Classical Education and Music in Harmony | James Cowart

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by James Cowart, head of Trinitas Christian School in Pensacola, Florida. They discuss why music is a key part of education at Trinitas. They dive into the nuances of school choice and the strings that often come attached to government money. James concludes by discussing his advice for those looking to start a new classical, Christian school.

Transcript

CLT Exam (00:00.174)
I'm gonna silence my phone real quick. Folks, welcome back to the Anchor Podcast. We are here on campus at the Trinitot School in Pensacola, Florida, here with head of school, James Cowart. James, my mind is blown right now. I've probably visited 100 schools since launching CLT. I've never heard students sing the way students do here at Trinitot. It's absolutely amazing. So I'm wondering if we can maybe start in the first minute or two here and cut to your students.

and have them do a little performance. Is that all right? Sure, we'd love that.

CLT Exam (00:34.922)
Absolutely incredible. Love what they're doing. Well, James, before we get into Trinitas, talking about the music focus at this school, I'd love to hear a little bit about your story. One thing I love about the classical education renewal movement is that most of us didn't grow up with this kind of education. Everybody's got a story for how they discovered it. So what was that like for you? Sure. Like a lot of folks, I didn't grow up in classical education. came from the homeschool and Christian school background.

and really met the classical school world through my wife before we were married. She was teaching music here and I continued to meet her students out in public and like you would expect, they were a cut above, right? Respectful and articulate and good looking, cute kids. And I thought, man, what is this all about? And so that brought me into conversation with the people that she was working with here with the founding headmaster at Trinitas, Ken Trotter. He gave me some books and reading materials.

wanted to teach way back then, but classical education was brand new to me. And so when I first, the first time I applied to teach at Trinitas, I didn't know classical education from a hole in the ground. And so they, they passed on me. I didn't get the job, but I stayed in touch with Ken Trotter, moved to Tennessee. This is a great story. So didn't get the job and the head of school. Yeah. Well, he cut me there and he said, read these books and stay in touch. And so I went and got connected to classical education in Tennessee and was hired there by Scott Taylor. at,

in Knoxville, Piedad Academy and started teaching and that's really where my introduction to classical education came from. was teaching the omnibus curriculum from Veritas and learning just trying to stay ahead of my students. So I didn't have that growing up. I didn't have it in college. But that's I was just trying to stay a page ahead, a day ahead and then made a transition into administration and now I've been at it for almost 20 years. But from the very beginning, Jeremy, I knew that it was the education I wanted for my children.

And so being able to spend life together, spend every day in close proximity with my kids in the same building as they get a classical education has just been a real blessing in my life. And so that's where we are today. Now, I was reminded last night and then again today, I mean, there really is no more compelling case for why to do classical Christian education than simply meeting the young people that are receiving this kind of education. I've been so blown away by the conversations I've had with students.

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the questions your students ask, they're curious, they're insightful. It really is incredible, but again, probably the thing that has stuck out to me most is the musical focus, the beauty, hearing your students, praise God, every student is singing, nobody's just sitting there, it's incredible. Tell us about the history of this at Trinitas. Trinitas has a rich heritage in music. Music's a big part of a classical Christian education.

And I think Trinitas, I know that it's been an emphasis since the very beginning. Our founding headmaster here, Ken Trotter, and then my predecessor, Ron Gilley, and really the chairman of our music department, Ed Varela. These men have a vision for what singing should look like, what music should look like. And we start very young with the students. You're gonna see us sing in the morning, at lunchtime, and in the afternoon as well. And if you inculcate that in these students from a very early age,

They grow up thinking, they don't think anything else about it, right? So it's normal to them to sing at every opportunity. And the singing changes every facet of their being, really. Our faculty sing together, our students sing together, and it just makes for a beautiful environment and culture. And it's something we're very thankful for. Even private music instruction, I told you last night, we have kind of a school within a school at Trenton Toss, the Trenton Toss School of Music here.

where students take private music instruction in addition to their studies during the course of the school day. So parents don't have to go to piano lessons in the evenings or the weekends. They can take that right alongside their course of studies. And again, that's something that I didn't, I didn't found that program. I inherited it. And you know, my goal here at the school, really my job description is just don't mess it up, right? You know, keep doing what your predecessors have been doing well. Love that. So last night we had a great dinner.

some great fish tacos with a couple of your amazing board members. I was really impressed with your very nuanced thoughts on the school choice. Yeah. the way school choice has impacted the state of Florida. We've got some dear friends who are very weary. This is government strings. This is how the schools are all going to get captured. It's a Trojan horse. Stay away from school choice. Of course, Rob Borden, the Classical Conversations is kind of championing that perspective.

