“Our primary business in life is not business, or construction work, or sales, or teaching, or even motherhood, but becoming a complete human being.”
Peter Kreeft
This fall, we made a switch from our monthly character traits to monthly virtues. Don’t worry, character, as it has always been, will continue to be an integral piece of the education we offer at our school. Where character traits can feel like it’s all about what you do, virtues go even further into who you are. Replacing character traits with virtues is more true, clear, and classical. After 19 years of learning more about our classical roots, and after months of research, writing, editing, and deliberation, we have whittled down these traits into what we are now going to call “The Virtues at SLOCA.”
Virtues might seem, in our postmodern age, to be a bit old-fashioned. In fact, they are older than old-fashioned—they are ancient! Plato explains virtue as a “kind of health, fine condition, and well-being of the soul.” The word virtue comes from the Latin word vir, which means man. To be virtuous, then, is essentially to be manly or, for us, humanly. Virtue endeavors toward the goodness humans are capable of while rejecting the badness—or as Aristotle puts it, “Virtue preserves while vice destroys.” Another word study, this time in Greek, is helpful to further understand. The word Aristotle uses for virtue is arete, which can also be translated as excellence. Virtue, then, is simply this: humanly excellence.
How do you become virtuous?
A truly virtuous person doesn’t just do virtuous things but is virtuous on the inside. We become virtuous on the inside by intentional practice. C.S. Lewis illustrates this idea: “When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.” A single courageous act does not a courageous person make, but regular, intentional practice does.
Why should you become virtuous?
Virtue is kind of like a moral eyeglass prescription: as we grow more virtuous, our prescription becomes more and more precise, so we can see what we’re aiming at more clearly. To use another metaphor, virtue sets us on the path toward the good, the true, and the beautiful. Though we probably won’t ever fully arrive at goodness, truth, and beauty, our job as humans is to journey closer and closer to it.
The Virtues
We have chosen these seven virtues because they are time-tested, fairly comprehensive, and best fit in with our mission and vision at SLO Classical Academy: humility, prudence, temperance, justice, generosity, fortitude, and hope. These are not the only virtues, but they do cover much of what we think it means to be a moral, more complete human being. They also lead to many other important sub-virtues—what we’re calling our offshoot virtues. For example, mercy and kindness spring out of generosity, while responsibility and citizenship come out of a good sense of justice.
It is worth mentioning that the virtues here, and overall, aren’t completely clear-cut or clean. Their borders are murky—in the best way!—humility bleeds into prudence and generosity bleeds into hope. Thomas Aquinas says it this way: “The virtues must be connected together, so that whoever has one has all.” Each virtue and each virtuous act must be infused and informed by all of the virtues. That being said, we have ordered our virtues in a way that seems logical and, in some sense, chronological. The rest of the virtues follow from the first one and fall into three categories: foundational (humility, prudence, and temperance), social (justice and generosity), and sturdy (fortitude and hope).
For each of the virtues, we have determined a motto (something catchy to stick in your brain and teach your kids!) and some mini practices (how to make it a habit!). Here they are!
aka humbleness
Care less about yourself and more about others.
- Listen + ask questions
- Say sorry + thank you
- Serve others
aka practical wisdom
Think well then act well.
- Learn from others
- Think before you act
- Make good choices
aka self control
Pursue the right things in the right way at the right time.
- Use just the right amount
- Don’t take too much or too little
- Work to control your emotions
Strive for right relationships with all.
- Don’t take the best for yourself
- Help others whenever you can
- Stand up for what is right
Give freely of everything you have.
- Give stuff, encouragement, and time
- Be welcoming and kind
- Forgive others
aka courage
Choose to be brave for the right things.
- Face your fears
- Do hard things
- Be sturdy
Believe in and seek good things for the future.
- See good things all around you
- Look forward to the future
- Keep going even when it’s hard
We will be focusing on each virtue individually throughout the school year, with even more info including more detailed practices, where it comes from, a Golden Mean scale (what it is opposed to), and three exemplars (people you can look to as good, though not necessarily perfect, examples) for each! There is a whole Field Guide (linked in our Parent Portal) diving deep into understanding and embracing virtue (and posters to hang in your home!). The virtues are the kind of thing SLOCA is after as a community.
Interested in joining our quest? We’d love to hear from you! Set up a tour today!
