As childhood becomes increasingly defined by achievement, acceleration, and anxiety, an ancient Roman proverb offers a provocative alternative. What if learning more deeply—not more quickly—is the better preparation for the future?
There is something peculiar about modern childhood: we have never had so many tools designed to save time, yet children seem to have so little of it.
Homework can be completed with artificial intelligence. Information arrives in seconds. Videos are condensed into highlights, books into summaries, and complicated questions into instantly generated answers. Meanwhile, the hours saved by technology are quickly filled with something else: another assignment, another extracurricular activity, another athletic practice, another opportunity to get ahead.
Even childhood has acquired the vocabulary of professional ambition. Students are encouraged to build résumés, optimize schedules, develop competitive advantages, and demonstrate measurable growth. A generation still learning who they are is already being asked what they intend to become.
The pressure is not merely anecdotal. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 68 percent of American teenagers report feeling a great deal or fair amount of pressure to earn good grades. Nearly half report pressure to look good, while approximately one-third feel pressure to excel in extracurricular activities.
The emotional landscape is equally concerning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 40 percent of American high school students experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2023.
These figures cannot establish that busy schedules or accelerated learning cause anxiety. Children's mental health is shaped by many interacting influences, including relationships, family circumstances, social media, and access to support. But they do invite a larger cultural question: Have we become so concerned with preparing children for the future that we have forgotten to give them time to inhabit the present?
And perhaps an even more uncomfortable question: What if the relentless pursuit of achievement is interfering with the very learning we hope to produce?
The ancient Romans had a phrase for this paradox: festina lente.
Make haste slowly.
Associated with the emperor Augustus, the expression was later adopted by Renaissance thinkers and printers, who recognized the wisdom of combining purposeful movement with careful deliberation. Its most famous visual representation—a dolphin wrapped around an anchor—captures the tension beautifully. The dolphin suggests speed and agility; the anchor, stability and restraint.
The goal was never to accomplish less. It was to avoid moving so quickly that one sacrificed the quality of the accomplishment.
Nearly two thousand years later, the principle may be more relevant to education than ever.
When More Becomes Less
Modern education often measures progress through coverage. How many chapters were completed? How many standards were addressed? How many assignments were submitted?
But the human mind does not necessarily learn according to the pace of a syllabus.
Christopher Perrin, founder of Classical Academic Press, identifies festina lente as an enduring principle of classical pedagogy. He pairs it with another Latin expression, multum non multa: much, not many.
The distinction matters. A student can encounter a great deal of information without understanding very much of it. Conversely, spending considerable time with a smaller number of important ideas can create the intellectual foundation for understanding many more.
This is not an argument against rigor. It is an argument for a different understanding of rigor.
Reading a difficult passage twice, questioning an assumption, revising an argument, practicing a mathematical skill, or returning to a historical event from another perspective may demand more sustained effort than moving quickly through a succession of assignments.
In the classical tradition, the Greek concept of scholé—from which we derive the word school—suggests time set apart for worthwhile study, reflection, and intellectual delight.
It is an arresting idea in a culture where even leisure must be productive.
What if school were not simply the place where children prepared for the next stage of life, but also where they learned how to pay attention to the life unfolding around them?
The Science of Remembering
There is growing scientific support for several teaching practices that reward patience rather than haste.
In a widely cited 2013 review published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, psychologist John Dunlosky and his colleagues evaluated ten common learning techniques. Two of the strongest were distributed practice—returning to material over time—and practice testing, which involves actively retrieving information rather than merely reviewing it.
Later research syntheses have emphasized additional strategies, including elaboration, self-explanation, and connecting verbal explanations with visual representations.
The implications are significant. Learning is strengthened not simply by encountering information, but by returning to it, recalling it, explaining it, and using it in meaningful contexts.
Consider ancient Egypt.
A scholar might first learn how Egyptians developed irrigation systems to channel water from the Nile to their crops. In science, that same scholar could investigate how water moves through soil and how different plants absorb moisture. In mathematics, they might calculate how much water a garden needs.
Then, through a hands-on STEM project, those lessons could come together in a practical challenge: How might we design a more efficient irrigation system for Innovate's own garden?
Suddenly, ancient history is helping scholars think about a contemporary problem in their own school community.
Of course, simply adding activities does not guarantee better learning. A project becomes educationally meaningful when teachers help children connect it to underlying concepts, retrieve what they already know, test their ideas, and reflect on the results.
The distinction is crucial: deep learning is not doing more things. It is discovering how more things are connected.
