The New Classics™ Success in NYC and Washington
Cambridge Advisory is positioning itself to be the premier provider
of classical schools, educational products and professional development.
The educational vision behind the Cambridge Concept is tried and true.
The New Classics™ Educational Plan is formed around the trivium of
grammar, logic and rhetoric and informed by a canon of great texts
and significant primary sources that have helped to shape and define
our civilization. Every student exposed to the New Classics™ regime
is uniquely furnished with a general survey of knowledge, sturdy habits
of mind, and the ability to read with comprehension, write with clarity
and speak with plainness and power.
The New Classics™ Educational Plan is already student tested and
parent approved. In the fall of 2003, Bronx Latin—New York City’s
first classical public school—opened its doors. With the active
support of Mayor Bloomberg, New York School’s Chancellor, Joel Klein
and Bronx Borough President, Adolfo Carrión, Jr., Cambridge Advisory’s
Chairman, T. Robinson Ahlstrom was able to garner significant funding
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Carnegie Foundation
and George Soros, Open Society Fund. The end result was a high performing
classical school in one of the nation’s poorest performing school
districts—District II in the Bronx.
With the encouragement of Chancellor Klein, Ahlstrom built on that
success, designing and establishing The Washington Latin Public
Charter School which opened in the Nation’s Capitol in the fall
of 2006. Scepticism from the District’s Charter School establishment
and numerous attempts to dummy down curriculum, relax the testing
regimes and socially promote students were resisted. As a result,
The Washington Latin Public Charter School became the highest performing
school in the system in its first year!
A School Culture that is Wholesome and Robust
The success in both New York City and in the Charter School
prototype was rooted in something even more fundamental than a challenging
literature-based academic program. Each Cambridge Advisory school
begins with the establishment of a robust and wholesome school culture
that makes such a high level of teaching and learning possible.
Inspired by the life and character of America’s first Super-Hero,
George Washington, each Cambridge Advisory school is an academy
for Citizen-Leaders. Guided by the motto, Virtus Sola Nobilitat
(Virtue Alone Ennobles), all young Latinians are prepared “to serve
the world through their character and leadership.” Each Academy’s
entire culture is informed by the Standards of Conduct & Civility,
enforced through an Honor Code and connected to the real-life context
of contemporary society through the Citizen Leader Community Service
requirement.
Inspired by Washington’s boyhood resolves, the Standards of Conduct
& Civility™ form the social contract by which each school exists
as a distinct community. These twenty-two Standards are posted in
every classroom. Each day one Standard is addressed in the student-led
Morning Meeting. They are interpreted and enforced through the Honor
Code and Student Judiciary.
1. Do everything with respect for others
2. Judge no one by race, rank or property, but by their character
3. Be a slave to no man, but a servant to all
4. Dress modestly and keep well groomed
5. Neither flatter nor make sport of another
6. Avoid ceremony, but honor worthy customs
7. As a gentleman, uncover your head indoors
8. Make your handshake firm and greet passers by
9. Tell the truth, even to your own hurt
10. Rise when a school master enters the room
11. Read for pleasure and avoid vain entertainments
12. Aim high and choose your friends wisely
13. Do your best, and offer no excuses
14. In adversity, stand, fight & prevail – Never relent
15. Under no pretense speak a self-congratulatory word
16. Practice thrift and tend what you own
17. Jest not concerning things of great import
18. Neither curse nor speak coarsely
19. Hand write thank you notes
20. At table, check both conversation and consumption
21. Defend always and only the freedom to do what is right
22. Keep alive the celestial fire called conscience
Every Academy scholar is expected to live up to the Standards by
giving back to the community: Multa quibus bona, multa officia ("To
whom much is given, much is required"). Through the Academy’s
Citizen Leader Community Service requirement and cooperation with
several Community Partner organizations, students serve the elderly
and infirm, work to clean, plant and beautify the town and—in a
special program overseen by the Academy’s department of English
Language and Literature—work to tutor unlettered adults, “at risk”
students from other schools, and small children.
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