“Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another”. Contemplating this quotation, readers who remember their high school Latin might recall having to conjugate the verb
‘tradere’, the translation of which is ‘to hand over’ or ‘to hand on’. It is of course the etymological root of the word ‘tradition’, a concept nicely captured in this quotation from G.K.Chesterton.
The means by which Tradition is ‘passed on’ is education, whether informal and constant as provided by one’s family members or formal and scheduled as provided by academic institutions. With regard to the latter, in recent years the media have reported on the failure of some of our school systems concerning this matter. Indeed, alarming reports indicate there are some which not only fail to ‘transmit the soul of society’ but actually propound material antithetical to it. This troubling development has promoted various successful efforts, especially within religiously affiliated schools, to sharpen and strengthen the focus on traditional teaching, particularly education based on the classical model.
One increasingly promising example of such a successful effort is the Chesterton Schools Network (www.chesterton.org). CSN in an initiative of The Society of G. K. Chesterton which was established as a canonical private association of the Christian faithful and constituted as a private juridic person in the Archdiocese of St. Paul in 2018. Parents concerned about the lack of a Catholic high school in their localities (or about the absence of Catholic teaching in some existing Catholic schools) now avail themselves of the guidance of CNS to establish their own schools. According to its website, even before achieving its canonical status the Society’s educational initiative began with one school in 2008 and now has over sixty throughout the United States. Some revealing excerpts from its website are:
“At the Chesterton Schools Network, we empower parents as the primary and principal educators of their children. Our turn-key academic and operational model equips parents to launch affordable Catholic high schools in their communities… We nurture the minds and the souls of students through an integrated, classical education….on the fundamentals of Western civilization…..to discern the Truth. ..In communities of guided peer formation …., students grow in the four cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice – which are the foundation of leadership. Through daily Mass, pilgrimages, and retreats, our students encounter the love of Jesus Christ and are led to share that love with others as the discern their vocation in life”, and significantly, “To hold to the centrality of the Incarnation in education for a true understanding not only of theology, but of history, philosophy, art and science”.
CSN is one of several growing networks of Catholic classical high schools. These equip teachers with an integrated curriculum reinforced between disciplines designed in such a way that by graduation students are clear-thinking, well rounded individuals rooted in the reality of ‘the unity of Truth’ and well prepared to assume leadership roles in a world desperately in need of such guidance.
So, you veterans of high school Latin – remember the hortatory subjunctive, come together and raise a jubilant cry: “Tradamus!” – let us pass on what we know so that the Kingdom continues to advance.