St.

Augustine Academy
February 14, 2014 Dear families
Board of Governors President Thomas Q. Ellis Secretary Robert R. Orellana, Esq. Treasurer Michael C. Collins Members Abel Montiel Jeff Schuberg Michael F. McLean, Ph.D. Louise Warnert

130 South Wells Road Ventura California 93004 805-672-0411 Fax 805-672-2365 e-mail StAugAcad@juno.com www.SaintAugustineAcademy.com

Sts. Cyril and Methodius St. Valentine

In prepping for a lecture I am giving, Classical Core: A Look at Common Core and Classical Education, I have run across many wonderful articles. Here are excerpts of one article which I thought particularly germane because it is an accurate description of what we all suffer from, what he calls the amnesiac air of the modern world. Education and the Departure f rom the Cave By: Devin O'Donnell Tracy Lee Simmons notes that it was little more than a century ago that the word classical did not need to modify the word education. While it is true that all schooling was itself classical, it was also true that we can too easily assume its basic meaning, for we breathe, all of us, the amnesiac air of the Modern world. And when the realities of college applications, SAT scores, transcripts, and college recommendations begin to bear down, it is easy, even for classical institutions, to lose their way. Let us remember what education itself means. In light of this, every school year I try to remind my new students what the purpose of education really is. I begin with a simple question: Why are you here? Most of them respond cynically, because our parents make us, or because we have to. We laugh. Then I ask again, barring the obvious compulsory answer. The majority of my students, if they are honest with themselves respond after this fashion, we go to school to go to college. When I ask them why go to college, which is not compulsory, they respond, to get a good job. I press them further, asking why. They answer, to make money. And when I ask why money is important, it is at this point that they usually conclude, to buy things. By this time most of my high school students, even the seniors, are in uncharted waters, never having asked themselves the serious questions about their own education. Then I sum things up. It seems most of you think that you give the better part of your time and energy for at least 12 years simply to get a job to make money so that you can buy things. So, in other words, you exist in order to...buy things. By this time, theyre listening. Now, we cant blame my students too much. This kind of reasoning is what much of America has come to think about education and life in general. The sad fact is that today many adults, and even educators, would find themselves inexorably coming to the same conclusions as my students. The philosopher Josef Pieper notes that one of the aims of modernity is to turn us all into proletarians, a devoted servant of the state whose sole value is found in his job and in the usefulness it affords to public need.[1] Again, when I ask my students why they come to school, their responses clearly illustrate a lack of understanding not merely of education but of the simple and precise meanings of words. School ought to be a privilege, for the very meaning of the word, schola in Latin, means leisure. At this point my students are shocked to say the least, for what we normally have in mind when we think of schooling is not what we normally have in mind when we think of leisure. But here again we must remedy the amnesia of our age. When Pieper said that leisure was the basis of culture, he did not have in mind a commitment to doing nothing. Or simply hanging out. Or going on Facebook. Or even playing. He meant it in the classical sense of the word. In the ancient world, most young boys and girls, whether or not they were slaves, worked in some kind of manual labor. There were those few, however, who perhaps showed intellectual promise and were allowed to participate in an organized and collective pursuit of knowledge. The point is that people needed time, a time separate from the

Headmaster Michael J. Van Hecke, M.Ed. Vice President of Development J. Peter Slaga Board of Advisors Hon. Jeremiah Denton Former U.S. Senator Mr. Nicholas J. Healy, Jr. President Ave Maria University Dr. Ronald P. McArthur Co-founder Thomas Aquinas College Mr. Roy S. Rohter, S.F.O. Co-founder St. Augustine Academy Fr. Michael Scanlan, T.O.R. Chancellor Franciscan University Mr. James Stenson Educator and Author

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servile demands of the market economy. In other words, school, and in the proper sense leisure, was only for free men and women. After all, this is what was once meant when one invoked the phrase, The Liberal Arts. Pieper knew that without leisure, schola, we cannot have a culture. And here we come to the true meaning of education and its philosophical core. The purpose of an education is, as the word really means, to lead out of the cave of moral, spiritual, and intellectual darkness. But this is not Platos Cave merely. It is the Cave of Sin. It is also the Caves of Ignorance, of Foolishness, of Popular Culture. We want students to love what is lovely and hate what is hateful, to have the proper time to contemplate and reflect on their own lives, and to judge rightly the often unexamined assumptions of popular culture. After all, what good is education if it blindly accepts the claim that we exist only to work and buy things? In addition, we are also lead out of the Cave of Self. Teachers ought to liberate and lead their pupils out and away from what St. Augustine calls the incurvatus in se, the soul curved inward on itself. The teachers responsibility, therefore, is not merely to encourage critical thinking but to raise the thoughts of students above the vain things of the world and to the noble things of God. Ultimately, we do not want them to become Narcissus, who, having gazed too long at the shallow pond of Facebook, fell in love with himself. His cautionary tale illustrates the foolish, dull, and unproductive life, curved and infected inward upon itself; rather, we want education to exhort us outward toward a life lived for God and for others. By the end, my students have a good idea of why they go to school, or at least why they ought to go to school. [1] Pieper, Josef. Leisure: The Basis of Culture. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998. 39.

Life Centers Dinner/Dance & Auction on March 29th at the Las Posas Country Club. Leidy Schuberg is in desperate need for auction items/services, in which all need to be to her by March 1st. For questions or info, please e-mail Leidy at Lschuby11@gmail.com or visit the website at
http://www.vclifecenters.com/events.html

Cowboys and Indians Dress Up Day see flyer. (No guns or other weaponry.) Normal school day.

Basketball
High School Games at Ventura High School Tuttle Gym on Poli Street. H.S. Boys JV 2-23-14 @ 8:00 AM H.S. Boys Varsity 2-23-14 @ 11:00 AM Middle School Games at SAA or at the school listed all games at 3:30 PM. M.S. Boys WED., Feb 19th v. Saint Mary Magdalen @ HOME M.S. Girls Thur., Feb 20th @ Saint Mary Magdalen

CALENDAR EVENTS Feb 15th Student Councils St. Valentine Family Dance 7:30 10:30 PM See Flyer. Feb 17th NO SCHOOL Federal Holiday. Feb 20th Student Council Fun Dress Day see flyer. Feb 23rd ERROR Calendar error No Dance this date.

Dress Code Reminder See flyer skirts knee length or belowbring a spare if unsure. (Last dance we
had a few egregious transgressions.)

PRAYERS We continue to keep all our friends and family in our prayers. For the repose of the soul of my nephew, Charlie Van Hecke (see below), and for consolation for the family. Please continue to pray for Mr. Vargas, for Mrs. Warnerts father, Mrs. Collins father, Mrs. OKanes sister, Joan, and for Mrs. Lyons daughter, Diana. We pray for the souls of all those friends and family who have passed away. For three special intentions. We pray for all our school families, their needs and those of their friends and relatives. We pray for our Pope, our Archbishop, all of our priests and religious, and, for each other.