Pedagogy

OUR PEDAGOGY
A Return to God and Traditional American Education

Our curriculum and thus our school is different. It encompasses two distinct advantages. One, it speaks of and acknowledges God as the Creator and fountain of all knowledge. Two, its methods involve a restoration of the traditional means of American education. Why are these two advantages important?

First, in the beginning, in the early 1600’s, the reason for education was to acquire the ability to read in order to know and then implement the word of God in one’s life. This motivation continued for over 350 years. In 1962, the Supreme Court severed the cord between God and education. From that point on, education, – public education, has been secularized. Because of that severing from the fountain of knowledge, statistics show that our nation slid from Number ONE in the world in education and literacy to sixty-fifth. However, a bright spot, and proof of the importance of including God in our
education are the home and private schools that do include God in their educational systems. Those who include God generally test two to four grades ahead of their public school counterparts. Including God in our educational endeavors is one distinct advantage.

A second distinct advantage in our pedagogy is a restoration of the methods used from the beginning in the 1600’s, and indeed throughout much of history reaching back to Biblical and ancient times. These tested, tried, and true methods served us well until the 1920’s. In the 1920’s, Progressives began to take over the public system, including teacher colleges, and implemented their new, modern, and ‘scientific’ methods. As a result, education in the United States changed. It changed from an eight grade, student-centered, teach the student to think philosophy to a twelve grade, teacher-centered, teach the student to learn and in the process indoctrinate him philosophy.

In the traditional system, a student had been required to know certain objectives in each subject. This was accomplished by asking a telling set of questions. IF the student could answer either orally or in writing, he passed. If not, he remained in the grade until he had mastered the material. This allowed for students of varying ages to be in the same grade.

In the new system, students are assigned a grade level by age, and given multiple choice, and fill-in the blank questions. They are not required to be able to expound upon a subject in detail and from memory. Passage from one grade to another is more a matter of age than knowledge attained.

At Ascent Advantage Academy, we have implemented the ancient and traditional ways. We include God. We require subject mastery through a comprehensive testing system of questions and answers. When the student can answer the questions for a level of a subject, he is advanced to the next level of that subject. He does NOT need to spend the whole year at a specific level.

Tied to a return to God and traditional American education is

OUR PHILOSOPHY.

Throughout most of history, a person reaching the age of 13 was expected to take on the accountability of an adult and was regarded as a young adult. Hence, today, as anciently, we have the Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah for Jewish youth. In the Church, we regard our youth, beginning at age 12, their 13th year, as Young Men and Young Women. We regard them as accountable, responsible, and capable of making a great difference in the world. Their education should reflect this fact. It should not hold them back from what they are capable of accomplishing and contributing.

THE RESULTS – MORE ADVANTAGES

Hence, we have crafted a system of ten levels which cover the old eight and the modern twelve. Additional emphasis in the last two levels is devoted to teaching students how to become self-sufficient through running their own businesses, and to teaching them how to earn CLEP or AP Test credits. Thus, when a students graduate, usually at ages 14, 15, or 16, they are well on their way to success in life. They have earned their high school diploma or GED, they are supporting themselves through running their own businesses, and they have earned one year of college credit! These, too, are Ascent
Advantage Academy advantages.