Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss accreditation and the fact that is neither necessary nor a guarantor of excellence in schools.

It is commonly held that "Schools must be accredited." But who says, and what is accreditation? What does it do? What are its limitations? We've heard people say, "You can't get into to college if you go to a school that isn't accredited." And yet, STMA, which has never even sought accreditation, has a 100% college placement record over 20 years. Every graduate has successfully placed into four year colleges, including some of the most selective in the country. Add to this the number of homeschool students that go to schools like Harvard and Princeton every year, and it's easy to see that a statement like that is false on its face. More to the point, there are thousands of schools in the United States that are accredited, but truly terrible schools. So in today's episode we take a deeper dive into the myth of accreditation. 

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, Charles McCants and Kelly Jackson discuss work ethic as it relates to being a student with good academic outcomes.

As teachers and administrators an ongoing challenge is trying to understand why some otherwise very good students don't seem to get the grade outcomes the (or their parents) hope for at the end of term. But when we look closely at those students that earn top outcomes, we see a consistent attribute: a strong work ethic. 

In this episode, we discuss what that looks like with a fundamental understanding that learning is not about mindless passive consumption, but proactive, positive engagement and hardworking in class and outside of class when studying. Put more simply, students with the best outcomes are almost always mindful proactive producers. But a real challenge in our modern world is that countless media corporations are doing everything in their power to make passive consumption as effortless as possible, and a lot of their energy is directed at our young people. 

In response to a parent request, Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss leadership formation for children.

Upon reflection, it seems that leadership really comes down to some very fundamental ideas: Authority, trust, and responsibility. Looking to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, as the ultimate leader, we understand that his authority was not his own, it was given to him by his Father in Heaven, who loves and trusts him with the responsibility of the salvation of the world - and leading souls to it perpetually. From this we can understand that parents, and by extension teachers, are given authority and responsibility over and for their children. In love, we then grant age appropriate authority and responsibility to our children over tasks that start small and grow over time. Chores, academic work, even free play time can be ways in which we form the attributes necessary in children to be good leaders as adults. We hope this conversation is as thought provoking for listeners as it was for us in thinking through what it means to form faithful and virtuous leaders. 

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed 

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss how STMA handles academic and behavioral formation conversations. 

Understanding that we should properly model relationships on the Holy Trinity, and by extension the family as a foundational human relationship, at STMA, academic and behavioral formation is not a bureaucratic or institutional process. We look to the faithful and functional family as the model for how we might address any challenges that arise during a student's time at STMA. This approach may be unique for some parents based on experiences at other schools, or their own experience in school. Our belief is that our human and spiritual formation should not be a matter of demerits, strikes, and detentions, but rather relational conversations ordered to best outcomes. We hope this episode will help to explain our approach to this aspect of student engagement. 

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Lief Babin.

Going chapter by chapter we discuss how the leadership principles learned by officers leading the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War can apply to our roles as parents, students, and teachers as we work together for best outcomes. 

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants continue discussing what it means to trust the process at STMA. 

Pastores Dabo Vobis - Pope St. John Paul II

Art of Manliness Podcast: The Power of Team Captains

Deacon Brad Watkins, Dr. Jake Noland, and Charles McCants discuss what it means to trust the process at STMA. 

Deacon Brad and Dr. Noland discuss Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder

Welcome to the St. Thomas More Academy podcast.  Deacon Brad Watkins, Headmaster of the Academy, is joined by Dr. Jake Noland, our STMA Dean of Faculty, to talk about the formation of the whole person, especially young men and women in the Catholic liberal arts tradition, all to the greater glory of God. Thank you for this download and taking the time to listen. We hope it is helpful.

In this episode we try to figure out how to podcast again and have a conversation about the state of the school since our last episode at the time of the 2020 shelter at home orders due to the Covid pandemic. 

Links to videos discussed in the podcast:

Education at the Crossroads Episode number 1 with Mr. Robert Luddy

Education at the Crossroads Episode number 3 with Deacon Brad Watkins and Dr. Jake Noland