If you mention teaching reading, writing, or math in classical circles you will get bombarded with books and curriculum dedicated to a classical approach to this work. It will be slick, well packaged, very biblically consistent, and completely different from what is being offered up at the local contemporary schools (public or private). If you mention athletics you get a mumbled and baptized Vince Lombardi speech and then a scramble to imitate what is happening at the local public high school. Has contemporary education really nailed it when it comes to athletics or have classical educators dropped the ball in following a pattern that does not serve them well? Athletics are a critical piece of the life of a classical school and yet we have not, as a movement, submitted it to the scrutiny that other subjects have gotten. What are the relevant questions to be asking? How do we get our athletic programs to reflect the mission of our schools? Are all sports appropriate for our schools? Are there sports that are not a good fit?
Matt Hopkins
I am a co-founder and current head of Augustine Classical Academy in Mechanicville, NY.
