Dr. Kat Hussman, award-winning science teacher at Oakcrest, led the workshop. “When people hear liberal arts, they often think of wandering through an art gallery or reading great books,” Dr. Hussman shared. “We do read great books at Oakcrest, but our curriculum is much broader. The liberal arts are about more than learning what to think. They are about learning how to think.”

The liberal arts tradition dates back to the early centuries of Western civilization and was given structure in the Middle Ages through the Trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—and the Quadrivium—arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. These were not simply subjects to be mastered in isolation. They were seen as pathways of inquiry: grammar as the structure of language, logic as the structure of reason, rhetoric as the art of communication, arithmetic as the foundation of number, geometry as the study of space, astronomy as the study of the heavens, and music as the harmony of sound.

The aim of learning these subjects was above all to find the order, pattern, and meaning of creation, with the ultimate purpose of gaining knowledge of God Himself. In this way, the liberal arts resisted fragmentation. Instead, it revealed the connections among disciplines. This remains true to this day. As Dr. Hussman explained, “There is grammar in music. There is logic in arithmetic. These subjects are not isolated—they are all connected, and they all lead us toward a better understanding of God and creation.” 

She continued: “Another misconception is that STEM doesn’t fit into the liberal arts. People say: ‘Astronomy? Geometry? Arithmetic?’ Yet in the classical tradition, especially as it developed in the 1200s, the liberal arts always included exploration of the natural world. They asked: ‘What is around us? What are we rooted in? What makes something beautiful?’”

To further illustrate this, Dr. Hussman, pointed to the season of autumn: “We love the colors and the crisp air, but if we’re thinking deeply, we ask: Why do the leaves change? Why does the temperature change? That’s science. And yet it’s also the liberal arts, because we’re asking both what is true and what is beautiful.”

Contemporary forms of education often prize specialization, but Oakcrest goes beyond what can even be referred to as “holistic” or “interdisciplinary” education. The liberal arts curriculum informs the content of the classes, the integrated approach to teaching, and the overarching mission of the educational endeavor. Parting from this foundation, learning ceases to be a white-knuckled mastery of a specific discipline–academic excellence as an end in itself. Instead, education becomes a wonderfully integrated pursuit of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.