CLT Exam (05:17.654)
And also there's amazing stories on the ground of kids who couldn't possibly be at a classical Christian school, but they're there now because of school choice. I haven't talked to many folks who have a nuanced view of really potentially seeing some of the threats, taking those seriously, but also being excited about the fact that now you can serve students you may not have been to otherwise. So I'm wondering if you could share a bit about how has school choice, this legislation in Florida impacted Trinitas?

And that's a great question and one conversation that is happening frequently and I'm not sure we have enough time to unpack all that on the podcast today, but I will tell you, let me set a setting for you a little bit. Trinitas had for years had a no government funding policy, no voucher policy, really following the step of the ACCS. We're a long time accredited ACCS school. But the landscape shifted and particularly here in Florida with Ron DeSantis and

We found ourselves at a place where we were positioned to either not take the money at all on a stand of conviction or to be creative and look for an opportunity in the midst of the circumstances that God had brought our way. And so we rethought the scenario a bit and I think we plotted a course forward that is acceptable for us. And so a couple of considerations were first off,

Even if you have the best product in town, let's you like Chick-fil-A. I like Chick-fil-A, right? So, know, if Chick-fil-A, if every restaurant in town is giving away their food for free, how long is Chick-fil-A going to be able to keep their doors open, even with their superior products, superior service and things of that sort? Yeah. And so there was that consideration for us. And then also the school choice has made it available for families who maybe maybe where mom and dad don't work outside of the home. Maybe they're a very

pro-life family and they have a past of kids like you and I do that would not be able to afford tuition to go ahead and have their children in a price-centered classical school. And so rather than just wholesale taking that school that scholarship dollars without thinking about it and saying well that's a we'll cross that bridge when it comes you know the government strings when they come we wanted to take a different approach so we do believe that the strings will come eventually we think about it in terms of the biblical narrative of

CLT Exam (07:39.19)
of seven years of plenty, right? So think about Joseph, seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt and followed by seven lean years. And what did Joseph do during those seven years of plenty? He stored it up, right? And so that's what we're attempting to do. And so we've partnered with parents to take, to ask them to make a voluntary donation into an endowment. We have founded the Trinitas Academic and Religious Freedom Fund. And so our parents right now, 87 % of our families,

are taking the money from the state, paying for their tuition, making a free will, voluntary, charitable donation of about 25 % into the endowment that we're not spending. We don't spend it on teachers or carpet or anything of the sort. And we're setting that aside for a rainy day so that when the seven years are plenty, however long that is, five years, 10 years, however long that will be.

we'll be in a position to take these resources that God's making available to us right now without onerous strings and help like-minded families continue to afford a private education. When those strings come, we're going to... I love it. It's interesting that you say that you say when. You call me on that. Maybe I'm a little bit more of a pessimist than others would be. I would love to say that the whole landscape has changed and that they will never come.

I'm not yet convinced about that yet. Maybe another couple of years and I'll be a little bit more optimistic. But whether they come, let me back up. I'll rephrase. If those strings come, schools, Christian schools will have to close or they'll have to compromise. And we don't wanna do either. We wanna be positioned so that we can continue to be faithful to our mission and our vision, providing this education in a way.

that is God honoring without any kind of onerous government regulation. So that's kind of the tech that we've taken and we're early on, so hold us accountable as time changes. So that's where we are. Let me ask you this, Sean Peterson, he's a dear friend. He's the head of Catholic Education Partners, which is kind of the school choice front on the Catholic side there. And I've talked to him, like, hey, look at Western Europe, look at Canada. We might not want to model in terms of the vibrancy of their Christian schools, not very vibrant, right?

CLT Exam (09:52.174)
And a lot of folks there would say it's because of the entanglement, the strings, the control that the government has over the Christian schools, over the Catholic schools there. Sean would respond and say, it's a different model. They're funding the schools, they're not funding the families to be able to go where they want. Given that it is a different model, as Corey D'Angelo always says, funding students, not systems, does that make you a little less concerned that there could be that kind of coercive government impact?

Possibly. I just find it hard to trust the government when it comes to matters of control and of money. What I know is families are receiving in the state of Florida, families are receiving almost $8,000 that their tax money that's following their children, right? And it doesn't matter their income level. We are blessed here in the state of Florida have universal school choice. And the reality is, it's opening up opportunities and for schools now.

