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FROM THE CHAIRMAN
7 February 2010
Dear Friend,
Character Counts! In fact, character is all that counts.
The crash of our economic system did not occur because a few wizards of Wall Street misplaced their calculators. It all unraveled because they mistook their calculators for a moral compass.
The unwise and unsustainable trajectory of our national polity is not the res ult of bumbling mismanageme nt by populist know-nothings or semi-literate rubes. It is the intentional policy of Brooks Brothers-clad, Ivy educated, academics, intellectuals, politicians and pundits who fancy themselves as “the best and the brightest.”
Let me say it again. Character counts. Character is all that counts. The esoteric theories currently taught in our graduate schools are no substitute for the life lessons historically taught in our grammar schools. That’s the problem.
Good grammar schools teach “reading, writing and ‘rithmatic.” Great grammar schools have always made character job one. Having long ago given up on the latter, too many of America’s schools can no longer deliver on the former.
We have reached a cultural nadir in which our educational bureaucracies have idealized rational autonomy and become skeptical regarding any deontological or transcendent idea of the good. Captive to political and social fads, they are not engaged or even aware of the profound work done by Enlightenment thinkers who wrestled mightily with the pedagogical tension between real moral authority and rational self-sufficiency.
As a result, the very idea of education has become devalued. Noah Webster would not recognize the sterile definition of “education” in the dictionary that bears his name. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language defines education as: "the process of educating especially by formal schooling; teaching; training…”
In his original dictionary, published in 1828, America’s greatest school teacher defined education as:
“The bringing up of a child…instruction; formation of manners…all that series of instruction and discipline, which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth.”
This is why it is so critical to re-open Alexandria Academy. Every boy and girl in the United States deserves a classical education. They deserve schools that honor their full humanity and invite them into the great conversation. They deserve teachers and coaches that respect their minds, challenge their bodies and fire their moral imaginations.
This is an exciting time at the new Academy. Parent interest is high. Information events have been well attended. Applications of highly qualified candidates are coming in daily and the first acceptance letter has gone out the door. Churches, community organizations and military service agencies are nominating worthy “free scholars.”
I hope you will join us on Monday the 22nd (Washington’s 278th Birthday) for the dedication of Main Hall at 400 South Washington Street. There will be an open house from 5:30 to 7:30 PM with a brief and beautiful ceremony at 6:30.
Today, I walked over to the schoolhouse to shovel the snow. After retrieving a shovel from the basement, I began digging into the drifts just outside the front door, hoping to work my way to the street. I couldn’t lift it. It was too heavy.
It was humbling for me to call our new Director of Finance & Administration and say, “Richard, I can’t lift it. It’s too heavy. I need help.” Now I am writing to say the same thing to you. “Please, help. It’s too heavy. I can’t lift it alone.”
Many wonderful people are stepping forward. Some have given gifts of $275 to buy an upper school chair that will bear their name. Several have written larger checks. Recently, a ninety-two year old gentleman made arrangements for the Academy to be the recipient of all memorial gifts in his name.
Will you join the effort? For us, this is a critical month. We need gifts both small and great. We need a few citizens willing to invest significantly in the one thing that really matters—what John Locke called “the principling of youth.” Together we can and will restore the classical common school to our town—and country. To that end, I remain,
T.R. Ahlstrom
Chairman & CEO
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