If the thought of being able to send your child or children to a public charter school appeals to you, but you have no idea of where to begin, may I suggest that the founding group of parents (yes- we need at least 10 parents to make this work) try to establish a working relationship with the Barney Charter School Initiative of Hillsdale College.
The Barney Charter School Initiative is a project of Hillsdale College devoted to the education of young Americans. Through this initiative, the College supports the launch of K-12 charter schools. These schools will train the minds and improve the hearts of young people through a rigorous, classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.Reform of American public education, to be successful and good, must be built on a foundation of classical liberal arts learning—the kind of learning best suited to a free society and most needed for its preservation.
To advance the founding of classical charter schools, Hillsdale College works with select school-founding groups of local citizens who care deeply about education, who plan to apply for a charter, and who prove themselves capable of starting and governing a school. When a founding group’s interests and abilities are a good match with the Barney Charter School Initiative, BCSI will assist in creating and implementing the school’s academic program, providing the curriculum design and teacher training. This support, along with guidance on the shaping of a vibrant and ennobling school culture, will provide the foundation for these new schools to promote a liberal and civic education in America’s public schools.
Education comes from the Latin verb educare, which combines the root ducere—to lead or guide—and the prefix e or ex—out or away. In its origin, the word thus means something like “to lead out” or “to guide away from.”
We can further extrapolate that education is intended to guide us away from the state of being uneducated, from a state of ignorance. But what should education lead us toward? The answer to this question is not obvious, but it is fundamental. The most frequent modern answer seems to be understood solely in the context of employment; as in, education leads a student toward a state of being employable or “a productive member of the twenty-first-century workforce.” Jobs are undoubtedly an honest policy concern for citizens and politicians alike, but they offer too shallow a framework to organize most of the functions of primary, secondary, and even college education.
Human beings are not mere cogs in a machine; rather, they have the capacity to know, to think, to feel, and to act. None of these capacities are fully formed in small children, and each must be carefully shaped if a child is to grow into an informed, discerning, and responsible adult. Schools play a substantial role in this educational work, and the guidance native to good schools—in books, art, music, physical exercise, and social interaction—makes them uniquely suited to guide children from a state of ignorance into being civilized men and women.
When we turn to the primary sources of the Western canon, we find men and women aptly described as rational and moral beings. From man’s rationality and morality, we extrapolate a third faculty: man is social or political. Excellence in these three faculties—knowledge of the world, moral self-government, and civic virtue—provides the three legs of the stool upon which civilization and civilized man rests. The purpose of classical education is to lead students to excellence in these faculties, and a classical school serves as a bulwark to our civilized and free society. It is therefore the mission of the Barney Charter School Initiative to promote the founding of classical charter schools and excellence in their teaching and operations to the end that public-school students may be educated in the liberal arts and sciences and receive instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.
The aim of classical education is high, but not unreasonable. Its primary function is the dissemination of knowledge; self-government and civic virtue are essential complements to this function, but only occasionally as explicit parts of the curriculum. The dissemination of knowledge should be purposeful, and it should begin at an early age. Students do not merely need to learn “critical thinking skills,” but also need to furnish their minds and imaginations with something to think about. The emphasis of our curriculum is upon the core disciplines of math, science, history, and language arts, followed by attention to music, art, and foreign languages. Each of these disciplines is taught with an emphasis upon our own history and traditions as American citizens and inheritors of Western Civilization.
Among the areas in which the Barney Initiative works are education for schools’ founders; searching for a principal; education of teachers; and exposition on the philosophy and suggested readings.
If you want more information about the Barney Initiative, check it out on line at https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/barney-charter-school-initiative/
And if you have any interest in getting involved with the formation of a new public charter school in the Lakes Region (or anywhere in NH for that matter!), email his writer at njs@silbersnh.com
The worst thing that can result from our efforts if we fail in this endeavor is that our children will continue to be trapped in the existing failing public schools. But we should at least try!