Students return home to teach
Some return to own high schools; pass on legacy
Marieke van der Vaart
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: News
During her senior year of high school, sophomore Alison Roberts' Christian Studies class met in coffee shops scattered around Louisville, Ky., instead of a classroom.
Roberts, a classics major, said experiences like those made her want to return to classical schools to teach and pass those experiences on to other students. She attended Highlands Latin School.
"Studying the classics is important because it gives you a foundation for what we believe today," Roberts said. "The classical education gives you the background and answers to today."
Numerous students graduating this year and next year agree with Roberts, and hope to teach at classical schools like the ones they attended before college.
The classical school model focuses on logic, grammar and rhetoric, or what junior Betsy Peters translates loosely as "development of argumentation, memorization and the ability to communicate beautifully." Peters said her classical high school education fit seamlessly with Hillsdale's curriculum.
"I came into [Hillsdale] like it was the next logical step," she said.
Peters graduated from Cincinnati's Mars Hill Academy with just three other students in her class, two of whom also came to Hillsdale College. She said she enjoyed the close teacher-student relationships she found there, and plans on teaching middle or high school students at a school like Mars Hill when she graduates.
Ultimately, Peters would love to teach at Mars Hill itself, she said, but immediately after graduation she may teach at a classical school in Indonesia or Iraq, in the Kurdish region.
Roberts, who went to a Catholic middle school with 59 other students in her class, said her five-member high school class meant teachers never treated a student as just a number.
"I want to have that close relationship with my students too," she said.
Every week, Roberts teaches 20 K-2nd grade students at Hillsdale Academy.
"[When] I teach them at 11 [a.m.] they're complaining about how hungry they are," said Roberts, laughing. "When they get squirmy, we play 'Simon, dicit,' Simon says."
Roberts, a classics major, said experiences like those made her want to return to classical schools to teach and pass those experiences on to other students. She attended Highlands Latin School.
"Studying the classics is important because it gives you a foundation for what we believe today," Roberts said. "The classical education gives you the background and answers to today."
Numerous students graduating this year and next year agree with Roberts, and hope to teach at classical schools like the ones they attended before college.
The classical school model focuses on logic, grammar and rhetoric, or what junior Betsy Peters translates loosely as "development of argumentation, memorization and the ability to communicate beautifully." Peters said her classical high school education fit seamlessly with Hillsdale's curriculum.
"I came into [Hillsdale] like it was the next logical step," she said.
Peters graduated from Cincinnati's Mars Hill Academy with just three other students in her class, two of whom also came to Hillsdale College. She said she enjoyed the close teacher-student relationships she found there, and plans on teaching middle or high school students at a school like Mars Hill when she graduates.
Ultimately, Peters would love to teach at Mars Hill itself, she said, but immediately after graduation she may teach at a classical school in Indonesia or Iraq, in the Kurdish region.
Roberts, who went to a Catholic middle school with 59 other students in her class, said her five-member high school class meant teachers never treated a student as just a number.
"I want to have that close relationship with my students too," she said.
Every week, Roberts teaches 20 K-2nd grade students at Hillsdale Academy.
"[When] I teach them at 11 [a.m.] they're complaining about how hungry they are," said Roberts, laughing. "When they get squirmy, we play 'Simon, dicit,' Simon says."
Be the first to comment on this story