Academic Program

Our liberal arts curriculum is at the core of our person-centered educational endeavor. Liberal arts, as their name suggests, are the studies that free a person from ignorance and uninformed opinion by training her to inquire into and understand the very principles of knowledge: to think logically, to look carefully and listen reflectively, to dialogue with others, and to discern the essential from the inessential. The student of the liberal arts is not content to unreflectively assimilate facts and information presented about a subject; rather, she has the discernment necessary to evaluate sources and to think for herself.  Understanding that knowledge is no fragmented assortment of data, the student of the liberal arts sees the big picture; she finds the broader meaning of individual facts and subject areas when she sees their relation to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

A liberal arts education teaches the tools of learning. These tools, commonly referred to as the Trivium, are: Grammar (the art of observation, categorization, and memorization), Logic (thinking clearly and well), and Rhetoric (persuasiveness and beauty in expression of thought). These tools prepare the student to contemplate truth, to understand and explain the world around her, and give her the skills necessary to learn anything throughout her whole life. For these reasons we give them priority over technical training. The liberal arts are essential preparation for any profession because they teach effective thinking and communication, and a student of the liberal arts can acquire subsequent training in particular fields more easily because she has acquired the tools of learning. Nevertheless, liberal arts have as their proper aim the pursuit and attainment of the truth simply because it is good in itself.