literature, science, mathematics, English, and the Latin language receive particular attention. Beginning with the reality of God and His self-revelation in creation, in the Scriptures, and ultimately in Christ, classical educators strive to unite all knowledge into a coherent Christian conception of the world. In teaching history, we aim not merely for a chronology of events, but for a critical engagement with the great minds and ideas of the past and for a deep exploration of our culture’s crucial turning points. In literature, students read the best books from throughout the ages, testing them against the touchstone of the Bible. In science and math, the goal is not only to master basic facts and principles, but also to learn their significance and to understand the historical development of mathematical and scientific thought. Through Latin, students are taught to scrutinize language and to think and write with precision. Moreover, Latin enables them to read the great books of Western civilization in their original language.

Classical education values the contributions of great thinkers, leaders, writers, and teachers of the past, particularly in the rich heritage of Western culture and civilization, as a means toward providing a broad context for appreciating the parts played by specific people and events.

Our Goal for Students

At Providence Hall, our goal is to prepare students for a lifetime of learning, equipping them with the basic tools of learning and with a firm foundation in the core subjects of mathematics, English, history, science, and languages. We desire to graduate young men and women who think clearly, with discernment and understanding; who reason persuasively and articulate precisely; and who see themselves and the world through the light of Scripture. We desire that they distinguish authentic religion from religion in form only and that they know and love the Lord Jesus, participating in the expansion of His kingdom to the praise of His glory. We desire to equip students to transform our culture with the gospel. We desire that Providence Hall provide extraordinary opportunities for students whose parents aim to bring up their children to be Christian leaders and thinkers of the next generation, well trained in the history, language, and heritage of Western culture and civilization, so as to impact all future generations to reflect the character and heart of Christ to the world.

Most Providence Hall graduates will not be employed in full time church professions, but they will be full time servants of God in whatever field of work they are called to by Him.  They will serve God by serving others as doctors, engineers, teachers, computer programmers, soldiers; as mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers; and, in the many fields of endeavor to which they are led by the Lord.