In a day and age when ideas are so often packaged into short, summary-like versions, one of the most difficult questions that parents and teachers alike have is this: How do we help students to gain wisdom and virtue, not just surface knowledge? Students are often only given a very narrow view of history's and culture's great ideas and philosophies. And if students don't wrestle with the original ideas and truths themselves, they'll never have the power to truly understand them, and then they can't grow and develop in the character traits and virtues needed to live meaningful and purpose-filled lives. What matters isn't just what you know, but how deeply you understand it, and how well it impacts your life.
The importance of deep understanding
Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Utah's leading classical charter school, believes that real education is about engaging with the greatest ideas and deepest questions of history. We believe that a core tenet of a classical liberal arts curriculum should be an immersion into reading the primary sources. The late Dr. Karl G. Maeser, founder of the Academy, wrote about the goal of education: to “awaken the power within to do good.” That is exactly why we focus our curriculum on encouraging students to read and think through the original Great Books—the classic Western works on which so much of Western thought and culture is based. It's not enough to simply learn about Plato, or Shakespeare, or Euclid. Our classical curriculum in the subjects of history, literature, philosophy, and science is about reading what Plato, Shakespeare, and Euclid actually wrote themselves! In doing so, students wrestle with great works of literature and learn to evaluate and discern truth and virtue in the process of reading them.
Socratic seminars and active learning
Our Socratic seminar class format is the cornerstone of the Academy classroom experience. Our primary method for students to read, process, and discuss primary sources, Socratic seminars are led by our instructors while students actively debate the readings, defend their positions, and critique each other's arguments. Our Utah County college prep school faculty members help guide the student through the primary source material. This is the heart of what it means to be at the Maeser Academy! This process is about developing the virtue of the life of the mind, where the students themselves do the majority of the work. This builds virtue through the Socratic method. Through this process of active participation and debate, the students gain intellectual humility and virtue, respect for others, and an understanding of what true learning and education is about. They gain a solid grounding in how to engage in the pursuit of learning throughout their lives.
Building community through shared themes
As students read the Great Books and engage in discussions about them, a sense of close community develops among them, because these texts often discuss timeless, universal themes of humanity and culture. They can see the value in reading, thinking about, and talking about such important topics with other people they respect. It encourages their pursuit of virtue and truth. And it encourages an Honor Code environment as well, because it is important that the learning community remain one of respect for the truth, and respect for the people one learns with. This is the foundation of our virtue based education in Utah. With small class sizes, every student is known, mentored, and challenged, creating a community of scholarship and character and preparing students to be wise and principled leaders in an increasingly complex world.
Proven Excellence in Academic and Character Formation
The intellectual and moral discipline derived from reading and analyzing original texts leads to remarkable academic achievement and preparation. According to U.S. News & World Report, Karl G. Maeser Prep was the #1 high school in Utah. Our average SAT score is 1330, and we have an over 95% graduation rate. We prepare students for the most competitive colleges in the world and beyond. Students leave Maeser Prep prepared not only with great stats, but with intellectual virtues, critical thinking skills, and character to be great students and professionals, to be thoughtful citizens of the world. The Truth, Honor, and Virtue that our students have developed through their direct encounter with the Great Books, the classics, is reflected in their success in higher education and beyond.
Commonly Asked Questions about Primary Sources
What does it mean to read a “primary source”? A primary source is an original source, written at a particular time, that a student reads and analyzes in class. This includes the classic texts, historical documents, works of art and literature, and papers and journals in the sciences.
Relevance of historical texts today
If I am going to live in the 21st century, why is it important to read books from hundreds of years ago? Because the questions in those books — about what constitutes justice, the role of government, moral reasoning, the importance of freedom, the nature of truth, the origin of knowledge and on and on — are the questions of your life right now. When you read them yourself, in the original words of the person who wrote them, it gives you perspective, wisdom, and the critical thinking skills to think about and analyze those questions in our current context with depth, nuance, and discernment.
Are you only accepting academically advanced students? No, though Maeser Prep students certainly have the academic skills to be successful in this environment. In order for the student to learn from this environment though, we have designed our approach so that regardless of their academic level, all students can succeed in our courses and will grow academically from it. We have small class sizes, highly qualified, trained faculty, and a Socratic approach to our curriculum. Each student is given time with their teacher to develop intellectually through reading and analyzing the text.
How does this type of study relate to character formation? Intellectual virtues grow from the study of the original texts — intellectual humility in approaching an idea from someone else, intellectual diligence in studying it, and intellectual honesty in the analysis of it, just to name a few. Since we are dealing with timeless texts about moral problems and virtue, we can talk about ethical reasoning and other moral principles that grow from the original texts as a means to help students develop virtues in their own lives. This is how we develop Truth, Honor, and Virtue in our students.
What if the texts are too hard? How do students learn to do this if I don’t know anything about the subject or how to approach it? The faculty at Maeser are experts in the texts and know all of the tricks to help students succeed. When they are studying a primary text, teachers will give information about the context of it so that students have more background knowledge. Also, they will give students strategies on how to read a text, like close reading and how to annotate, and facilitate discussion to ask clarifying questions to the students. Eventually, students will be able to do some of these things for themselves and approach primary sources with more knowledge and greater confidence.
Schedule a tour today to see the difference that studying primary sources will make in your child’s academic and personal life.
