Editor, The Smithfield Times:

I recently had an opportunity to visit Hampton Roads Classical school on Benns Church Boulevard in Smithfield and was impressed. 

As indicated on its Facebook page, the private school offers a traditional, classical “education that cultivates intellectual, moral, and civic virtue with an emphasis on the Western tradition and America’s founding principles.”

Such an education focuses on the development of the whole child through application of a variety of experiential learning activities. For example, even young children grow in their self-confidence by standing before their peers every day, reading a poem or singing a song. Children write about their school activities in their composition notebooks. Handwriting exercises not only develop the capability to write legible words but also enhance physical coordination development needed for creating beauty through playing musical instruments and painting or drawing pictures. They learn to use their bodies to communicate ideas through wearing historic-period attire for times studied.

Of course, having an education is more than knowing what happened in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. In our unique nation, 18-year-olds can vote and exercise the same power and political involvement as do all other citizens regardless of age, level of education, experience, color of skin, ethnicity or creed. They need knowledge, understanding and analytical skills to make sound judgements about national issues.

In the early days of America, a classical education was the standard education, but we drifted away from it as schools focused more on knowledge dealing with technologies. There is a great need for refocusing on traditional, educational approaches dealt with in schools like Hampton Roads Classical in Smithfield. Check them out.

 

Joseph L. Bass

Suffolk