Saint Augustine Academy, Ventura

One of the bright spots in California's education landscape is a small, Catholic, college preparatory school in Ventura by the name of Saint Augustine Academy. The school is devoted to both the Catholic teaching magisterium and the western liberal arts tradition:

"Classically, the liberal arts are divided into the trivium consisting of grammar, logic and rhetoric and the quadrivium consisting of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.

The liberal arts provide the young mind with the tools of learning and an introduction to the intellectual life.

The art of grammar teaches the student to compose sentences well, necessary for understanding. Logic teaches reasoning and the methods that yield science and wisdom. Rhetoric teaches persuasion and discourse used when bringing the truth to others. Grammar, logic and rhetoric are basic tools of the mind.

Since the young student is familiar with quantity, yet less familiar with the order and structure of nature, the mathematical sciences are especially proportioned to the young mind. Hence after the trivium, the student studies the quadrivium containing mathematical disciplines. Arithmetic and geometry consider number and magnitude respectively. Music uses number and ratio to produce harmony. Astronomy applies the properties of magnitude to explain the motions of the heavens. In addition to these, Latin is studied to practice the art of grammar. The trivium strengthens the young mind with tools of learning, the quadrivium provides an arena appropriate for the young mind in which the tools can be used.

Growth in knowledge and wisdom requires experience. The studies of literature, geography, history, and natural science are added to the trivium and quadrivium to broaden the student's experience of humanity. Geography and natural science broaden the student's experience of nature.

The crowning discipline of the curriculum is theology. Each discipline prepares the mind for a contemplation of God. The theology tutorial formally considers our relationship to God by presenting the Church's perennial teaching free of dissent."

Often enough, private schools appear successful because they attract bright students with motivated parents .... which is a good thing, of course. But the success of such a school may have little to do with its own educational distinctives, such as its curriculum or instructional methods, and everything to do with student demographics. Saint Augustine Academy's classical curriculum and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge places its success beyond suspicion. The school's close but informal ties to Thomas Aquinas College - an institution renowned for academic excellence and fidelity to the Church - indicates a shared commitment to a life of learning, critical thought, and loving service.

Be sure to watch the school's video introduction.