Blog Posts

Understanding Intellectual Virtues at Warner Christian Academy
At Warner Christian Academy, we believe education is about more than helping students acquire knowledge. Knowledge and academic skills matter, but so does the kind of person a student is becoming as he or she learns.

Our mission is to partner with families in shaping students into the image of Christ by helping them discover Truth in academics, athletics, and the arts. Our vision is to form and send graduates who are Christlike in character and intellectually virtuous—ready to pursue Truth, lead with wisdom, and impact their communities, for God's glory.

That phrase—intellectually virtuous—is important.

An intellectually virtuous student doesn't simply know things. He or she develops good habits for asking questions, thinking carefully, listening humbly, evaluating ideas, and persevering when understanding is difficult.

These are intellectual virtues.

What Are Intellectual Virtues?
A virtue is a good habit of character. Just as we want students to develop honesty, kindness, courage, patience, and self-control, we want them to develop good habits in the way they think and learn. WCA uses a framework of nine intellectual virtues divided into 3 categories. See last Spring’s blog posts for more on these virtues and how they can be enhanced at home! (Curiosity, Humility, Autonomy, Attentiveness, Carefulness, Open-mindedness, Courage, Tenacity)

• Virtues of Intellectual Inquiry
  How we approach the desire to know
  •    Curiosity: A desire to know, understand, discover, and explore.
  •    Humility: Recognizing the limits of our knowledge and being willing to learn, listen, admit mistakes, and revise our thinking.
  •    Autonomy: Learning to think for oneself rather than simply accepting what others say.
   
• Virtues of Intellectual Care
  How we process what we encounter
  •    Attentiveness: Giving appropriate attention to what we see, hear, read, and consider.
  •    Carefulness: Taking care to think accurately, precisely, and responsibly.
  •    Thoroughness: Pursuing an issue deeply enough to understand it rather than settling for a superficial answer.
   
• Virtues of Intellectual Engagement
  How we respond when thinking becomes difficult
  •    Open-mindedness: Being willing to seriously consider perspectives and evidence that differ from our own.
  •    Courage: Being willing to think, question, speak, and pursue Truth even when it is difficult or unpopular.
  •    Tenacity: Continuing to pursue understanding when intellectual work becomes difficult or frustrating.

Why Do Intellectual Virtues Matter?
Christian education should not simply produce students who know more facts. We want students who know how to seek Truth well.

God is the source of Truth. His creation is worth knowing. His Word is worthy of careful attention. Other people are worthy of being heard and understood. Ideas are worthy of thoughtful examination.

At the same time, we recognize that we are limited and fallible. We can misunderstand, make mistakes, become intellectually lazy, or believe something simply because everyone around us believes it. Intellectual virtues help students develop habits that allow them to pursue Truth faithfully and wisely. In this sense, intellectual formation is part of Christian formation.

How Do Intellectual Virtues Develop?
A preschooler does not demonstrate intellectual virtue in exactly the same way as a high school senior.
But both are developing the same virtues. The difference is the maturity, independence, depth, and sophistication with which those virtues are expressed.

• Preschool: WONDER
  “The world is worth noticing.”
  Students learn to:
  •    Ask questions
  •    Explore
  •    Notice
  •    Listen
  •    Try unfamiliar things
  •    Admit when they don't know
  •    Try again
  At this stage, intellectual virtue often looks like wonder.
   
• Lower Elementary K–2: DISCOVER
  “I can learn about the world.”
  Students learn to:
  •    Ask meaningful questions
  •    Explain their thinking
  •    Listen to others
  •    Check their work
  •    Consider another answer
  •    Admit mistakes
  •    Try again when something doesn't work
  Students begin moving from simply wondering to actively discovering.
   
• Upper Elementary 3–5: INVESTIGATE
  “I can pursue answers.”
  Students learn to:
  •    Ask better questions
  •    Gather information
  •    Give reasons for conclusions
  •    Examine evidence
  •    Consider alternatives
  •    Revise their thinking
  •    Work through increasingly difficult problems
  They begin moving from “What is the answer?” toward “How can I find out?”
   
• Middle School 6–8: EVALUATE
  “I can examine what I think and why I think it.”
  Students learn to:
  •    Identify assumptions
  •    Evaluate evidence
  •    Distinguish fact from opinion
  •    Recognize weaknesses in reasoning
  •    Consider perspectives different from their own
  •    Question their own assumptions
  •    Revise conclusions
  •    Persevere through complexity
  The goal isn't for students to become skeptical of everything. It is to become thoughtful evaluators of what they encounter.
   
• High School 9–12: PURSUE TRUTH
  “I am responsible for how I think, what I believe, and how I pursue Truth.”
  Students increasingly learn to:
  •    Investigate questions independently
  •    Think for themselves
  •    Recognize the limits of their knowledge
  •    Evaluate arguments and evidence
  •    Consider serious counterarguments
  •    Listen to perspectives with which they disagree
  •    Pursue difficult questions
  •    Revise their thinking when warranted
  •    Courageously pursue Truth even when it is difficult
  Our goal is not simply that students leave WCA knowing a great deal.
  We want them to leave knowing how to pursue Truth for the rest of their lives.

This Is Not “One More Thing”
Intellectual virtues are not another subject students have to take. They are habits that can be cultivated through the learning students are already doing.

• A science teacher can cultivate curiosity, attentiveness, carefulness, and thoroughness through an experiment.
• A history teacher can cultivate open-mindedness, intellectual humility, and autonomy by examining competing historical accounts.
• A mathematics teacher can cultivate tenacity, carefulness, and autonomy through challenging problems.
• An English teacher can cultivate attentiveness, thoroughness, open-mindedness, and courage through close reading and discussion.
• Bible teachers can cultivate all nine by asking students to read carefully, ask questions, examine interpretations, listen to others, and pursue Truth faithfully.

Intellectual virtues belong everywhere learning happens.

A Partnership Between School and Home
We believe parents are the primary educators of their children, and WCA is privileged to partner with families in that work. The development of intellectual virtues doesn't stop when the school day ends. Some of the best opportunities happen naturally around the dinner table, in the car, while reading, during a family discussion, or when a child encounters something he or she doesn't understand.
Imagine a child saying:

“I don't know.”
Rather than immediately providing the answer, a parent might say:
“That's okay. Sometimes saying ‘I don't know’ is intellectual humility. Let's see if we can find out.”

A child struggling with homework:
“This is hard, but you're not finished yet. What could you try next?”
That's tenacity.

A teenager encountering an opinion with which he disagrees:
“Before you decide that person is wrong, can you explain what they actually believe?”
That’s open-mindedness.

Ordinary moments can become opportunities to form extraordinary habits of mind.

From Foundations to Readiness
This is ultimately what we mean when we say From FOUNDATIONS to READINESS.

• We begin with young children who wonder.
• We help them discover.
• We teach them to investigate.
• We challenge them to evaluate.

And eventually, we send young men and women into the world prepared to pursue Truth with wisdom, humility, courage, and perseverance.

We want WCA graduates who are not merely knowledgeable, but intellectually virtuous.

• Students who love learning.
• Students who ask good questions.
• Students who can say, “I don't know.”
• Students who think carefully and listen humbly.
• Students who can disagree charitably.
• Students who aren't afraid of difficult questions.
• Students who can recognize when they are wrong.
• Students who keep going when learning becomes difficult.

And ultimately, students who understand that all Truth is God's Truth and who are prepared to pursue it faithfully, for His glory.

This is part of what it means to be a Warner Christian Academy student.

Soli Deo Gloria