Upper School Curriculum

Being a classical school means that Westminster is a liberal arts school that focuses on a holistic approach to education by engaging students in “the great conversation” – the timeless debate of ideas through the ages – and teaching them to think and reason.

As a liberal arts school, Westminster does not teach subjects in isolation; but instead it recognizes that knowledge is inter-related.  Students are shown the connection between subjects and how they all come together to form one picture of the world.  The most prominent example of this is the humanities courses.  History and literature are combined and taught together so that the literature is read in the context of the time in which it was written.  This allows the students to see that the historical context shapes the literature and that the ideas of the literature in turn drove the development of history.

In the humanities classes, students read original sources and the great books that have stood the test of time.  This allows the students to stretch their ability to comprehend difficult works and to read directly what the authors wrote rather then depend upon interpretations provided by others.  Classes are discussion-based, and the students examine the ideas they have read and engage in constructive debates about these ideas and how they contribute to their worldview.

Furthermore, students are not merely taught facts, but they learn the reasoning behind them.  In the science and math classes, students are not just taught formulas and how to plug in numbers; but they are taught the reasons that the formulas work and the concepts that drive them. Students also study logic and rhetoric so that they can reason and express themselves well through both speaking and writing.

The upper school curriculum assumes the traditional division of the middling years and the more advanced years. In grades 7-8, emphasis is placed mostly upon the acquisition of the basic skills of algebra, reading, writing, grammar, and logic. In grades 9-12, students enter into the more advanced levels of the various subjects.

Two capstone experiences at Westminster occur in the senior year. Our Seniors travel for two weeks on a “Grand Tour” of Greece and Italy. Then in late spring, each Senior must defend before the entire school community a twenty-page thesis.