Trinitas Blog

In our last blog post, we talked about what correction of children is and touched on a few reasons why it is no longer common. This week, we’ll dig a little deeper into what biblical correction is as we seek answers to why this correction is so important.

We’ve all seen it. You’re in the checkout line at the grocery store when you hear a child arguing with his mother in the line ahead of you. He wants some candy, a toy, a drink, or who knows what? His mother doesn’t want him to have it, so she begins with a flat “No.” He balks, stomps his foot, whines. Mom redirects, “Look at this nice cereal Mommy is buying for you.” His whines become wails. Mom ignores. He falls to his knees, wailing louder now. Mom quickly drops to his level and begins to speak sweetly in an attempt to reason with him, “Honey, this is not the way we behave in public; you are causing quite a scene. Get up, now.” He throws himself face-down and begins thrashing his arms and legs, wailing all the while. Mom rises, grabs the item her child wants off the shelf and thrusts it into his hands. If she acknowledges you at all, she likely says, “He usually doesn’t act like this; he’s just hungry (or tired, sleepy, out of his routine, having a bad day, mourning the loss of a stuffed animal, et cetera).”

The following is adapted from a faculty address delivered by Miss Cate Price at the induction of new members into the National Honors Society on December 13, 2024, at Trinitas Christian School.

Singling yourself out for honor is a risky business. Admission into the National Honor Society is a process that revolves around paradox. We ask that you be servant-minded individuals, who model a humility that does not sound your own praise to the heavens. And yet, on the same application page, I ask you to tell me why you deserve this honor. You had to ask someone to write you a letter of recommendation, in which they detail all the things about you that make you so great. Perhaps, some of you wondered if the application was a trick. Would it be better to turn it in blank? Obviously, you all chose to answer the questions (which was an appropriate thing to do by the way), but, in deciding to turn in the application and ask for admission into this society, you have essentially put a target on your back. You have come forward and asked for distinction.

Now, I am not saying that you should not have come forward for this distinction, but I do want to be forthcoming to you and to tell you what exactly happens next.

When Trinitas Christian School opened its doors in 1999, we were the only classical, Christ-centered school in Northwest Florida. In the quarter-century since then, this unique form of education has exploded all across the country and even more so in Northwest Florida with nearly a dozen classical schools in operation. Over the years, I have expended much energy trying to convince parents not only how but also why Trinitas Christian School is different from other schools. It is hard to gauge how many people I have persuaded. I am painfully aware at times, though, that I have persuaded at least a few people in the Pensacola area that Trinitas is different, and that they view that difference suspiciously as if they think we are conducting some kind of weird and isolated experiment here with this classical Christian stuff.

Students, what is the chief end of Man? “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” An elementary review, perhaps, but a foundational principle and reminder nonetheless. Now, who can tell me what is the chief end of education? 

Turning to origins, ‘educare’ in Latin translates, ‘to train or to mold.’ This calls to mind how God created man–not the Westminster catechism answer this time but practically–He molded or formed him from the dust and declared him ‘good.’ After unlawfully partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, man no longer appealed to God as the sole source of Truth; man began to do what was right in his own eyes, as if he were omniscient, and not God. Measured in biblical chapters, it takes no time at all for the devastating effects of God “giving us over” to our deceitful hearts to manifest–just ask poor Abel.

The following is adapted from an address delivered at the Annual Parent-Board Forum by Pastor Jon Mark Olesky on September 9, 2024, at Trinitas Christian School.

Parents interested in bringing their children to Trinitas Christian School are often asked “What do you want for your children before you shoot them out into the world? What’s your greatest aim and desire for them as they move toward adulthood?” Questions like these and others like “Do my desires for my children align with God’s desires for my children? or “What is God’s will for my child’s life?” are worthwhile not only when beginning at Trinitas but also repeatedly as our children mature. As I hope we would all agree, helping our children do the will of God is the ultimate purpose of Christian parenting.

We continue our classical parents series this week, discussing how parents who choose a classical Christian education for their children are dedicated. The first week we established that classical parents have to be dedicated to going against the status quo in education because cCe is so different from the education most of us are most familiar with. Last week parent participation was the topic. Classical parents are dedicated to participating in their children’s education, and they are invited and encouraged to do just that in cCe schools. This week we will close out the series for now by discussing the most important of three ways classical parents are dedicated: they are dedicated to the role of the Scriptures in the education of their children.

Classical Christian schools can come across as pretty odd to most folks. While Latin can still be found in other private and public schools, not many schools teach six years of it. (I know of one classical Christian school that teaches eleven years of Latin.) And good books can certainly be found in other private and public schools, but not very many will read Homer, Virgil, Plato, Augustine, Rousseau, and Nietzsche. Memory is part of learning no matter what kind of school one attends, but not many schools will memorize hundreds of lines of prose, poetry, and Scripture every year. So yes, classical Christian schools can come across as odd even if only because of differences like these.