“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now...Come further up, come further in!”
― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Over the last year, we have spent time considering the vision and mission for Northfield as a liberal arts secondary school. And although the work has been conceptually hard it has also been directionally rewarding. Small steps by many people working together to articulate important ideas have resulted in most of what now forms the new website. And although we believe we have retained the valuable inheritance Northfield has, we also believe we have discovered new opportunities to enrich the educational experience future students can have with us.
As we finish this academic year ... you will continue to recognize most of the familiar landmarks to which you have become accustomed at Northfield. However, next year is already well up on our horizon and with it will come changes ... many in emphasis and presentation ... some in real substance ... but all for the better. We could not be more excited and we hope you will feel the same way as you begin to glimpse the new vistas ahead.
― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Over the last year, we have spent time considering the vision and mission for Northfield as a liberal arts secondary school. And although the work has been conceptually hard it has also been directionally rewarding. Small steps by many people working together to articulate important ideas have resulted in most of what now forms the new website. And although we believe we have retained the valuable inheritance Northfield has, we also believe we have discovered new opportunities to enrich the educational experience future students can have with us.
As we finish this academic year ... you will continue to recognize most of the familiar landmarks to which you have become accustomed at Northfield. However, next year is already well up on our horizon and with it will come changes ... many in emphasis and presentation ... some in real substance ... but all for the better. We could not be more excited and we hope you will feel the same way as you begin to glimpse the new vistas ahead.
Grades 6-10
While we have always considered grammar, logic and rhetoric as essential to our pedagogy, we want to make their presence even more explicit in the fall. In order to do that, we are introducing a new way to measure our students' progress in grades 6-10 which we will call the badges of the trivium.
- There will be 5 badges to be earned over the 5 years most of us have from grades 6 through 10 ... Grammar1, Grammar2, Grammar3, Logic and Rhetoric.
- Each badge will signify the educational mile marker we want all the students pursuing that specific badge to reach ... during the academic year ... across the whole range of subjects they are studying.
- We realize the evidence of progress will be more obvious at some times than at others ... and more convincing in some subjects than in others. But we are certain that these mile markers can be reached by those who apply themselves with steady diligence over the academic year ... and with the help and encouragement of their teachers and parents.
- After earning the 5th and final badge of Rhetoric, the student will, we hope, realize that [s]he has reached the destination we all covet for every Northfield student ... dialectical maturity ... which will be recognized by the faculty awarding what will become our most coveted form of recognition ... a Northfield Liberal Arts Certificate ... the climax of our efforts.
Juniors & Seniors [aka "Graduates"]
However, in drama the climax is NOT the end of the play ... and at Northfield the Liberal Arts Certificate will not necessarily be the end of your journey with us. It will, however, mark an important transition to a place in their educational journey where you will be encouraged and expected to consider and to choose the endeavors and subjects which you desire to undertake and study next.
For some this new freedom will be disorienting and fearful ... for others intoxicating and wasteful. But in any case, we will be there to guide our students into and through this important moment [which is what it will seem like in retrospect] when their secondary school liberal arts education ends and the final [and unending] leg of their educational journey begins ... taking advantage of real life opportunities to put their learning capacities and tools to work for personal and professional development.
However, in drama the climax is NOT the end of the play ... and at Northfield the Liberal Arts Certificate will not necessarily be the end of your journey with us. It will, however, mark an important transition to a place in their educational journey where you will be encouraged and expected to consider and to choose the endeavors and subjects which you desire to undertake and study next.
For some this new freedom will be disorienting and fearful ... for others intoxicating and wasteful. But in any case, we will be there to guide our students into and through this important moment [which is what it will seem like in retrospect] when their secondary school liberal arts education ends and the final [and unending] leg of their educational journey begins ... taking advantage of real life opportunities to put their learning capacities and tools to work for personal and professional development.
An Assignment
For starters, take a look at the Formal Recognition link under our "Trailmix" section ... on your left. It will help us start this important Northfield conversation. Next, browse the pages of this blog to get a better feeling for what lies ahead ... we should have subjects and teachers for next year posted soon on the appropriate pages. Finally, leave us your comments ... we will be doing our best to read them and respond thoughtfully in due time.
For starters, take a look at the Formal Recognition link under our "Trailmix" section ... on your left. It will help us start this important Northfield conversation. Next, browse the pages of this blog to get a better feeling for what lies ahead ... we should have subjects and teachers for next year posted soon on the appropriate pages. Finally, leave us your comments ... we will be doing our best to read them and respond thoughtfully in due time.
We realize you will probably have alot of questions ... and we do have some of the answers ... but not all, since this is somewhat new to us as well. But even though we cannot see everything that lies ahead quite yet, we are fully persuaded that this is Northfield's moment to go "further up and further in" ... and we have an abiding sense that what lies ahead will be very good.
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
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