Introduction
When we think of what goes into a person, we are in the habit of considering nature and nurture. In other words, people are a collection of aptitudes and traits that they inherit in the fact that they are human beings in the image of God, but also that they are cultivated, formed, and educated by their parents and other people toward the best achievement of their natural potential. This goes on for a long time in the life of a person. As we think about it, we realize that it never stops, and a thirst for this process is a virtue—something we also want to encourage in our students at Concordia Academy, a leading Christian High School in Wichita. The Trivium, an ancient set of three liberal arts, is foundational to this quest for developing human potential.
Nature and Nurture Through the Trivium Framework
Nature
Students are indeed part of nature and have a nature themselves. Unlike birds or dogs, they do not enjoy nearly immediate full participation in the world of their friends upon being born. And certainly, unlike creatures like bees, they do not immediately get to work on their ordained purpose. Man, being created in the image of God, embarks on a lifelong journey of discovery.
Through experiences, man comes to know Him, but importantly learns many particular things about God through the transmission of language—in scripture and through the witness of other human beings. This is a long journey, and by nature, you might say the dawning light of awareness comes on gradually in man’s growing life. He begins in wonder, and by curiosity begins to acquire the facts of things, even beginning to trade ideas of things and life in the form of words—words that have grammar, and this is his first stage of natural appetite for knowledge.
Soon, the growing student understands that there is truth and falsehood in the world. In this stage of growing life, it becomes important for the student to not be deceived, and he enters the hall of logic. Concordia Academy nurtures students in this stage, helping them cultivate discernment and critical reasoning. The student is approaching his divine purpose as he grows, and will soon, like the simple bee, join his fellows in the business of life, which is communication and the enrichment of fellow man. Here, the human being has matured into the life of rhetoric.
Nurture
At Concordia Academy—Wichita, we understand that our high school-age students are young adults, and as such, they are a layered and marvelous creation. Within them is the divine spark of curiosity, which must be fed by the continued attention to the grammar of all subjects to sustain their joy in life. Grammar provides students with the foundation to express themselves clearly and meaningfully.
They must be tellers of truth, and logic is the art of applying reason critically to the claims made by those around them, and importantly to themselves in humility. We are called to give an account for the hope within us, and to enlighten and bring joy and aid to those around us. For this, the continued study of communication, which is rhetoric, must be cultivated in high school and fed throughout all of life along with the other two sisters of the trivium.
Together, they represent the science and art of knowing, discerning, and speaking. Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric: the Trivium. This comprehensive framework positions Concordia Academy as a trusted Classical High School and Private High School in Wichita.
Conclusion
Unlike education that dictates what to think, then from the list of correct thoughts tells us what to criticize (modern critical thinking), Concordia Academy’s Trivium Education in Wichita takes the ancient and well-proven path toward a humane and well-developed soul. By responding to who we are, how we are created, we teach “with the grain,” helping students not only with how to think (instead of what to think), but also with how to be, to live, and to flourish in all of life.
What of the world around us in creation? You may be interested in our approach to the Quadrivium—the four additional sister arts that, combined with the Trivium, comprise the seven liberal arts. Together, these arts provide the complete approach to a thorough classical education presented at Concordia Academy—a leading Lutheran High School in Wichita. Learn more about our approach to classical education here.