Temecula Preparatory School

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The Grammar Stage

The grammar stage recognizes that children in kindergarten through fourth grade have minds that are almost "spongelike" in that they are capable of absorbing a large number of facts through a rote or repetetive method. Classical educators use this natural stage to build a foundation of universal truths and focus on the solid basic language skills such as reading and the mechanics of writing including the study of French and Latin. This emphasis on reading and writing is vital to the next two stages of development for the student. It is the foundation upon which the rest of the classical approach to education is built.

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The Logic Stage

The logic stage appreciates the developmental change that students are experiencing between the fifth and eighth grades. It is during this time period that students are beginning to question the facts, concepts and ideas they have been taught as well as the authority of those around them. These students truly enjoy a debate or an argument. A good classical environment relies on the strength of its grammar stage in order to encourage students to critically examine the arguments of others as well as their own. However, students are also taught the importance of doing this virtuously, in an environment of respect and care for others.

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The Rhetoric Stage

The rhetoric stage is the last of the three stages and it is in this stage that the toil and labor of the grammar and logic stages bears fruit. From the ninth grade to the twelfth grade students are taught and guided to take that which they have learned is fact, as well as those things which they believe to be true, and to express them in such a way as to convince others that their positions are well-founded. Aristotle himself is quoted as saying, "Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic (logic)" because students learn to utilize "all the available means of persuasion".

Enrollment Application Deadline2012-02-17

THE DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR THE 2012/2013 SCHOOL YEAR IS MARCH 30TH, 2012 AT 3:30 P.M. To apply, please click on the "Enrollment Application" link to the right of this message.

February 2012 - Vision2012-02-06

The February 2012 TPS Vision

Leaving the Cave

A few years ago when I was teaching AP US History I was walking my students through a practice exam and I was only giving them a few short moments to answer each question. I wanted them to learn the pace they needed to have in order to complete the real exam, however, they did not know why I was pressing them so hard and fast. In frustration, one of my students slammed down his pencil and asked, "Why do we have to do this? Why are you making us do this?" Although he was acting out of utter aggravation, the question he asked captures an age-old question that has been reverberating through school halls for centuries.

Almost all of us, at one point or another, has thrown down the pencil, slammed shut the book, and muttered under our breath: "Why do I have to do this? Why is this important?" I remember doing it several times even during law school. I was so frustrated with having to work so hard for what seemed no apparent reason. It is with this in mind, and hindsight being 20/20, that I hope to shed at least a little light on those two infamous questions.

When talking about the reasons for a rigorous education, I am immediately reminded of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, Plato tells the story of a group of people who had lived in a large dark cave their entire life. Everything they did was done in the dark: bathing, walking, eating, talking, and working. Each day the sunlight would filter a few dozen feet into the mouth of the cave. Since they lived in utter darkness, the cave people could not face the sun directly, but just on the edge of their dark world, they saw the shadows of things thrown onto the cave walls.

In their ignorance and confusion, they believed that the shadows where real, tangible objects. For example, they believed that the shadow of a chair was an actual chair; the shadow of a man was an actual man, and so on. As the years went by, the people continued to live in the dark, mistaking the shadows for real objects.

One day, one of the men in the cave decided that for the first time in the history of the people he would exit the cave. He packed his knapsack and summoned his courage, hugging his wife and children goodbye. He watched the shadows dance along the wall one last time. But, the world that the man discovered outside the cave was amazing and so different than he expected.

Standing in the light, he saw trees and birds and rivers, he saw real chairs and real people, and he realized that the shadows had simply been an illusion. After his explorations outside the cave he decided he would make the long hike back to the cave and share what he had learned with his friends and family.

He was excited to point to the shadows on the wall and say, "Those are just shadows! The real world lives outside! You cannot know the truth if you do not leave the darkness!" All the way home he thought about how happy the others would be to have a chance to know the truth. He imagined dancing and singing and a joyous procession of people entering into the light. He imagined a feast in his honor, and capes, and crowns.

Soon, he made his way back, and running through the mouth of the cave back into the darkness, he called for all the people to gather. When everyone had arrived, he shared his knowledge of the outside world. He exposed the shadows as only illusions, announcing to the people and that what they thought was a real world was only the shadow of the real world.

But, to his great surprise the other cave people were angered at his pronouncements. They did not appreciate his exposing their fallacies and they had no desire to leave their darkness. In fact, they drove him away telling him to leave and not to return. Dumbfounded, the man walked away from the cave. He could not believe that the people would rather live in ignorance than step out into the light.

There are many around us today who are similar to the cave dwellers in Plato's allegory. They would rather live the easy life of a spoon-fed education instead of working for something deeper, bigger, and greater. A lack of true education -- and what I mean by "true education" is an education that makes us think, that stretches our limitations, that opens up worlds we never knew existed, and that prepares us to lead others in the future -- chains them in shadows, leaving them to believe in things that are not true, real, or logically founded.

The choice people make to remain in the dark has a disastrous consequence: they are literally handicapped in their ability to seek and comprehend truth. They cannot leave the cave and chase after the real forms of the outside world because they have not been prepared to encounter reality. Even if they wanted to leave, their ignorance has doomed them to the confines of the cave.

For this reason, a true education is a vital aspect of surviving in the modern world. Without education, both moral and academic, it is impossible to discern truth from illusion and it is impossible to engage in the language of reality.

Education is the light. Stepping into the light means engaging in the world as it actually exists, and not merely as it seems or not only its shadows. The light separates the false from the real and enables people to enter into a dialogue with and about truth.

It is our sincere goal that the students of TPS will seek after knowledge wholeheartedly and refuse to be left behind in the metaphorical dark. This takes a tremendous amount of work and effort at times, but in the trenches of a math assignments or on the battlefields of homework, when they mutter to themselves, "Why do I have to do this?" the answer will come in loud and clear, "To leave the darkness!"

And, with this answer in mind, when they want to close the book and throw their hands in the air, they will choose to persevere instead. Because at the end of the day, it is far better to leave the cave and live in the freedom of truth, than remain in the cave of dark ignorance and only imagined satisfaction.

Scott Phillips

Headmaster and Executive Director

Patriots Ball 2012-01-16

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