I'll be honest, it's changed the game. I thought I had just barely gotten used to running a school and I had figured out how to do that. And then the whole thing's changed for us. But two ways that's changed, one has been in terms of providing education for our teachers. So a lot of schools like, or they're teachers' kids, I should say. So a lot of schools like Trinitas, ACCS schools that I'm familiar with, we have to attract head of household teachers or...

quality teachers who could be making more money somewhere else. We've worked with them to provide an education, tuition discounts for their kids. Well, if the state's paying for my teachers, I'm no longer bearing that burden, right? So that's been an immediate benefit for us. It's also done the same thing for our tuition assistance to our families. So for years, schools like Twinatoss have been giving 10, 15 % of their families some sort of tuition assistance, right? To help them be able to afford that. So what we've done is we've just

We've just taken advantage of the resources that are available for this season, period that we're in, with a wary eye to the future, whether the government money does eventually come with those strings or not. Make no mistake, there are strings attached to the money now. We have to have fire health and building codes, we have to go to school a certain number of days a year, we have to do standardized testing. I know a guy about that if you're interested. But those aren't owner strings, those make sense. What we're concerned about is when the government comes in and says,

CLT Exam (12:10.018)
You can't talk about Jesus. You have to hire state certified teachers. You gotta let little boys go to little girls' room if they feel that way. Those are the strings that are going to require us to walk away from that money, and we wanna be positioned to do so when that day comes. James, in your letter on the website, you described Trinitas as a discipleship school, and distinguished that from an evangelistic school. What do you mean by that, a discipleship school, and how does that impact the interview process for prospective families?

Yeah, so to my thinking, there's really two different types of Christian schools. There's the open model, evangelical model, where you've got Christian teachers, Christian curriculum, but there's a mindset of let's bring all students in, whether they're professing Christians or not. Let's see them, let's see them changed by the gospel. That's a great model. There's a place for that in God's kingdom. That's not what Trinitas was founded to be. Trinitas was founded to be the other type of Christian school, which is a discipleship model school, where we exist to serve.

families from professing Christian families or children from professing Christian families I should say. And so the way that we walk that out is through intentional admissions. So making sure that we're doing what school is called gatekeeping or guarding the culture. We're looking for families who realize their responsibility to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as we do. And so we utilize things like primary doctrine and secondary doctrine, pastoral reference forms.

admissions interviews, which you know, had one even again this morning. So all of those are steps towards making sure as much as we can that the family is like-minded with us. That also sets us up to partner with them. They're still primarily responsible for the education of their children. We're a subcontractor is the model we like to talk about in that regard. And so as an extension of the church, extension of the home. And that's again, that's kind of the way that Trinitas has done it.

you know, there's value in both of those models, but it does leave you with a different type of culture in your school, profoundly different, I would say. It's fantastic. This morning I was able to attend morning meeting you have, which is kind of a quick devotion. Students are memorizing scripture together. I'm thinking with the memorizing scripture, reciting the music. What are some of the distinctives of Trinitas in terms of...

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how you're hoping to shape students. think of your vision for education as very close to what we would just refer to as Christian sanctification, that you're working with God and the families in this work. But what are some of the distinctives of that happening here at Trinity Talks? Yeah, so we've talked about music already, and music is not alone in that regard. Obviously, we've got, I think, the art program that we bring into the table, in addition to all of the other subjects that our students are studying, the classical languages, the math and the sciences and humanities, integrated humanities.

like any other classical school would have. I think one of the distinctives, particularly in our area, is that of parent involvement. So you were in the grand hall this morning for a morning meeting and you saw parents starting the day with their children. We have that every day of the week. This is not a school where you pay your tuition, you drop your kid off and you send them into school and hope for the best. This is a place where we want you to park your car. If your schedule allows, walk inside and spend 15 minutes with your arm around your children.

singing together, memorizing scripture together, starting the day together. And that kind of parent involvement obviously begins here with us in morning meeting. It's continued throughout the day. Parents are serving in the classrooms. Parents are volunteering at events. Parents are staffing all of our extracurriculars, all of these kinds of things. But it's also parent involvement at the home. When it comes to homework, when it comes to study, and when it comes to discipline, that parent involvement happens both on campus and at home. And that's what families are looking for.

Or I should say that's what the parents that we're looking for are looking for is an opportunity to be involved in their children's education. So I think that's a primary distinctive of our school. You know, the classical distinctives that the ACCS accredited schools have as far as primary sources are very important to us. The kind of teaching that we do as a classical school, not just the ends of the education are different, but also the means of education, how we go about accomplishing that. What is our telos? What do we want from our students?

Do we want them just to be able to get into the college of their choice? Or do we want them to be a particular type of person, of human, of follower of Jesus Christ on the backside of that as well? So all of those play together. And of course, I think it really comes around to your teachers. I was listening to one of your podcasts recently and you were talking about the teachers being the heartbeat of the school, the faculty family, if you would say it that way. And I think if you believe in education as formation and the discipleship that's happening,

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your teachers must be that distinctive. So a quantitative difference, I think, comes down to that faculty family. We were chatting last night and you mentioned when you first got connected here, there may have been 100 or so ACCS schools. I think now the number is 550 and it's a much smaller percentage of of accredited schools like Trinitas. But for new schools that are launching, now that Trinitas is in its 25th year established, 26 I guess, established in 1999,

and now it's your fourth year as head of school. What would your advice be to a new school launching? Well, I think I told you last night, one of the first things to do is establish a relationship with a Chick-fil-A owner-operator. Having that strategic relationship from the beginning is important. Now, I think in all seriousness, I think having a clarity about your vision from the very beginning and then establishing those traditions, even when it seems odd, things like morning meeting.

