About Quiddity, its authors & the CiRCE Institute

Hi, I’m Andrew Kern, president of the CiRCE Institute and author of this blog. I’m also the Academic Dean of the Regent Schools of the Carolinas, a group growing a system of Christian classical schools in and around Charlotte, NC and a board member of the Society for Classical Learning.

When I was a boy, I read CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia - over and over again. What I didn’t realize then, but do now, is that I was being introduced to Christian classical education. The story comes first. Later on, when my oldest (born in 1986) was a little boy of three or four and my wife, Karen, and I were thinking about how to educate him, Christian classical education made perfect sense to me. 

When I was in college I had been introduced to the Medieval curriculum in a class on the Middle Ages. I heard someone do a workshop on the trivium at a home school conference in Wisconsin, and I’m pretty sure, looking back, that it must have been the Bluedorn’s. Then, in 1993, I discovered The Lost Tools of Learning, an essay by Dorothy Sayers, in the appendix of a book by Douglas Wilson called Recovering The Lost Tools of Learning.

At that time, I helped start Providence Academy, a classical and Christian school in Green Bay, WI. Meanwhile, I finished college and was graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts from Concordia University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Dr. Gene Edward Veith mentored me. Shortly afterward, Dr. Veith and I co-authored the book Classical Education, The Movement Sweeping America, now in its second edition.

I have been directly involved in the establishment of three Christian classical schools and am now involved in launching a system of schools here in Charlotte, NC. I have provided training in Christian classical theory and methodology for hundreds of teachers in over 75 schools since 1996, and have consulted with still more on institutional development and start-up. My consulting is part of the ministry of the CiRCE Institute, which I have been directing full time since the summer of 2000.

In 1984 I married Karen and we have borne and bred three boys and two girls: David, Matthew, Katerina, Larissa, and Andrew. David and Matthew attend UNC-Charlotte, Katie is a senior at Covenant Classical School of Concord, where Karen teaches, and hopes to attend Hillsdale College next year, Larissa is a Sophomore at CCS and wants to dance more, and Andrew is in 7th grade and wants to eat at KFC.

My family is deeply devoted to the Green Bay Packers, I love baseball, and I swim to keep in shape when the weather is perfect and my body allows it ; ). If I have a hobby, it is a story I am working on called The Last Knollard (or something like that).

A blog isn’t much use if there is no dialogue, so I’m very anxious to hear from you, my guest, through the comments link below. In particular, I’d like to know how you learned about and/or became involved in classical education. If you feel particularly ambitious, I’d like you to present a metaphor for education, with, if you like, a paragraph or two describing why you that metaphor speaks to you. Finally, if you have any suggestions for making this blog more valuable to you, I’m all ears!

Besides commenting in the public forum, you can reach me by E-mail me at akern@circeinstitute.org.

By the way, Quiddity is Latin for “whatness” - the essence of things, which is what we at the CiRCE Institute are trying to figure out, at least in relation to Christian classical education.

So what’s the CiRCE story? What should you expect when you’re conversing with us?

I may as well admit that, while I aspire to be a Gandalf or a Socrates, my sense of humor makes me something of a Jerry Lewis. People tell me I’m intense and people tell me I’m funny. Some people tell my I’m intensely funny and others tell me I’m funnily intense. I can’t resist wordplay, and sometimes I strike out.

CiRCE is an example of wordplay. At first, it stood for the Center for Independent Research on Classical Education. When I thought of it, I laughed so hard I nearly crashed my Pontiac 6000 into the telephone post on Shawano Ave. opposite my father’s restaurant. I never thought it would be heard in public, so I kept it for tax purposes while I wrote Classical Education: Towards the Revival of American Schooling.

Then CiRCE started to grow - people wanted me to speak at conferences, to train teachers in their schools, to provide advice (that’s where I started to get the Gandalf complex…). I had to decide: should I keep this name of a sorceress from the Odyssey, or should I smarten up and do something sensible.

As you can see, I didn’t smarten up or do something sensible. Instead, I contemplated the name and did some research. I prayed too. And here’s what I found out: CiRCE comes from the Greek word transliterated Kirke (there’s a surprise for you!). Kirke, in turn, shares the root of Kuriakos and comes from the same stem. Kuriakos, in turn, means: belonging to the Lord. It is the word from which we get our word (get this!) Church!

When I discovered this, I knew I had to keep it. My first love is Christ, and that love is expressed toward His bride/body. CiRCE Institute makes its insights, information, and inspiration available to anyone who wants to discuss classical education. But we are a Christian organization, and we believe that Christian classical education is both the fulfillment of education and the fulfillment of classicism.

Another reason we kept the name CiRCE is because it fits our slightly off-kilter sense of humor. After all, Circe transforms men into pigs and lions. Well, the way we see it, education is the process of transforming animals into humans! What could better express that idea.

Finally, this is not well known, but the sorceress Circe ended up giving up her practice. If you read creatively between the lines, you’ll see that she was standing at a distance when Paul was preaching on Crete. She was converted by the experience and decided from that point onward to serve others instead of following the fatal temptation of all teachers: transforming others into her own personal tastes.

So here we are, seeking to aid people who don’t just want to school children, but yearn to see them flourish as men and women made in the Divine Image. We are widely regarded as the place to go when you want to train your teachers, communicate the vision of Christian classical education within your school community, or otherwise think hard about what you are doing with education. And we have the best conference for Christian classical educators.

If you want to see students transformed through their experience in your school or home school, we’re here for you.
If you want to think about the heart of Christian classical education, we’re here for you.
If you want to learn how to integrate your curriculum (which requires trained teachers as much as a scope and sequence), we’re here for you.
If you want to learn how to teach classically, going beyond imposing modern methods on old books, we’re here for you.

If you just want formulas, we probably aren’t what you’re looking for.

Otherwise, we’re here for you. Write to us and let us know how we can serve you and how we can improve what we’re doing!

The picture on our blog header is from St. Wolfgang in the Austrian Alps. It’s where Karen and I spent a week with my dad and step-mom the summer before my dad went home. Austria is undeniably one of the most beautiful places on earth - this picture shows you a quarter mile of that beauty.

The Other Author: 

Hello!  My name is Brian Phillips.  I am in my third year at Covenant Classical School in Concord, NC.  There I teach Upper School Humanities, Logic, and Greek.  Additionally, I serve Covenant as the Dean of Classical Studies.  I have earned a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Southeastern College, a M.A. in Theological Studies, and am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Humanities. 

My wonderful wife, Shannon, and I have been married for seven years and are blessed with a baby daughter, Temperance. 

At CiRCE, I serve as the Managing Editor of the CiRCE Papers and work in marketing.  I am honored to be a part of an organization so valuable to the Christian and Classical Education movement.  Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings on Quiddity.  Enjoy!