Christian education is where faith and learning come together. Belief is the starting point, the worldview of the young learner, influenced primarily by parents, that allows him to encounter an educational process. Learning then, starts in the home, not with the school. A Christian school starts with a student’s beliefs and integrates learning into them, not the other way around. Academia must be built into existing belief.
Early in life, students come to school with a particular view of the world. If it is a Christian world view, the child has a context and point of reference to learn anything and everything. “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth” ( Colossians 1:16) “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17) If a child does not hold a Christian world view, the learner may look to chance happenings in the physical and social world. He would not see a pattern of God’s revelation but instead view life as random and mankind as evolving over time with no particular purpose. In a belief system void of divine authority, man himself becomes his own point of reference. In the absence of fixed absolutes, the learner’s understanding of truth becomes personally defined and relative to his own situation.
The educational method most effective in transmitting truth in the Christian school is the trivium model of learning. This approach captures the biblical concepts of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Knowledge equates with gathering particular pieces of information, called the grammar phase of learning. Young children learn the fundamental rules and facts of each subject. They learn by recitation, imitation, singing and question/answer formats. The second step in the trivium model equates the biblical term, "understanding", with assembling information into its proper relationships. Students begin to understand categories and the place and importance of each subject. The term dialectic captures this phase and infers discussion, reasoning, and debate. As the student grows out of childhood he asks deeper "why" questions. Dialectics satisfies his curiosity in a way grammar never would. Examples of good dialectics are poetry interpretation, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and contextual understanding. The last stage of the trivium couples wisdom with rhetoric. Students at this level of learning are able to apply their knowledgeanad understanding to life. They possess the ability to arrange and articulate using the tools of critique and analysis. Seeing events, trends and cultural pattens from a Christian worldview perspective enables the student to challenge assumptions and discover truth as revealed by God Himself.
Child development is a maturing process from simple to complex. As a child's brain develops physiologically, his capacity to think develops as well. The three stages of the trivium are likewise progressional. A wise man needs a foundation of knowledge and understanding. He has learned how to learn.
