Vision
Mission
Core Values (Greater Things in Life) Vision
Mission
At Nampa Classical Academy we provide a quality, classical liberal arts education based upon the Hillsdale Academy Educational Model. The model uses Trivium Based Curriculum (TBC) and the best intellectual and cultural traditions of Western Civilization and integrating our nation's foundational tenets. By doing so, we give our students excellent opportunity to develop character, discipline, and wisdom through application and example. In the use of our core values, which we refer to as The Greater Things in Life, the students are equipped to live a noble life which allows them to discover and pursue their destiny.
Core Values (Greater Things in Life)
Nampa Classical Academy's core values are reflected in its vision and mission statement. This establishes our school's culture. Nampa Classical Academy endeavors to educate students to become successful, knowledgeable, productive and independent members of a free society. A solid preparation in the fundamental academic skills of phonics, reading, writing and computation is emphasized. The Trivium based curriculum incorporates the best Western traditions and thought, as well as the best of proven contemporary innovative teaching techniques with a creative, democratic, virtuous, and ethical centered approach. Nampa Classical Academy's staff is valued by students and parents alike as role models for their intelligence, creative teaching ability, dedication, loyalty, and character. Regular communication is vital to keep parents informed of progress and to allow them to adjust to changes in the necessary home support for the educational needs of the student.
Nampa Classical Academy's stakeholders are charged with the responsibility of committing to, and carrying out, the vision and mission statement. We believe the student is responsible for what he or she learns, and we reject the fashionable notion of self-esteem as the objective of education. We believe genuine self-esteem arises only through the result of academic accomplishments, right behavior, and proper regard for others. We cultivate a learning environment that encourages full development of the greater things in life.
In a society where the Latin phrase "in loco parentis" has become relegated into obscurity, society as a whole has lost sight of any need for intellectual or ethical discipline. Nampa Classical Academy represents a recommitment to in loco parentis as identified through the Greater Things in Life. Nampa Classical Academy will exercise the legal doctrine of in loco parentis (Latin for "in place of a parent;" a person or institution that assumes parental rights and duties for a minor") to the benefit of both the parents and students, thus enabling an education that excels in all areas and incorporates the Greater Things in Life. When parents bring their children to Nampa Classical Academy, they can expect their children to receive the intellectual and character training that they themselves would provide as required for an orderly and civilized society. For example, in a recent (2007) Supreme Court ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas sided with the majority opinion against a young man who had displayed an offensive and immoral banner at a school event. Justice Thomas and the Court sided with the principal of the school who disciplined the young man, and against his parents. Here the tradition of in loco parentis lay at the core decision, despite the fact that the boy's parents had no intention of making their son faithful, free and noble. In his argument, Justice Thomas wrote:
Like their private counterparts, early public schools were not places for freewheeling debates or exploration of competing ideas. Rather, teachers instilled 'a core of common values' in students and taught them self-control?Through the legal doctrine of in loco parentis, courts upheld the right of schools to discipline students, to enforce rules, and to maintain order (Deborah Mores, et al. Petitioners v. Joseph Frederick, 551 U.S., 2007).
For Judge Thomas, the erosion of traditional authority in schools erodes the tradition of in loco parentis and, indeed, undermines society as a whole. One can only be encouraged that such an opinion can still be found among those in the highest offices in the land.
At Nampa Classical Academy, part of our core values is the aspiration of what we have identified as the Greater Things in Life:
- Character: being valiant; virtue, goodness; freedom from obscenity, as in language or conversation; abiding by Natural Law and the Law of the Land;
- Charity: love, benevolence, goodwill; caring about others;
- Civility: refinement of manners; politeness, courtesy; respect of others; gratitude; habitual neatness and cleanness;
- Destiny: a specific purpose for which one is set apart; something for which a person is destined;
- Discipline: temperance; moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions; self-control; training that perfects mental faculties and moral character;
- Excellence: eminently good; outstanding, superior; anything meritorious or virtuous;
- Industry and Thrift: habitual effort, hard work; careful management of money and goods;
- Integrity: wholeness; moral soundness and purity; honesty; genuine, unadulterated; having actions consistent with knowledge of right and wrong;
- Service: serving one another, putting someone's needs before one's own wants;
- Loyalty: fidelity, faithfulness, firm adherence to allegiance and duty; courage to stand for right and just causes;
- Originality and Creativity: being imaginative, inspired, ingenious, inventive, resourceful; having vision;
- Patriotism: love of one's country; having passion to serve one's country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws.
