The mission of Frontier Christian Academy is to honor Jesus Christ and make high school relevant by unleashing Christian leaders into the emerging world with an entire portfolio of adult accomplishments under their belt before the adult world has a chance to tell them that it can't be done.
Frontier Christian Academy Vision:
Our vision is a community of competitive and cooperative excellence, built around accomplishment, guided by a Biblical worldview, and focused on building the thought leaders to lead the generational narrative of tomorrow, with the ability to cut through the "noise" of the demagogues.
Frontier CHristian Academy core Beliefs:
The Bible is the only inspired Word of God, and exerts sovereign authority over all areas of faith and practice.
The fundamental core of the American psyche is the belief that “it can be done.” While there are sometimes resourcing obstacles, if these were removed, every true American believes that “it can be done.”
In the absence of struggle, there is no growth.
The emerging world is a different one than the one that we grew up in, or even than the one that our children grew up in, so the skills required to lead it are also different.
Events do not happen randomly, but through causal forces and in historical context, which means that proper understanding of the forces acting on our world will enable accurate prediction of, and preparation for, its trajectory.
Accomplishment trumps certification when it comes to expertise to be consulted. Expertise can be gained independently of certification programs.
The information environment has changed from a "just in case model" to a "just in time model," such that there is no longer a requirement to master the basics before tackling more advanced projects. Education needs to adapt to this new reality.
The I-Rabid Learning System: our educational philosophy
The Iterative, Resulting-Accomplishment-Based, Inquiry-Driven (I-RABID) Learning System
Iterative:
Our learning system plans for mistakes, inadequacies, and struggles.
We believe that in the absence of struggle, there is no growth, so we build it into the process.
Most of our accomplishments will have “draft” requirements that will be revised in different ways over time to turn them into “final” products. Limits Bounding Analysis (discussed elsewhere) assists in guiding this process.
Relevant-Accomplishment-Based:
Right now, America’s best students, in our best schools, on their best days, are consumers of information. “Achievement” is their focus (grades, test scores, etc.)
We, at Frontier Christian Academy, have a slightly different goal: Accomplishment.
We know that these students are mentally capable of producing “adult value,” so we intend to unleash them to do it.
Inquiry-Driven:
Our students’ focus on their advanced accomplishments will bring them to basics that they do not yet know. This will inform their questions, driving them to more relevant, timely, and useful answers.
If "necessity is the mother of invention," as the saying goes, then we are using the requirements for life-changing accomplishments as a way to drive necessity, which will, in turn, drive innovation.
I-RABID treats relevance as a requirement, seeks struggle, lets aspiration drive inquiry, which, in turn, drives learning, uses iteration to make time an ally instead of a limitation, and adapts to the information environment as it is.