PAIDEIA

Paideia is the Greek word for the 'whole' education of the child in preparation for citizenship and life. 

PAIDEIA (pay-dee-a) from the Greek pais, paidos: the upbringing of a child. A system of education and training in classical Greek and Hellenistic cultures that included such subjects as gymnastics, grammar, rhetoric, music, mathematics, geography, natural history, and philosophy. In the early Christian era the Greek paideia, called humanitas in Latin, served as a model for Christian institutions of higher learning, such as the Christian School of Alexandria in Egypt, which offered theology as the culminating science of their curricula. The term was combined with enkyklios (“complete system,” or “circle”) to identify a large compendium of general education, hence “encyclopaedia.”

A modern day Paideia Educational program was developed recently.  In 1982, the philosopher Mortimer Adler, joined with a diverse cadre of educators and intellectuals to form the Paideia Group. Its members created a list of "Paideia Principles" as a summary of ideas that was introduced by Adler in his seminal work on American education, The Paideia Proposal. These principles were intended to be used by educators in an effort to improve American schools.  While Adler's suggested principles of education are not directly related to the Paideia Preschool program, they focus on the importance of critical thinking in early education and we highly recommend this book for those interested about the education of their child.  The Paideia Proposal above all is an example of how the Hellenic emphasis of teaching children 'how to think' as opposed to a focus on 'what to think' still has relevance in education today.

The St. Katherine Paideia Bilingual Preschool & Nursery will incorporate the ancient Hellenistic Paideia emphasis on instilling a love of learning as well as in educating the 'whole' person, with a supportive classroom environment that encourages children to learn from each other and to become self-motivated, independent and life-long learners.

The St. Katherine Paideia Bilingual Preschool Program recognizes the value of using a wholistic approach to the education of our children and strives to help every child achieve their educational potential.

It is our Goal that no child in our Church Community will be turned away from the Greek Orthodox Paideia Preschool.

GREEK EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Greek education in the United States dates all the way back to 1776, as that is the year the first Greek School was built in St. Augustine Florida.  Today, one of the most popular and successful Greek-American schools, Archimedean Schools, founded in 2002, has recently been ranked 2 out of 799 schools in the state of Florida, with a waiting list of over 1000 students from all ethnic backgrounds.

At the Archimedean Schools, students are required to take classes 2.5 hours a day in Greek, not just language courses, but other subjects as well. This is a testament to the growing demand for these types of schools. Read the full article.