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St. Jerome's Pedagogical VisionTruth is desirable in itself. Knowledge means conforming ourselves to the truth. -
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Building a New St. JeromeA Blueprint for the Vision
With every building and every work of art, there is a sense in which the finished product or the completed work comes first. The builder or the artist starts with a blueprint, a plan, or a picture of the finished work in mind. Sometimes, the builder modifies the plan during the work, but he cannot modify it entirely without creating something entirely different or destroying the work altogether.
By keeping this picture in view, the builder can ensure that each step in construction occurs for the sake of the next, and he can see how all the steps combine to build up the whole. If this blueprint does not guide his work, then the result of his labors is not a building, but a heap of stones. Education is like this. Without a clear sense of what education is and the end it serves, we may expend a great deal of effort ‘piling up stones’ instead of truly educating. This outline is like a blueprint. It begins with the end product: the sort of person we hope will emerge from St. Jerome Academy after nine years.
The content of the various subjects within the curriculum is the foundation of the educated person. The skills, aptitudes, and habits we hope to cultivate through pedagogy and the school's culture are like the tools of learning. And, of course, the teachers are the builders who bring their art and experience to bear on the construction of the building.
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The builder or the artist starts with a blueprint, a plan, or a picture of the finished work in mind.
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A Vision StatementThe Future of Catholic Education
St. Jerome Academy provides true education by equipping students with learning tools and fostering wonder for the genuinely true, good, and beautiful. We emphasize classical learning so students read, speak, and think well. Truth and beauty matter for their own sake.
Incorporating two thousand years of Catholic thought, history, and arts helps students understand themselves and acquire character to serve God and others. Education extends beyond classrooms as a lifelong formation of the whole person. Thus, St. Jerome Academy seeks to involve families deeply in school life.
True education has always rested on two ideas. First, truth is desirable in itself, not just for what it does. Second, knowledge means conforming ourselves to the truth through love, enticed by its beauty. Education should form the heart, mind, and will in light of truth, beauty, and goodness.
St. Jerome Academy roots education in a compelling vision of reality worthy of student's love. This vision governs all facets of school life with two aims - conveying knowledge and cultivating persons equipped to embrace truth and become their fullest selves.
Nothing is extracurricular. Everything - from prayer and dress code to classroom arrangements and recess activities - reflects educational judgments and should align with the vision. Details of school life must constantly be assessed in light of the core conviction that truth, beauty, and goodness matter intrinsically and in forming persons.
ST. JEROME ACADEMY'S VISION OF EDUCATION FORMS AN INTEGRATED HUMAN PERSON
The goal of education is to form the student's mind and character consistently with human nature as created in God's image. We aim to achieve this through an integrated curriculum.
The curriculum integrates two complementary ways. First, through historically-based content revealing the human desire for God met in Christ. This emphasizes the cultures comprising the Western tradition - Greek, Roman, Jewish - appreciating them in their own right yet oriented toward Christ. Literature, art, music, and other subjects complement this understanding. For example, a Grammar class may read Greek myths to think with the Greeks, while a Logic class learns medieval chant correlating with geometry. Students cycle through world history twice, reinforcing and deepening meaning.
Second, the curriculum cultivates aptitudes and habits, shaping the students' approach to all subjects and binding them in wonder and love for the true, good, and beautiful. For instance, observation and rendering are emphasized across subjects to develop concentration, attention, and noticing. Music studies cultivate similar attentiveness in hearing. In this way, recognizing mathematical patterns, distinguishing birds, appreciating painting techniques, or hearing musical harmonies all prepare for contemplating God's subtle presence. Core subjects build the whole person.
This vision of education forms an integrated human person.
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true education
rests on two ideas
① Truth is desirable in itself.
② Knowledge means conforming
ourselves to the truth. -
Therefore, curriculum, pedagogical methods, and all the details of the school’s life should be constantly assessed both in light of the conviction that knowledge and love of truth, beauty, and goodness are ends in themselves and in light of the twofold goal of the Vision Statement.
Every activity, program, policy, method, or proposal should be tested by the following criteria, which follow from this vision, though not all are equally applicable to each of these facets of the school’s life.- Is it beautiful?
- Are we doing this because it is inherently good or as a means to an end? If the latter, what end?
- Does it encourage the student to think of education itself as a high and noble enterprise, or does it cheapen education?
- Is it excellent? Does it demand the best students and teachers have to offer and hold them to the highest standard they are capable of achieving? Or does it give in to the gravitational pull of mediocrity? Is excellence the highest standard, or is excellence subordinate to lower standards such as convenience, popularity, or marketing considerations (i.e., consumer appeal)?
- Does it encourage reverence for the mystery of God and the splendor of His creation?
- Does it encourage reverence for the mystery of the human person and respect for the student’s own human dignity?
- Does it encourage him to desire truth, to understand such virtues as courage, modesty, prudence, and moderation, and to cultivate these within himself?
- Does it help the student to see what difference God makes to all the facets of the world, or does it make God’s existence seem irrelevant, trivial, small or private?
- Does it assist in passing on the received wisdom of the Christian tradition, or does it create obstacles to the reception of the tradition?
- Does it encourage real searching and thinking? Does it provoke the student to ask ‘why?’ Does it stir up a desire for understanding?
- Does it encourage conversation between and across generations, or does it hinder it?
- Does it help to develop to the fullest extent what is uniquely human in the student: the powers of attending, deliberating, questioning, calculating, remembering, and loving?
- Does it encourage the student to become patient, to take time, and, if necessary, to start over to achieve excellence, or does it subordinate excellence to speed, ease, and efficiency?
- Does it encourage the student to value rigor and discipline
- Does it deepen the role of the family in the life of the school and the role of education in the life of the family, or does it erect a barrier between family and school?
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