Dear Friends,

One account of the battle at Thermopylae has it that the Greek commander, when warned by a scout of the overwhelming number of enemy troops encamped in the nearby valley, replied: “They have the numbers, but we have the heights.” There are many schools in our area, and parents face perplexing questions in choosing the best one for their children. If parents were to make this decision on the basis of enrollments, endowments, and real estate, it is clear that the more common, large-scale schools “have the numbers.” Quantity, however, is never a guarantee of quality; and the condition of American schooling today should teach us that certain very human aspects of education become difficult to maintain when the numbers become too great.

In a recent New York Times editorial, Nicholas D. Kristof said, “America has gone too far in creating huge schools with fine facilities---but no sense of belonging.… What makes a great education is often those intangibles in which small schools excel: close bonds among students and with teachers, parental involvement, and a cozy atmosphere that builds self-confidence and ensures that no one slips through the cracks."

St. Peter’s Classical School is small, but whatever we lack in numbers is off-set to many powers by the ineffable relationships of true Christian education to be found here. As that Greek commander said, “We have the heights.” We have a rigorous academic curriculum that invites students to dwell on the best that has been thought and written. We have knowledgeable instructors who believe in their subjects, who prod their students to think and to ask questions, who guide their pupils step by step in the processes of analyzing a text, demolishing a fallacy, or building up a persuasive and engaging essay. We have classes that are small enough to allow for conversation, personal instruction, and the development of healthy rapports between teacher and student. We have, moreover, the meaningful community of a close-knit group of teachers and students in a Christian school, nestled in a supportive parish, rooted in the Orthodox faith.

St. Peter’s Classical School is small by one kind of mathematical reckoning. But what you will find here for your child—our students, our faculty, our academics, our community and our faith—will provide countless advantages in the more profound reckonings of the soul. Come join us on the heights.

Bryan Smith
Headmaster