Walk into a Clapham classroom and you won’t see Smartboards or Chromebooks. Instead of clicks you’ll hear pencils scratching and pages turning; instead of tablets you’ll see bound books. Faces turn toward other human faces instead of the illumination of a projection or a screen. Our analog ways are highly intentional; a mindful choice, not just a knee-jerk rejection of digital alternatives. Rather, we believe that our overall avoidance of technology ultimately offers our students freedom. Read on to see why.
At Christian classical schools, we aim to equip students with the liberal arts. The liberal arts include, among others, grammar (including diagramming sentences), logic, math, music, science, theology, and rhetoric. These skills are subjects that can be trained regardless of inherent talent or natural aptitude. Though general public education may aim to teach and require many of these same skills, a typical school will usually employ various technologies, including tablets, computers, and Smartboards, to aid in their instruction.
We know that our students are digital natives, that their facility with popular tech will inevitably begin in the youngest years, because that’s the cultural air we breathe. But we believe that the affordances that technologies like screens and AI permit come with strings attached. And those strings bind; they create dependence.
...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
Consider the tragic tale of William A., who graduated from the Clarksville Montgomery Co School System in 2024 with a GPA of 3.4 but was unable to read. When William received an assignment, he followed this typical protocol, which he was permitted to do because of his IEP (individualized education plan):
“To write a paper, for example… William would first dictate his topic into a document using speech-to-text software. He then would paste the written words into an AI software like ChatGPT. Next, the AI software would generate a paper on that topic, which William would paste back into his own document. Finally, William would run that paper through another software program like Grammarly, so that it reflected an appropriate writing style.”4
As shocking as this procedure seems, William’s modus operandi for completing an assignment has become routine for many students, even those at prestigious colleges. The upshot, for William, and for others of his generation following the same routine, may be good grades but general illiteracy.
The liberal arts, though originally reserved for those who were technically freemen (that is, at leisure to study), are also disciplines that lead to freedom: freedom from dependence on technology to form a complete thought, freedom from the distractions available on screens to attend to an argument, and thus to be equipped to analyze it. Ultimately, our students, through the avoidance of pervasive technology during the school day, are being shaped to think critically. Logic and critical thinking arm them with the ability to resist ideas that are false, even if they appeal to emotions. They free our students from being victims of the spirit of the age, “[T]ossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).
By cultivating a classroom environment largely free from screens and encouraging students to write their exams and assignments with a pencil and paper rather than a keyboard, we realize we might make them initially uncomfortable. This approach to learning requires effort. It also frees a student to become accustomed to diligence, hard work, and perseverance. It results in the development of creativity (as students form their own arguments and thoughts rather than mimicking those suggested by ChatGPT), integrity (as temptations to cheat are removed from the classroom), and ultimately, character.
At Clapham, we see the exchange of technological convenience for deeper human learning as an undeniably worthy trade-off. We aim to instill the liberal arts because they are liberating; they set people free. In an age of widespread addiction to and dependence on technology, seeing our students develop and flourish in a wholly human way is a priority we’re happy to emphasize.
Aristotle was convinced that the virtues ultimately led to eudaimonia, which roughly translates to happiness. He was on to something; as Christians we believe that virtue is rooted in the wisdom of God, who created the world to function in particular ways. Because we are creatures, our greatest happiness naturally comes when we are living according to the grain of God’s created intent. At Clapham, we believe that though technology has its place in the endeavor to grow in wisdom, abstaining from it yields a better harvest. And so we’ll continue using books and codices instead of tablets; pens and paper instead of keyboards and screens. We’ve already seen dividends in terms of student mental health, motor skills, critical thinking, and relationships. We’re confident that the harvest won’t stop here.
