Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2014 | Page 34

at Cornerstone
Stay small. It’s good for students, who get
individual care in classes that average 10 students
per teacher—and it’s good for the bottom line.
“Small helps us stay alive,” says Jim. “High schools
are expensive to run. If we tried a larger program,
we would have a hard time fundraising for it.”
Hire older staff. “Some Christian schools

make it work by hiring grads fresh out of
college,” says Jim. “You get the enthusiasm, but
you also get discipline challenges. A 23-year-old
managing an 18-year-old is a tough row to hoe.”
By contrast, Jim’s teachers were old enough
to have already raised their own kids, making
discipline less of an issue.
Give students work experience.

Cornerstone requires all students to get a
Jim Wilkes ’79 job and hold it for three months in order to
graduate. “Most of our grads will need to work
and make money while in college,” says Jim.
from my father. Many of these students don’t
have that link.”

best known by abolitionist William Wilberforce, as the school’s
namesake.
Clapham School opened in 2006 in Wheaton with 22 students
and 12 families. It has added one grade each year, now teaching 114
students from pre-kindergarten through ninth grade.
By Julie’s estimate, there are over 4,000 Christian schools across
America. About 300 are classical schools, and only a dozen use the
educational model she and Doug chose for Clapham: combining the
classical model with 18th-century British educator Charlotte Mason’s
philosophy of an atmosphere of “joyful discovery.”
Clapham teaches the classics—reading, writing, and arithmetic—and
focuses on the thoughtful discussion of Western civilization across
subjects.
“Mason believed that ‘kids can do it,’” says Julie, Clapham’s director
of instruction. “We expect a lot of our students, and they rise to the
occasion. We’re calling them up to take in material and think through
it, and this gets at the deep-seated joy of learning.”
With Clapham now in its eighth year, Julie says, “As I’ve seen our
kids grow up, it makes me more passionate for the possibility of what
this model can bring—students who are interested in life, who go to
school to learn and contribute.”

What’s Worked Well
at Clapham

Clapham School, Wheaton, Ill.
Michelan