American Classical Leadership Education®
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
Classical education, and so much more!
The goal of the American Classical Leadership Education® is a great citizen and noble soul who seeks truth, is schooled by wisdom, and has the virtue to act on that wisdom.
At our academy, we prepare future leaders and statesmen through a principle-based education rooted in the classics and guided by great mentors. Our scholars engage in a rich classical liberal arts curriculum encompassing history, literature, mathematics, science, the arts, language, and leadership preparation.
To understand this model, we look to America’s great servant leaders. Some, like Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, had formal classical educations. Others—Washington, Douglass, Franklin, and Abigail Adams—were self-taught through the study of the classics and the influence of wise mentors. All were grounded in liberty and inspired to pursuit truth, virtue, and wisdom.
A servant leader is a self-governing citizen who is dedicated to causes greater than self, in particular, the cultivation, propagation, and defense of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for self and others. A servant leader pursues these high causes by courageously applying truth, wisdom, and virtue as he or she leads others through service.
A servant leader is driven by an inner compass of virtues and core values, with a natural desire to serve and empower others. This is not about being subservient but about the sincere desire to help others. A servant leader has the vision to see what is and what could be, and has the will and abilities needed to move self and others toward the ideal. A servant leader has the courage to apply the virtues even at their testing point.
American Classical Servant Leadership®, is John Adams Academy's unique ideal of the intentionality of leadership and the tradition of American's who have answered the call to serve the common good.
Our scholars follow the American Classical Servant Leadership® example by studying original sources, engaging in Socratic dialogue, and discovering how timeless ideas shape today’s world. At the heart of it all is liberty—the foundation upon which the four pillars of our educational philosophy stand.
It is liberty, not force, that constitutes the basis of an education of a free people.
John Adams Academy’s American Classical Leadership Education® is a liberty-based education that leads a scholar to servant leadership through the pursuit of truth and the development of virtue and wisdom.
What is leadership education?
Leadership education develops thinkers, leaders, inventors, citizens, entrepreneurs and statesman. It educates individuals “how to think” and teaches them why it is important.
Robert Hutchins said this type of education is "the education of free men in the knowledge and skills that are needed to remain free."
Classically educated leaders are prepared to motivate and inspire individuals, communities and nations to a greater good in an environment of freedom and prosperity that naturally produces the best society has to offer.
4 Pillars of an American Classical Leadership Education®
Standing upon the firm foundation of liberty are the pillars of an American Classical Leadership Education®.
The core values are the culture that enriches the fertile environment for the development of servant leaders. They are the language or currency used to express our leadership and character-building educational program.
The art of mentoring is the liberty-based art by which scholars are mentored and led through the liberal arts and the classics while respecting the sovereign nature and intrinsic worth of the scholar.
It is through the pillar of the classics that a scholar engages in the Great Conversation that asks age old questions, and thereby discovers what is good, true, and beautiful. As with our national founders, classics hold the potential to transform a scholar into a wiser and more liberated servant leader.
Whereas classics provide the content of our program, the liberal arts provide the practice. The liberal arts are the arts a scholar must cultivate to become liberated from ignorance and ennobled to virtuous and dignified thinking and acting. They are also the arts of a free society.
Scholars, Not Students
At John Adams Academy, we refer to learners as “scholars” rather than “students.” The term “scholar” denotes someone who takes stewardship of their own education—an individual inspired by and passionate about learning, who sees education as both a gift and a responsibility.
The word “scholar” is rooted in the concept of leisure: in Greek, skole; in Latin, schola; and in English, school. In the classical tradition, leisure does not imply idleness or distraction, but rather a thoughtful, self-driven pursuit of truth, wisdom, and virtue. Those who had the time and freedom to devote themselves to such pursuits were said to possess leisure.
This form of intellectual and moral leisure gives rise to philosophers, poets, mathematicians, scientists, inventors, and statesmen. To be a true scholar begins with a humble awareness of one’s own ignorance and a deep desire to know. This, in turn, cultivates a willingness to ask meaningful questions, to listen intently, and to invest the effort required to uncover truth.
Scholars possess an insatiable appetite for what is good, true, and beautiful—and they eagerly seek mentors to guide them. A scholar does not simply meet expectations; they elevate the learning experience through curiosity and dedication. At John Adams Academy, every member of our community strives to live out the noble calling of being a scholar.
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