Trinitas Blog

During the past few weeks, I have been highlighting some reasons families have left Trinitas, which seems like a dangerous undertaking. I’m not trying to scare people away, of course. My reason for doing this short series is that I want to communicate who Trinitas is to families who want the sort of education we’re offering. One way to do that is by thrusting into the spotlight some of the school’s characteristics that have been breaking points for families in the past. This is the last installment.

#1 The standards are too high!

#2 Trinitas is weak on math!

#3 All that classical stuff is useless in the real world!

People come and people go. That is a truth in any community. It is human nature, I suppose to some extent, for people to get interested in a thing, even convinced about a thing, then lose interest or become unconvinced over time. Maybe we just have a short (and shortening) attention span. Because it is enrollment season, though, and families are deciding whether or not their children ought to attend Trinitas next year, I am spending a few weeks focusing on some of the top reasons people give for losing interest in and leaving Trinitas. This is the third of four such installments, and I hope you find it helpful if you are trying to make an enrollment decision.

#1 The standards are too high!

#2 Trinitas is weak on math!

People come and people go. That is a truth in any community. It is human nature, I suppose to some extent, for people to get interested in a thing, even convinced about a thing, then lose interest or become unconvinced over time. Maybe we just have a short (and shortening) attention span. Because it is enrollment season, though, and families are deciding whether or not their children ought to attend Trinitas next year, I am spending the next few weeks focusing on some of the top reasons people give for losing interest in and leaving Trinitas. This is the second of four such installments, and I hope you find it helpful if you are trying to make an enrollment decision.

#1 The standards are too high!

I often mention a particular Proverb I think Christian people have begun to neglect. It is Proverbs 29:15, and it goes like this, “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” As Christians, we have something the rest of the world does not have in the same way: the Holy Spirit. Part of the work of the Spirit in our lives is to illuminate God’s word for us so that we have belief and understanding that is not available to those who do not have the same indwelling Holy Spirit. So when Christians read in the Bible, “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother,” we can know that it is true.

As the tryptophan subsides, can we take a moment to reflect on what is perhaps the greatest of purely American holidays? Thanksgiving is a holiday born of good intention in that it is noble to set aside a whole day to give thanks to God for His provision for us. As Christians, we would do well to remember that we should be thankful every day and should live lives of thanksgiving before God, for every breath we take comes to us as a providence of our good and loving God.

A common defense for teaching Latin in schools hinges on the utility of the language. Arguments in this vein offer explanations such as: “Latin is the root of all other romance languages. Latin helps you think critically. Latin helps you understand inflected languages. Latin helps you understand grammar. Latin will help you understand English since there are so many derivatives.” These arguments are all true. Great as the number of these arguments is, very few apply exclusively to Latin, and those that do turn out to be weak anyway. I would like to suggest that we quit arguing for Latin based on its utility. My new thesis: Latin is useless; get over it.

“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” J.R.R. Tolkien

If anyone understood the idea of fortitude, it was Tolkien. We all thrill at the moments when Gandolf, Boromir, Éowyn, and Merry face adversaries so fierce and terrible that victory seems impossible. Those mighty battles that keep us turning pages long into the night impress on us the valor of fortitude in a way that only story can accomplish. Although we will very likely never have to face real Orcs, dark wizards, and giant spiders, our own seasons of darkness and trouble that we will encounter are undoubtedly made bearable or unbearable according to the measure of fortitude that we have. It is a virtue cultivated in us by our parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and others in our lives. The great stories that we read at Trinitas are just one way that we endeavor to instill virtue in the hearts of our young men and women.