Angles and Ancients

Students on the High School Summer Program took in their third day of the TAC classroom experience Wednesday, diving into more geometry and philosophy after dancing and dodgeball the night before.

Regardless of the late-night fun, some women still rose for an early morning hike to soak in the natural beauty in the hills surrounding TAC’s California campus, while others chose to wake before breakfast for morning Mass. After breakfast, students brushed up on their Euclidean propositions, then headed to St. Augustine Hall for the day’s first class.

There, they discussed properties of equal and similar triangles and demonstrated how to bisect angles and lines. “It’s really interesting understanding the basic prop, then trying to change the argument in class to prove it in a new way,” said Felicity U. One section, whose students finished their discussion ahead of schedule, spent the last part of class learning some self-defense moves from their tutor, Dr. Christopher Oleson, who doubles as a philosopher and jiujitsu black belt. 

After the morning of geometry came midday Mass, then hamburgers, salad, and fries for lunch. The dining room was noisy with conversation until it was time to return to the classroom to discuss the writings of three pre-Socratic philosophers: Empedocles, Democritus, and Epicurus.

While in some cases only short fragments of these authors’ ancient texts still survive, the high schoolers were still able to uncover the substance of the philosophers’ various views on the world. The pre-Socratics raise questions about whether it’s possible for things to come into or go out of existence, what the basic elements of the universe are, and the nature of a soul. Though the students knew they wouldn’t be able to answer all the mysteries of the universe in one class, that didn’t prevent them from opening their minds to wonder about questions that have engaged thinkers for thousands of years. 

Next on the agenda for the high schoolers is an afternoon meeting with Admissions Director Jon Daly, with fun to follow during recreation period and this evening’s prefects vs. high schoolers basketball game. A recap and photos will be posted tomorrow morning here on the Summer Program Blog!