Why should our child begin the Angelicum Great Books Program at age 14 or 15?

Why should our child begin the Angelicum Great Books Program at age 14 or 15?

Some of the Angelicum Great Books Students in DC

1. STUDENTS HAVE THE TIME THEN, OFTEN NOT LATER: As Dr. Mortimer J. Adler wrote in the article cited below: “If we are going to have general human schooling in this country, it has to be accomplished in the first twelve years of compulsory schooling…” Dr. Adler noted that the responsibilities and financial pressures of college costs, adulthood and marriage effectively end the availability of sufficient leisure time necessary for general, liberal educational opportunities for most college-age students, in favor narrow specialized, vocational education. Twenty years later, in 1990 Adler reaffirmed his view that the Great Books – the “ backbone of liberal education” as Adler called them – should be studied in the high school years, before age eighteen: “As far as the United States is concerned, the reorganization of the educational system would make it possible for the system to make its contribution to the liberal education of the young by the time they reached the age of eighteen…The tremendous waste of time in the American educational system must result in part from the fact that there is so much time to waste.” (The Great Conversation by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler; 2nd Ed., 1990, p.55; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., Chicago)

2. THE HUMANITIES CAN AND SHOULD BE COMPLETED AT THAT AGE: Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain held virtually the identical view as Dr. Adler on this matter: ”I advance the opinion, incidentally, that, in the general educational scheme, it would be advantageous to hurry the four years of college, so that the period of undergraduate studies would extend from sixteen to nineteen. The BA would be awarded at the end of the college years [at 19 years of age], as crowning the humanities…” (Education at the Crossroads)

3. EARLY EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT: Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker (University of Chicago) says studies show that by age 16 government job-training programs for 16-year-olds do not succeed because they cannot overcome the failure to learn skills in the first 16 years.

Angelicum Student Attending a Great Books Online Class

4. IT SAVES LOTS OF MONEY: Private four-year colleges now cost approximately $25,000 per year, $100,000 for a degree(= about $750-800 per credit hour). The Angelicum Great Books Program high school credit track is only about $995 per year, or $83 per credit hour ($75 with early enrollment discount through July 5th). The college credit track costs only $2,950 per year, or $249 per credit hour (only $221 with early enrollment discount through July 5th).

5. IT IS AFFORDABLE FOR FAMILIES: The Angelicum Payment Plan will reserve a seat in the class of your choosing for only 10% down. The other 90% is payable in 9 monthly installments of 10% each, beginning September 1, 2012. For the high school credit track that is only $99 down, and $99 each month, beginning September 1, through May. For the college track, that is only $295 down, and $295 per month, September through May. The Angelicum Academy offers a generous 50% tuition reduction for all other siblings (may not be combined with other discounts).

6. STUDENTS MAY WITHDRAW AT ANY TIME WITHOUT FURTHER OBLIGATION: Students may withdraw at any time, and upon 72 hours notice to us (an email is fine) no further payments and no penalties are due. It’s a low risk way to test the actual classes. By the way, despite our generous withdrawal policy, our withdrawal rate runs only about 5% over the full academic year (i.e., 95% complete the full academic year. The U.S. college graduation rate currently stands at about 50 percent, according to the New York Times.