A Happy Visit from Chesterton Network Founder, Dale Ahlquist

Dale Ahlquist, the founder of all of the Chesterton Academies, recently paid our school a happy visit.  In addition to bringing some cooler weather with him, he lunched with the faculty and then spoke with our students and answered their questions.  One of our students asked him, “Why are electives (like fine arts and drama) required?”  Mr. Ahlquist immediately reversed the question, “Do you mean, why are the requirements required?”  He then proceeded to share the values of drama, visual arts, and dance.  He talked about the beauty that the students get to impart to others, the good that it has on the soul of the artist, and he ended with a great quote by G. K. Chesterton.  “There is only one subject,” he said, “and everything else is a reflection of that subject.”

As a school and as a headmaster, I have been increasingly reflecting on his reply to that question.  One thing which we achieve with our integrated classical curriculum is to open students’ eyes and minds to the reality that the humanities, the sciences, and the arts all impact each other and reflect each other.

Furthermore, by setting our students in front of subject that they could have chosen to ignore at other schools, we are giving them the opportunity to learn beauty, to discover their own talents, and to excel in even more areas.  As parents, we have all at various points given our children the toys and costumes of professional careers in the hopes of sparking that interest.  In a similar manner here, we have our students do dance and drama and other arts, not for them to become professional actors or dancers, but for them to appreciate beauty, seek beauty out, learn to work with others, and ultimately become more joyful!