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Our Grade 8 students, now completing their last year of formal grammatical instruction, have begun the practical application of those concepts in a series of English compositions. This practical work in composition will prepare students for logic, the next step in the Trivium and a subject of study for freshmen at SMS (Shown here are some of our 8th graders with their most recent composition submissions.)

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas defines wonder as the desire for the knowledge of what a thing is and why it is. This is different from curiosity, which is simply a desire for information, regardless of whether or not that information is useless or harmful to us, whether or not that information leads to wisdom or folly. This is why the old maxim says, “Curiosity killed the cat.” Gossips are curious, and this curiosity frequently squelches their wonder. Aristotle says, “All men by nature desire to know,” but the ultimate aim of man is not the knowledge of ephemeral things, the surface of reality, but the deep knowledge of the essences and causes of things. Ultimately, this is knowledge of God, but the knowledge of nature also inspires that yearning because it directs our thoughts to the very deepest realities.