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Do all cultures share the same values?

A recent tweet from Jeremy Tate, founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test (CLT): Classical education is fundamental an educational [sic] it what it means to be fully human. It is not a politically conservative alternative to the already politically hijacked mainstream education. Instead, it is an education in...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 30, 2023 5:45 PM

Augustine Christian Academy open house

Augustine Christian Academy, Tulsa's pioneering classical Christian college preparatory school, is holding an open house for grades K-12 tomorrow, Friday, March 3, 2023, from 4 pm to 7 pm. The school is located at 6310 E. 30th Street, just west of Sheridan. ACA was founded as St. Augustine Academy in...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 2, 2023 2:53 PM

Tulsa Classical Academy hiring teachers

Tulsa Classical Academy, Oklahoma's first classical charter school, will open its doors to students from kindergarten to 8th grade this August for the 2023-2024 school year. TCA will add a grade a year in subsequent school years, becoming a full K-12 school with our first graduating class in 2028. Tulsa...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 28, 2023 10:03 PM

St. John's College profiles alumnus Timothy Carney

St. John's College is famous as the college that pioneered the Great Books curriculum in 1937. Still known as "The New Program," the single track takes all students through the progression of western literature, mathematics, philosophy, science, and music, through the authors and works in which the great insights of...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 4, 2019 9:35 PM

In praise of rote memorization and drilling, phonics and math facts

Ace has a lengthy piece taking down "cargo cult" educational practices like "Whole Word" and "number bonds" and praising rote memorization: "Common Core Is Pretty Dumb." So sure-- the accomplished 6-year-old readers are indeed mostly using whole word, at least for common words. Spoiler alert: That's because they already went...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 22, 2014 8:03 PM

Augustine Christian Academy open houses, banquet

As we near the midpoint of the second semester, it's a good time to consider whether your current schooling arrangement best suits your children's needs. Never before have there been so many options. If you want an academically rigorous but caring environment, grounded in the Christian worldview, taught in accordance...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 18, 2013 11:53 AM

Learn Ancient Greek at Augustine Christian Academy

It's back-to-school time for the Bates family. In years past, that applied to our three kids and Mom, who homeschools the youngest two. This year it applies to Dad, too. This morning I taught my first session of Ancient Greek I at Augustine Christian Academy (ACA) as part-time teacher. There...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 14, 2012 11:56 PM

Tulsa Independence weekend 2011 events; Laura Ingalls Wilder's Independence Day

An early Happy Independence Day to one and all! There are fireworks somewhere around Tulsa every night this weekend, and Tasha has the definitive list of Tulsa's 4th of July 2011 fireworks celebrations, with links to parking and traffic information for the bigger displays. There's more to the weekend than...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 2, 2011 12:47 AM

Paglia: "What kids need is facts"

It's rare that you will find me quoting, with approval, a lesbian, atheist, leftist East Coast professor, but Camille Paglia's love of Western Civilization and her critique of what passes for education in America warms my heart. Paglia's recent interview with Margaret Wente in the Globe and Mail reads like...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 12, 2010 12:04 AM

Augustine Christian Academy Nutcracker video montage

Augustine Christian Academy is blessed to have among its alumni a talented young videographer named Kenneth V. Jones. Kenneth produced several wonderful videos in connection with the ACA Junior Performing Arts Company's presentation of the Nutcracker. He does an amazing job of capturing the event. Here is a montage of...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 21, 2009 11:36 PM

The Nutcracker, this weekend at Augustine Christian Academy

Augustine Christian Academy's Junior Performing Arts Company presents "The Nutcracker" this weekend, December 11-13, 2009. I attended last night's dress rehearsal, and it's a wonderful story told through dance, colorful costumes and sets, and the music of Tchaikovsky -- the party, the wind-up dolls, the snowflakes, the battle with the...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 11, 2009 12:07 AM

Classical Core Knowledge

Via Jeff Lindsay on Twitter, I learned about Classical School in Appleton, Wisconsin, a charter Pre-K - 8 school of 450 students that follows a classical curriculum. The school follows E. D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge curriculum. Hirsch is the author of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know. From...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 26, 2009 8:50 PM