Where are the Orphans and Widows?
We are the few, the happy few, who get to read Plato with friends and take our students on nature walks and enjoy art museums and classical symphonies. “The happy few?” we challenge. We have sacrificed to get here; we know how little we have in savings and how little promise our 401-Ks hold. We know our village that upholds us and the line-item in our budget for taking dinner to friends in need.
Our adversaries call us the “elite” with our private schools, archaic languages, single-income households, and classical music wafting through the open window. They don’t see the financial poverty that lies behind the riches, so we might ruffle our feathers defensively, “I am anything but elite!” we decree.
But the truth is, they are right. As teachers within the classical renewal and recipients of the Western Tradition, we are the happy few. We hold intellectual, artistic, cultural, and religious riches aplenty. But those aren’t the kind I want to discuss now. I want to walk thinner ice and see how far you’ll walk with me.
If you are a part of classical education, you likely can either afford to send your kids to private school, can afford to live on one income, or you work as a teacher in a classical school. Statistically speaking, only the last in that list fall below or near the poverty line. This is a problem that demands attention, but I will leave that for another day.
Today, I want to ask instead: Where are the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, in the American classical renewal?
I can’t imagine telling a single mom working at Target that American public schools have failed our children and classical education provides the best alternative. What could she possibly do with that information? What happens when those mothers want a classical education for their children but must choose between providing food on the table or paying for an education? If the truth cannot lead to action it leads instead to despair.
Despite this (as yet) unanswered question, we’ve taken great strides. Classical charters schools are popping up all over the country, and an estimated of 20% of classical schools are now charter schools. However, entry to these schools is often very difficult and lottery based, and some classical charter schools are never able to open for lack of community buy-in. And while these schools are free, we can’t assume that means those who most need free education are attending these schools, as about 40% of charter schools are in affluent areas (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools). So while these free classical schools do exist, they are not necessarily serving low-income communities.
Charter schools offering free classical education to low-income families is a great start, but I pray just the beginning. In order for classical schools to open and grow in low-income areas, parents have to choose these schools for their children. The beauty of this renewal is that it grows from the ground up, not the top down: from parents and communities that embrace it. And since 57% of all households living below the poverty line have a single mom, we cannot reach the children in these families without attending to the single mom. I would go so far as to say classical education cannot thrive in America without attending to the single mom.
And how do we attend to her? When will she make it in to school? Will she leave work early? Leave the other children at home? Skip dinner that night? Where is she?
We’ve misplaced the single mom.
Yet we know the best way to increase literacy, nurture culture, and generate true riches is through mothers; this has always been. Mothers in ancient Greece were the keepers of culture and tradition. Mothers in ancient Rome upheld the household by serving as the household priestesses. Mothers in Judaism pass on the religion and heritage through their blood. Mothers in the early Christian church symbolized intercession and salvation and upheld the prayers of the church. Mothers today are the “primary consumer in the household”—so an old, fat man in a tall building tells her she should feel insecure about the evidence of her having done that which he could never do: grant new life. And he sucks her dry while stuffing his pockets. We offer her so little dignity, we ought to be shocked.
If we want, as Hicks says, to “ennoble the masses,” we must attend to the single mom and find her a place within the renewal. She is the one who chooses the baby’s lullaby and reads the children bedtime stories and recites prayers and creeds in the morning. She establishes each household liturgy and every family custom.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10.9 million families in America have only one parent, while 80% of those are led by a single mom. 30% of the these live below the poverty line. This means over 8 million families in America would find it very hard to participate in classical education if they wanted to. The single mom can’t homeschool her kids; she has to work. She can’t send them to private school; they offer few scholarships. She can’t join a co-op; she can’t leave the kids home alone on non-co-op days.
Classical education is painfully inaccessible for the majority of American families. And the above stats are all from 2022! I’ll leave it to you to guess how they’ve changed in 2024.
I ask because I do not know the answer, but I cannot stop wondering, how can we invite these women into classical education? I do not believe that classical education can thrive in America without reaching the poor and needy, and I do not believe it can truly, effectively reach the poor and needy without reaching the mothers.
I have some half-baked ideas that might work as a starting point from which to think. Please share your thoughts so we can all think together on this!
- Funders could offer more scholarships to private schools
- Homeschooling moms could invite children in their neighborhood or church to homeschool with them. Payment could be in goods and services rather than money. Single moms are skilled!
- A single mom could open a Pre-k in her own home. This would allow her to get paid while taking care of her own children.
- People who know and love classical education could volunteer to run community events that introduce the wider community to classical education. Increasing community support would increase the number of charter schools.
- Mothers could reach out to the single moms within their own community and ask how they can support them.
What do you think?
Katerina Kern
Katerina Kern has sought to make Classical Education accessible globally through teaching, consulting, writing, and speaking. She studied Fine Art, Art History, and Classics at UNC-Charlotte and the Liberal Arts at Oxford University, where she earned a Masters in Literature and the Arts. After teaching for five years in Uganda, she recently returned to the US and is an Adjunct Professor at Belmont Abbey Honors College and a Consultant, Researcher, and Editor for the Circe Institute. She particularly enjoys researching Medieval notions of Beauty, the 7 Liberal Arts, Memory, Cosmology, and Mariology. You can follow her research on twitter @RinasResearch.
