Slow Geometry

I hear of a school where the Geometry class has been made more efficient by computers.

Kids don’t need a ruler and compass anymore, as their homework and tests consist of multiple choice answers to questions about provided diagrams. They do no proofs, selecting instead the correct answer as a ‘given’. Sigh…

This is awful! Geometry is about connection to the physical world! It is about constructing lines, triangles, equal angles, polygons and all that! How will a student wonder at the amazing development of man’s mind in correspondence to the actuality of form in the created world if Geometry is presented as an abstract, mental construct? How will they appreciate mathematics as a language of God if Geometry – the subject which links the logos of verbal and numerical reasoning – does not involve them in the work of construction and logical proof by which the physical and metaphysical realms are realized through and in persons??

How can they take time to wonder at the beauty of geometry in nature, or to experience the sense that Creation is speaking to them in the voice of the Creator, or bears His ‘fingerprint’? When will they marvel at the many hidden and holy correspondences that Geometry makes visible, if they race through a multiple-choice, virtual-geometry universe?? Will they place themselves in the shoes of the earliest geometers, who watched, enthralled, as the order of the universe emerged through their minds as though a window had opened to the home of the gods? Will they use geometric symbolism in their works of art, as did all the major religious artists of Christendom?

The Chesterton Academy will, needless to say, not be taking this approach! That’s one of many reasons I’m excited about opening to students in 2022.