Academic Excellence

Veritas Varsity, like its counterparts among Waco private schools, is verbally committed to academic excellence.  However, although the goal might be the same, the effectiveness in reaching that goal varies widely from school to school.  Our program is the only one to give families a one semester trial period, at a vastly reduced price, in which to make the determination for themselves regarding our program's effectiveness for their teen.  The simple truth is that one school cannot be the "answer" for every teen in McLennan County.  It is precisely that assumption that has hindered the advance of education over the past century.  We are still teaching children, for the most part, the same way that we did at the beginning of the 20th Century, in an assembly line production model that was introduced with such effect by Mr. Henry Ford in the manufacturing of his newfangled automobile.  We place our children on that assembly line at the beginning of their school career (along with all other children, no matter how different from each other) with the full expectation that by the time they "come out" (translate that "graduate") at the end of the line they will be fully assembled and prepared for life.  That model may have worked well for a season, but at Veritas we believe it is no longer an effective model for preparing our children for life in this century.

Waco private high school students are accustomed to a miniature assembly line of sorts for every day they attend school.  They begin in one "section" of the line (i.e. geometry class) and progress through all the other sections (i.e. classes) at a pre-determined pace (usually 50 minutes/class) with the expectation that there will be no deviation from that routine day in and day out over the four years of high school.  At Veritas students are in a learning center for their academic day, working on the same curriculum their peers study, but at a pace that is determined by 1) each individual day's agenda, 2) the requirements of the particular content covered that day, and 3) the needs and preferences (to a lesser extent) of the student.  In other words, regarding the first parameter, if the school is taking a field trip to the Mammoth Site across town the length of time available in the learning center for academic pursuits is limited, but easily adjusted to accomodate that important trip.  Regarding the second point, if we are learning a new math concept that requires an extended period of time, we have the freedom to take that time.  Finally, since students have a great deal of individual control over what they study at any given time, if they are already finished with a writing assignment that classmates are working through they can move on to their foreign language instruction without missing a beat.  Each day is tailored to fit the needs of the group at large, but also the individual needs of each student, thereby dramatically increaing the effectiveness of each day's academic pursuits. 

Of course, this approach also greatly diminishes boredom and apathy.  Students are more motivated to study because they control, at least to a much larger degree, what they study as well as how long they study it.  Students break when they need to, rather than when everyone else does in order to facilitate that assembly line referenced earlier.  There is also the added benefit of utilizing a medium (computers and the internet) with which today's teen is most comfortable, not to mention adept at handling.  Students enjoy working with their computer; they do not enjoy struggling through a daunting, 25-pound textbook!  The ultimate "boredom-fighter" at Veritas, however, is the frequency with which we leave the classroom and get out into the real world.  Some days that might be with a visit to a local businessman to tell us about what he does for a living (as well as the skills needed to be successful).  Other days students might attend a seminar at a local college or university where they have the privilege of listening to a nationally prominent speaker.  Perhaps the President is coming to Central Texas to speak to the troops at Ft. Hood and the school drives down to participate in that event.  Maybe a local election is taking place and we visit the polls to ask the precinct supervisor questions about the electoral process.  The opportunities are as limitless as the community's resources.  Each of these experiences contributes to the "real world" training of Veritas students in ways in which no textbook could ever do.

There is no question that we want our students to be prepared for college; it is our primary task to prepare them -- and more than just adequately -- for that eventuality.  But we believe it is important to teach our kids that learning is not what takes place only in a classroom or from a book, rather learning is a lifelong adventure that has no limitations, other than those they themselves impose on it.  LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!