Engaging in “Great Conversation”
The Rhetoric School invites students to engage in the “Great Conversation” through a sequence of study designed to develop leadership, academic initiative, and spiritual maturity. Classes are structured to encourage self-expression and applied knowledge, while intentionally approaching content from a biblical worldview.
Our goal is to equip students with both the technical skills and moral framework to successfully evaluate decisions of the past, problems of the present, and opportunities of the future. In doing so, the Rhetoric School prepares winsome, virtuous scholars who are inspired to lead others toward that which is true, good, and beautiful.
A hallmark of Rhetoric School education is the Harkness Method. Students are seated around a large oval table – the Harkness Table – where they engage in class discussions that are conversational, rather than lecture-based. As students interact directly with the material through dialogue with one other, they learn to effectively debate and consider differing perspectives.
Additional Activities
Senior ThesisAs a requirement for graduation, each senior writes a thesis essay that is presented to a panel of experts and an audience of peers, teachers, and parents. Students must then respond to questions from the panel and audience. The thesis uniquely prepares students for undergraduate and graduate work, providing them necessary skills in research, writing, and argumentation.
Class Trips
Each year, Rhetoric students take a trip that fosters community bonds and deeper understanding of the world. These experiences range from a poverty simulation during the junior year to a journey to Rome, Italy during the senior year.
Pigfest
Several times a year, Rhetoric students gather with their classmates and members outside of their school community to share a meal and discuss important topics of the day. As students partake in good food and great conversation, they sharpen their respective abilities to engage with and enhance their communities.
Student Reading in The Rhetoric School
10th Grade
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Night, by Elie Wiesel
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Macbeth, by Shakespeare
11th Grade
The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis
The Iliad, by Homer
The Aeneid, by Virgil
Confessions, by Augustine
Purgatorio, by Dante
The Tempest, by Shakespeare
12th Grade
Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Paradise Lost, by John Milton
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
