RIDGEVIEW CLASSICAL SCHOOLS
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Mission Statement
Ridgeview Classical Schools is a K-12 charter school. The elementary school adheres to the Core Knowledge sequence in its entirety and also teaches phonetic spelling and reading, Singapore mathematics, grammar, and Latin. Daily study in Latin is required from kindergarten through the eighth grade, and another semester of Latin is mandatory in high school. Great books/Socratic discussion begins in the elementary school. The high-school curriculum centers on the reading and discussion of great books and primary sources in literature and history, and on a thorough understanding of the theories and concepts in mathematics and the sciences. Many electives are offered in music, art, literature, philosophy, economics, and current events. Extracurricular events and clubs take place after school rather than during school hours. To graduate, all seniors must write a senior thesis and deliver and defend it orally in front of fellow students, members of the faculty, the principal, members of the RCS community, and guests
About This Cause
Ridgeview offers an education that is rarely matched by other schools within the charter school community. It distinguishes itself first by its unequivocal commitment to the classical tradition. In this sense, classical means that Latin is taught from kindergarten, Greek is taught from third grade, and students learn root languages before they are taught derivatives such as French or Spanish. They learn to develop a thesis, to exegize a text, and to order their thinking, writing, and presentations according to a classical order of arrangement. Students are taught many subjects, but they are taught that a comprehension of any topic proceeds by first understanding its grammar, then its logic, and finally, that it can be articulated by a skillful resort to rhetoric. They acquire specific knowledge through a curriculum that professes an adherence to the unabridged and original Core Knowledge sequence, Singapore Mathematics, American Cursive as outlined by Michael Sull, Riggs phonics program, martial arts, visual arts, music, and conceptual science. Ridgeview is unique in its commitment to the liberal arts. It does not abide by gimmicks, fads, or trends. Its curriculum gives equal time to the humanities and the natural sciences. It is also unique in its belief that an American exceptionalism exists and is worthy of examination and reverence, and that through a proper understanding of one’s country, genuine patriotism is both possible and admirable. It respects character above intellect and seeks the fullest moral development of each of its students. Ridgeview spends a great deal of time selecting its teachers, developing them in an effort to retain them, and insists that they inculcate in their students a love for the life of the mind. At Ridgeview, they should not only read books, they should love them. The teachers should know their students, and no student should graduate who has not proven him or herself to the Principal, who shall have taught them for at least one semester prior to their graduation. Ridgeview aims to transform more than minds. It aims to build a community through its curriculum, its teachers, and its ethos that transforms souls. To this end, every student is required to write a senior thesis answering the question of what is essential to the good life and present and defend it to an audience of their peers, the faculty, and assembled members of the public. Seniors are also required to undertake a leaving exam in order to graduate. There is no bluffing one’s way through. Only the thoughtful and sincere can expect to survive being passed through this rigorous sieve. Ridgeview, quoting Aeschylus, has frequently noted that its motto was “we learn by suffering,” and there is a certain truth to it regardless of how uncomfortable the modern world finds such a perspective. There is also, however, true comradery and collegiality fostered at Ridgeview. The nearly 60 faculty members are an intellectually diverse group, and yet all are brought together in friendship through texts, barbecues, conversation, tea, and not infrequently, the beauty of the American West. The location of Ridgeview is not unimportant. The most is made of it by ensuring that students do not take it for granted. Camping trips are organized, parents are drawn out to the mountains and the prairies, and whether in a classroom or around a campfire, the great conversation continues slowly and organically building up an authentic sense of community. The students and the faculty are pushed, and in that sense they all learn by suffering, but they are also drawn together by mutual pursuits, and they are ones that allow for a certain flourishing of the human spirit.