Middle and high school students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won’t argue well without good training. Students who complete Scholé Academy’s logic courses will know how to reason with clarity, relevance, and purpose . . . and have fun along the way! They will study and master 28 logical fallacies, which will provide an essential lifetime framework for filtering good and bad reasoning as well as writing and speaking effectively. The mastery of informal and formal logic is the foundation by which other subjects are evaluated, assessed, and learned. Scholé Academy’s informal logic and formal logic courses use the award-winning texts The Art of Argument and The Discover of Deduction respectively.

Families should be aware that the courses are designed not only to teach the fundamentals of logical thought, but also to provide students with opportunities to put those skills into practice. Throughout the year, students will be presented with and guided through class discussions featuring a wide array of debatable topics, controversial political issues, and even some disputes within the Christian traditions. Students are expected to engage in these conversations as Saint Peter instructs: “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Students will be encouraged to share these conversations with the parents, using the in-class discussions as a springboard for robust conversation at home.

“Without guidance of reason, man is utterly incapable of making the least use of his own strength.”  

—H.S. Gerdil, The Anti-Emile