9 thoughts on “Where are the Orphans and Widows?”
Thank you, Katerina! This is inspiring.
I have been wondering what it would look like if churches pitched in together to open classical schools in their communities. Many churches already have a missions budget to enable them to help homeless ministries, pregnancy centers, women in crisis, etc. Why not something as formative as education?
Thanks so much Katerina! I have been thinking and praying about this for years! I’ve thought about starting a “classical training” for single moms. Something so that they could spend 30 minutes at home in the evenings, supplementing what their kids are getting in school. We could provide easy resources (memory work for kitties to listen to in the car, etc…) if we could get teachers in low income to buy into classical education, they could partner with single moms in this… I would love to continue this discussion!!!
I have been thinking about that as well! Email me at katerina@circeinstitute.org. I’d love to schedule a call to explore these ideas together! In fact, if anyone else reading this wants to join, email me as well! Perhaps we could get a whole group together to discuss.
It’s me! I’m here! Thank you for seeing me and my children. As a single mom, I need to know that my children are worthy of the beauty and excellence that a classical Christian education provides – that it’s not just for the unbroken families.
– We need scholarships or charter schools so we can afford it when the child support doesn’t come through.
– We need after-school support. This could be in the form of after-school programs either as part of a classical school, or stand-alone classically minded programs, or just volunteer “grandparents” that will read great books, help with homework, provide or transport to music lessons, and generally fill in the gaps left by a non-classical school.
– Schools could have clothing closets where families could donate and trade out-grown uniforms. And school supply collection drives.
– Schools can work to provide affordable school lunch programs comparable to what many public schools provide. Most single parent families qualify for reduced of free school lunches in the public schools. And let’s face, making lunches every day is exhausting!
More than anything else, single parents – especially those in particularly difficult coparenting and/or financial situations – need to know that they can hope for something better for their kids. They need to know that they don’t have to settle for public schools, and that their kids are not destined to become just another statistic.
This exact issue has been on my mind for the past year or so. I homeschool my 7yo and 5yo while handling my 1yo. We attend an inner city ministry church. My husband is on the board of a local private, Christian school that is attended by many of the children at our church, mostly thanks to generous private donors. This particular school was once an elite preparatory school. As city demographics changed and sin crept into the admin, things went downhill. Our church has been heavily involved in “resurrecting” it, so to speak. The cost to attend is not nearly as high as most other private schools; however, it is still unattainable for many families in the city. We have a hybrid Classical school in our area, and it is quite expensive. The school we are “involved” with is not a Classical school, but I have this crazy dream to somehow help to “convert” it to a Classical charter school. I just have no idea how to go about it. I’m a SAHM with a very busy husband who honestly is doubtful that even the teachers and admin at this school could be convinced of the need for Classical education. My children don’t even go to this school. However, I want the inner city children who don’t have the option of home education to have a Classical option, especially since the public schools in the city are gradually all shutting down due to lack of funding and poor management. I’m praying the Lord reveals a way to accomplish this dream!
Yes! Thank you for articulating this great need. We have so many great examples from history of how the church has educated one another and the poor! I’m thinking about how secularism now has taken over even Christian education.I think a return to seeing education as a sacred duty for the church instead of a non for profit version of public education is essential. All the monks, nuns, priests and pastors that ran schools in the past have something to teach us I think about solutions we need to be able to make Christian classical education accessible to the family of God and the poor.
And where are the mothers and children? Why does everyone speak of mommies and daddies and kids?
Thanks for raising this question, Katerina!
Beth’s and Emily’s ideas are great. For myself, I’ve found very inspiring the moms I know of who homeschool their children as well as their neighbors’ children. And I love the story of a college friend of mine who traveled with her family to Kenosha, WI, to start a church, but ended up starting a classical Christian school instead, which, through Wisconsin’s voucher program, can offer free tuition for many families (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/planting-pivot-christian-school/). Education is truly a ministry! I think also of the free schools Charlotte Mason (and others over the years) started for families in need.
I’ve also been encouraged by the number of classical charter schools — still a small number, but still! — where families who definitely could not afford either to homeschool or send their kids to a private classical school can find not only a good community and safe environment for their children, but an atmosphere that unapologetically cultivates truth, goodness, and beauty.
Finally, I love Dr. Angel Parham’s work with Nyansa Classical Community—which brings together students of different backgrounds (public, homeschooled, etc.) and offers them a chance to engage with the Great Conversation together.
One thing I’ve tried to do in our own family is to cultivate neighborliness: On the one hand, a spirit of “all are welcome”—children and adults and single folks, etc.—to gatherings where we do poetry, music, etc. Beauty is/should be within reach of everyone, and part of that means recovering a culture where the “cultural events” aren’t restricted just to folks who can afford sitters and such. On the other hand, we try also to encourage a culture of (in Tanya Berry’s words!) trading rather than buying whenever possible: So much of our society is based on monetary transaction, which makes too many good things harder to access, and which also makes neighborliness harder to cultivate. But it’s a greater wealth to be rich in community, in church and in village and neighborhood. I know my own life and my family’s have been blessed by the wealth of community (despite lonely seasons!) and by gifts bestowed in the spirit of ”so that you can do this for someone else someday.”
The Field School in Chicago is in year 8 of this endeavor with 280 students. Please join us in this good work! If anyone would like to visit The Field School we would love to have you!