Things like how you view grading. Are we going to be, are we gonna let grades be the end all end all of what we're doing in a classroom? Are we gonna minimize grades and think about how to get feedback and how to get students to do their best regardless of what their grades look like? Those kind of philosophical preferences need to be entrenched early and then you just continue to walk in that same path over time. Faithfulness over time, one foot in front of the other.

Another thing that I would encourage and as I talk to young startup schools is to network well. Find people who are already doing what you're envisioning. Go visit other schools. Go to these conferences. Go and follow the conversation. We're not reinventing the wheel. We're trying to find what works. Give a couple of shout outs. Some ACCS schools that have been powerful in kind of shaping your vision. Yeah. Yeah. I've got a good

support groups and networks that are in this in the school world people that I look to and that I find a lot of strength from you know people like David Seibel David Seibel does a lot in the ACCS world I think to help schools and get them started of course he's supported by the ACCS staff David and and and Tom and folks of that sort there are flagship schools that are that in our community you know Ambrose and Logos obviously kind of the pack Mars Hill has been that way for a long time and these schools are ones that we look at and say

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man, I wanna be like those schools. So I've grown up into the movement and looking for and hearing from the same kind of people. I mean, we still break out our old recordings of Matt Whitling's talks on sins in the classroom and covenant on discipline and the truth of God's word and that sound teaching, it doesn't have to be fresh and new. There's plenty of new conversation happening as people are growing up in this movement has continued to mature, but we should still be going right back to those sources, right? And finding what's worked and building those relationships.

I've been blessed by people in my career. I've mentioned a few already who have just born patiently with me as I've matured, but also have been very quick and free to give it away. There are people, Emory Lottas is one, Josh Gibbs is incredible in terms of teaching and passing on the information, the wisdom that he has, but Keith Nix, we talked about last night, just being very generous. think our joke is there's never an anchored podcast where the name Keith Nix doesn't come up.

That would make sense. So there we go. We can check that box. But people who are quick and willing to help. And I think you find that just all the way throughout our movement. Yeah. Love that. James, we love to talk about books on the Anchor podcast. Typically we ask our guests what has been the book, the one book maybe that has been the most formative, maybe a book you reread every year personally, professionally. What would that be for you? Man, that's a great question and a tough one as we sit here.

I'm looking at books, books trying to figure out how to answer that question. You know, I, you know, I mentioned, I'm going to mention a couple here if that's okay with you. I mentioned Josh Gibbs a moment ago. Josh Gibbs, everything he writes, his podcast, his books are very helpful for me, both when I was a teacher and also in administration. think, I think that's something I would, I would recommend folks to. Orthodoxy is a regular return to that I would go back to. And I, and I also say, and I'm going to, you asked me for, you know, books that are favorites for us as well.

I can't get away from Islands of the World. you familiar with Michael O'Brien? Big, book. that's one that's been an encouragement to me. So I don't know, man. It's tough to answer questions about favorite books and guideposts like that. What about, I'm going to put that back to you. What about you? do you go to? Chesterton Orthodoxy is my go-to. I try to reread it every year. I do just about every year as well. It's kind of a restoration to sanity. I feel like.

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You know, one of those for me and Chronicles of Narnia, right? Can I say that? Chronicles of Narnia. So I didn't grow up with the Chronicles of Narnia. I still a little bitter towards my parents that they didn't introduce it, but it's been a formative part of my children and our experience. So we're on our fourth or fifth time of reading through the Chronicles of Narnia. And now with my youngest daughter, she and I are reading through the horse. Did you Lord of the as well? Yes, we have, but.

Crockett's an artist, which is always been. I mean, if I had to take just one set of books, it would probably be that. And it's been great at every level as a parent, as a teacher, and just as a lover of Lewis. So yeah, I'd go there. James Cowart, I am blown away. Again, we were here from campus at the Trinitatis School in Pensacola, Florida. Again, the music, just the quality, the integrity of your students, seeing how totally bought in the parents are to the vision that you all have here at this school.

So thank you so much for the work that you're doing. Thanks for the hospitality as well. And we'd to have you on again in the future. And Jeremy, I appreciate you making the trek down here. I appreciate what you're doing with the classic learning test. We're proud users that have adopted it a long time ago. And I would say just in closing, God has been kind and merciful to us and it is not for us, not for our glory at all. It's the work of the Lord in His hand in Tinnitus. And so we're very thankful and blessed. So thank you for the opportunity to share with you this morning. Thank you, brother.

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So you do, I mean.