Classical Education for all

The Math and Latin Academy is the brainchild of a passionate, energetic, and inspiring creator, the woman who hired me. We had met years ago, when she was working on her Master's in Classics, and I tutored her in Latin. She knew that I was passionate about teaching Latin, and she invited me to come down from my home in Maine to New York for six weeks to teach Latin, mythology-- which I did. By the end of this summer’s program, after she had interviewed and chosen instructors, designed the curriculum, hired a wonderful caterer to provide lunches for 30 students five days a week for six weeks, arranged archery lessons and field trips and trips to the park, figured out the transportation, rented classroom space, selected and ordered the books, handled every aspect of the finances, dealt daily with students and teachers and parents and vendors, and still managed to teach every day for six weeks, she arrived back at school after the final day picnic, and found several of her brightest and best students weeping. This is how she describes it:

On the last day of the academy, when their parents had come to pick them up, Kweku and Justin began crying. For a least half an hour after his father had arrived Kweku was inconsolable. When I found out why he and a bunch of other kids were crying, I didn’t believe it. I was sure that they were either playing a prank, or they had gotten into some sort of argument on their way back from the barbeque in the park. But no, they were desolate because this challenging academic program had come to an end.

Though it had been a great six weeks, I was relieved that the whole program was finally over. As happens every year at the end of the six weeks, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. The tuition for this summer program is never enough to cover all of the expenses. So I always end up wearing a million and one different hats and going into short and long-term debt to keep this dream alive. For the past four years, I have been determined to give these children an unforgettable summer. Latin, archery, Greek mythology, Roman numerals, St. Augustine, sandcastles on the beach, the Met Museum, and the best jerk chicken in town…


But I fear that I am finally running out of steam. The Math and Latin Academy needs money. Raising the tuition is not the answer. I don’t want the parents who decided to take a chance on us, and who ended up being pleasantly surprised, to find themselves priced out. I want to continue to keep my excellent liberal arts instructors and interns on the rolls, and to hire more. I also want to encourage the same parents who took a chance on us, to watch what we do with their kids, so that they can have the confidence to begin homeschooling their kids even if it’s only part-time. But most of all, I want classical Christian education to have its say in the inner city. Nothing else is working, but this is.