“I relish this feeling of joining some ancient alumni of the written word.”
—Anna Miner
Great for Teachers
Attending courses at Memoria College has been so refreshing as an educator! Because as a teacher my courses touch on several of the topics and time periods I have covered in my Memoria College courses, my own teaching has been enriched and re-energized by the highly knowledgeable faculty and the engaging course discussions. Indeed, the opportunity to learn from their faculty has been truly a joy and a treat for me. Also, the community I have built with other, eager-minded students has been uplifting and encouraging. I savor the excellent discussions and discourses we have in class and on forums, and the insight my professors have added to them. Because the faculty is so well-informed and experienced, they allow students to explore theories and perspectives while still keeping the discussion soundly supported by the text: it is the best of both worlds to be free to conjecture about a work and yet be held to the high standard of integrity to the text. The construction of the courses both fosters deeper, better discussion of the course content than other, larger college courses and also makes a demanding syllabus more workable for adults than a course that is based on the lecture and then large research paper at the end of the course. As a busy adult, I appreciate the manageability, but also the very high academic standard. This is not your typical online course, where learning is minimal. To come here is to be challenged by compassionate, expert faculty. I can’t wait for what comes next!
—Abigail Johnson, Head of Composition and Teacher of Composition and Literature, Memoria Academy
Better than Law School
I have been a full-time practicing lawyer for 32 years. My professional aim from the outset was to become a courtroom lawyer. I was a US Navy Lawyer and an LA County, CA, Deputy DA. I’ve been in private practice as a solo and as a partner in firms in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area now for quite some time. I’ve been around. And law, and particularly the trial of cases, they say jokingly, is a jealous mistress. I can attest to that – the practice of law takes a great deal of time. I have had little time for other things. I thought I’d reached my limit. And then…Memoria College. It’s been more than worth the extra time. The online format makes this possible for me. I couldn’t otherwise do it. And I am learning so much here. It’s so enriching. It’s something I wish I’d done long ago. And not simply as a professional matter but as a personal matter. Thank you, Memoria College.
I am so very grateful Memoria College exists. Why? In part because so much of standard lawyer training is in the realm of the merely technical – how to write a brief; it’s parts; how to respond to the same; how to file it; the conventions of Courtroom behavior; the mechanics of trials and other fact-finding procedures; and what’s left out of all that – left out of both the formal education and the day-to-day experience are the most important things: those that are not technical. There is very little about the “what-is’s” either in formal education or in legal experience. What is right; what is wrong; what is fair; equitable; necessary; practical; merely expedient and the biggy, what is Justice? We know she’s supposed to be blind. But what else ought she to be? At Memoria I am seeing a way of working out the answers. I am currently in the Greek Drama course, and I am amazed to discover in this study how much I didn’t know about Justice. The experience here has been so positive I have come ‘round to believing that lawyers, to be competent, need this same training. I’m a great believer in what they are doing here.
—Anthony Viera, Founder of Viera Trial Law, Los Angeles, CA and Attorney at Berglund and Johnson, Woodland Hills, CA.
Great for Homeschooling Parents
Being part of the Memoria College Great Books Master of Arts program has been a truly transformative experience for me. I wasn’t educated classically and as I endeavored to home educate my own children, I felt that deficiency most keenly. This program has given me the opportunity to orient my mind to the divine ideal of educating the complete man, that is all but lost in the educational systems of our modern culture. The unique dynamic of the classes have allowed me to, not only interact with, but befriend a like-minded community of people, with whom I weekly engage in a depth of dialogue that nourishes the soul. I have been stretched and grown beyond what I could have anticipated. The professors are outstanding, and I have been invested in by them in deeply profound and lasting ways. I have been learning from great minds and it is liberating. My life has been immeasurably enriched. I am eternally grateful to Memoria College for helping me to redeem my education and for equipping me to better serve my children and my students with the aim of passing on and preserving Western Civilization.
—Fleur Forsyth-Smith, 5th/6th grade teacher, Highlands Latin School, Santa Clarita, CA