Ancient Greece in Santa Paula

The students on the California High School Summer Program woke up on Monday for a day filled with bright sunshine and ancient Greece! First, though, they ate breakfast in St. Joseph Commons, then gathered in the Fritz B. Burns Auditorium for a talk with the Academic Director of the Summer Program.

Brian Dragoo, who spoke to the students at yesterday afternoon’s orientation about the College’s discussion-based classes, now prepared the students to enter into those classes for themselves. He explained how the class would begin, with a tutor asking an opening question about the text, and offered practical tips to the students for participating in the conversation. Mr. Dragoo told students not to be afraid to ask questions and to be honest about what they think. “You don’t have to be perfectly certain you’re right in order to speak,” he advised. 

But before starting their first day of searching for truth in the classroom, the students took time to worship the source of all truth by attending a morning Mass in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

Then, prepared both by Mr. Dragoo’s encouragement and the encouragement of grace, the students took on the challenge of their first class! 

Dividing into eight small groups, called “sections,” the high schoolers discussed Sophocles’ infamous tragedy Oedipus Rex. The play tells the story of a man burdened by a horrifying prophecy: He will murder his father and marry his mother. Oedipus discovers that the very actions he takes to try to avoid this prophecy inadvertently lead to its fulfillment, raising questions about fate, free will, and justice.

Students discussed whether Oedipus deserved his fate and, if undeserved, why such terrible things could happen to a decent man. “People are a lot smarter and more humble in class than I expected,” student Noah G. observed after the discussion. “I was expecting a lot of people disagreeing, but people were very respectful of each other’s ideas and very open to learning about what other people think. I thought that was the best part of class.”

As the students left their classrooms, each section took a photo together on the Chapel steps with its tutor. Then the whole group, all 128 programmers, piled together for a big group photo before heading to lunch. In the dining room, they filled tables to continue their discussions of Oedipus Rex or just to talk and laugh with each other. Lunch consisted of steak fajitas with rice and beans — and a chocolate cake for student Peachy H., who turned 17 today! The whole dining room sang Happy Birthday to Peachy, who blew out the candles and shared the cake with her table.

After lunch, the programmers returned to the classroom to discuss Plato’s work Euthyphro, a dialogue between the great philosopher Socrates and an acquaintance, Euthyphro, who claims to be able to define the virtue of piety. Socrates, however, is unconvinced by Euthyphro’s attempts to define the virtue, leaving the high schoolers to wrestle with his questions for themselves. What is piety? Is something pious because it is pleasing to the gods, or is it pleasing to the gods because it is pious?

“I like how the classes are more interactive” said student Victoria S. “You discover things for yourself, and it’s not just told to you, so you end up really believing it and truly getting something from the reading.”

Satisfied by a day of challenging but rewarding work in the classroom, the students will take the rest of the afternoon off to compete in the Section Games! Come back to the Summer Program Blog Monday morning to read all about it!