I am finished, or perhaps I should say this in the classical rhetoric, “I have just begun.” As one student said to their mom yesterday, “Robert has graduated from middle school, high school, and college, and is now in the fourth grade again!” I told everyone I was in fourth grade this year so they would not expect too much of me!
Our last day at Classical Conversations this year was really fun. We had a potluck lunch, thanked our tutors, and said goodbye to old and new friends. Today, as I reflected upon our journey, I came to understand that this was not a finale—as modern education would tell us—but rather the beginning of a new adventure.
I am not married and, therefore, I do not have children. The Lord willing, I will be going over K-12 material—and beyond—many more times during my lifetime. So really, what man has called “finished” is only a “preview” for the real job of passing wisdom and beauty to the next generation. This is a scary thought and I believe it explains why so many parents are willing to “turn a blind eye” in their child’s education and let the “experts” handle it.
Many people have asked me and, no, I did not make Memory Master. I will achieve it one day, but not this year. I wrote all of the Essentials papers, although I did not turn in a single one of them; I just never got them quite right. I was out of town for the Faces of History presentation, and so I missed that event which made me sad. I bought the Foundations App and I thought that was a great way for me to review, since my mom was not helping me. In fact, at our last State Manager training my mom took the blame for not helping me achieve Memory Master, which was very nice of her. So you see, it was not my fault that I did not achieve it.
I really enjoyed Classical Conversations this year and I would definitely recommend it, not because I am biased—although I am—but because a twenty-eight year old man can learn a lot of new information in one year. Also, I saw many of the students in my classes and at my Classical Conversations community mature and grow wiser. This was evidenced by the fact that I was the third-best writer in our Essentials class, and by the fact that forty-two children gave presentations every week for twenty-four weeks and would look you in the eye while presenting (I cannot even get my high school rugby players to do that all the time).
I hope that you all enjoy your summer and maybe I will see you at one of this year’s summer Practicums
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* In the End and in the Beginning
