Rhetoric School (9-12)

Rhetoric School

Ascension Classical School uses a cognitive-developmental model commonly referred to as the classical model. The classical model is built upon the Trivium used in the Middle Ages. This Trivium consists of three parts: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. It best respects the developmental stages of a child’s learning abilities and teaches in such a way as to take advantage of and build upon those natural stages of cognitive maturation. Teaching and learning, therefore, follow a pattern from the more concrete to the more abstract. 
Rhetoric School
When students reach high-school age and are naturally concerned with presentation, the rhetoric stage teaches them how to present themselves in a pleasing way that accords with the facts and the correct interpretation of the facts.

At this stage, we will challenge the students to understand not only content, but to grasp the reasons why we study the different disciplines, the principles on which the academic disciplines operate, and how to effectively communicate these things to others. Here essays and self-study play important roles. We team to integrate the subjects and thus understand that all sciences are interrelated into a whole rather than a compartmentalized series of “things.”

For instance, in science and math, the goal is not only to master basic facts and principles, but also to learn their significance and to understand the historical development of mathematical and scientific thought, making the connections between these subjects and history and philosophy.



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