Demonstrating and Deliberating

Students on the New England High School Summer Program put last night’s Euclid studying into practice at this morning’s classes. Some got in some last-minute studying, mentally revisiting Euclid’s enunciations and citations over breakfast before heading at last to Gianna Molla Hall.

At Thomas Aquinas College, math is a very engaging subject. Students are expected to present mathematical demonstrations on the classroom blackboard for their tutor and classmates, a habit which engenders rewarding and incredibly valuable skills over four years — and which the programmers were eager to begin acquiring!

“Mr. McCarthy described Euclid as something empowering, because it lets you see that you can do something you might not have thought you could, and I think he’s right about that. To me, it felt like fighting a battle — and winning.”

Students were expected to present the first three propositions from Euclid’s Elements, Book I. Each programmer stepped to the board to walk through the proof, expanding the section’s mathematical toolbox with each step. By the end of the morning class, sections left with rigorous demonstrations for constructing equilateral triangles, as well as producing and cutting lines equal to any given line.

“I did a lot better than I thought I would!” reported attendee Chuck A. “Mr. McCarthy described Euclid as something empowering, because it lets you see that you can do something you might not have thought you could, and I think he’s right about that. To me, it felt like fighting a battle — and winning.”

Students carried that newfound confidence into animated lunch conversations and then into their afternoon classes, where they began their journey through The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius’s masterpiece on fortune, justice, and free will. Unjustly imprisoned, Boethius is tempted to despair as he wonders why the wicked thrive and the good suffer, but he is saved from despair by a visit from Lady Philosophy, who answers his questions by asking some of her own. In today’s reading, the pair establish that Boethius’s despair arises from his wounded intellect, and they prepare to provide a remedy. Students deliberated over what exactly his wound is — and what the coming pages might say about the remedy.

At the end of class, students returned from the classrooms, changed from their class clothes, and began a well-earned recreation period! Remember to head back to the Summer Program Blog tomorrow to read about the this afternoon and evening’s adventures!