Why We Keep Returning to the Ancient World
One of the most distinctive features of classical education is its willingness to revisit familiar material.
At first glance, this might seem inefficient. Why study ancient civilizations more than once when there are so many other subjects to cover?
But the student returning to a historical period several years later is not the same person who encountered it the first time.
A young child hearing the story of Moses may remember the drama of the Exodus. Years later, that scholar can consider questions of covenant, leadership, law, freedom, and responsibility. At a more advanced level, the same material opens conversations about political authority, moral philosophy, and the historical influence of biblical thought.
Similarly, a younger scholar might encounter ancient Greece through mythology and the adventures of Odysseus. Later, Greece becomes an introduction to philosophy, logic, rhetoric, and the foundations of Western political thought.
The subject remains familiar, but the questions become more sophisticated.
This cyclical approach allows students to build upon existing knowledge rather than constantly beginning again. It also creates opportunities to integrate literature, theology, history, mathematics, science, and the arts.
At Innovate Academy, the study of Israel, Greece, Egypt, and Rome offers a particularly rich illustration of this philosophy. The civilizations are not merely historical destinations on a chronological itinerary. They become starting points for questions that remain relevant to children growing up in 2026.
Israel asks: Who am I when achievement is taken away?
In a world of academic rankings, social media comparisons, and performance pressure, Genesis 1:27 presents a radically different foundation for human dignity: people are created in the image of God.
A child's worth is not established by grades, popularity, appearance, or athletic ability.
At Innovate, that conviction informs an educational approach attentive to each scholar's individual strengths, needs, and calling. It also underlies the school's emphasis on wellness and the formation of the whole person.
Greece asks: How do I know whether an answer is true?
Socrates became famous for asking questions that exposed contradictions and challenged assumptions. His example is particularly relevant in the age of generative AI, when a polished answer can appear on a screen before a student has even begun to wrestle with the question.
Through Socratic discussion, classical literature, logic, and iLAB investigations, Innovate scholars are encouraged to examine evidence, defend their reasoning, and consider alternative perspectives.
The biblical instruction to "test everything" (1 Thessalonians 5:21) adds a Christian dimension to the practice of intellectual discernment.
The goal is not to reject new technology, but to develop the wisdom to use it responsibly.
Egypt asks: What can patient work accomplish?
Ancient Egyptian civilization depended on careful observation, mathematical knowledge, agricultural planning, engineering, and sustained coordination.
Its achievements offer a useful counterpoint to the expectation of immediate results.
At Innovate, hands-on learning and the iLAB process—Imagine, Investigate, Implement, Improve—encourage scholars to experiment, revise, and persevere. Galatians 6:9 reminds Christians not to grow weary in doing good.
A failed prototype is not necessarily wasted effort. It may be the beginning of understanding.
Rome asks: What makes a champion?
The Romans valued disciplined preparation, particularly in military training. Although the purposes of Roman training differed significantly from modern youth athletics, the historical emphasis on repeated practice offers a useful point of comparison.
Writing within the Roman Empire, the Apostle Paul drew upon the athletic world when he observed that athletes exercise self-control in their training (1 Corinthians 9:25).
For Innovate Lions athletes, the lesson is immediate. Talent matters, but progress depends upon practice, coachability, perseverance, and teamwork.
In a culture that celebrates spectacular goals and game-winning moments, the habits developed during ordinary practice may be the more enduring achievement.
Four civilizations. Four questions about identity, truth, perseverance, and discipline.
And one educational conviction: the purpose of studying the past is not simply to remember what happened, but to develop the wisdom to live well in the present.
An Education That Extends Beyond the Classroom
If deep learning requires time, repetition, and meaningful connections, it also benefits from opportunities to extend beyond the traditional classroom.
Innovate Academy's collaborative educational model creates space for precisely this kind of engagement.
Through Friday learning at home, families participate directly in their children's education. Parents may revisit a historical lesson, read alongside their scholars, discuss a difficult question, or explore how an idea applies to everyday life.
A concept introduced in class can become a conversation around the dinner table. A historical problem can inspire a practical experiment. A familiar story can take on new meaning when a parent and child examine it together.
These experiences offer opportunities to revisit and explain knowledge in different settings. They also communicate something important about education itself: learning is not confined to a classroom, and intellectual curiosity does not belong exclusively to childhood.
The distinction matters in a culture that frequently treats education as a service delivered to families rather than a shared undertaking.
At Innovate, parents are not merely observers of their children's academic development. They are partners in it.
And this October, that partnership is becoming especially visible.
When Learning Becomes a Festival
There is something wonderfully countercultural about spending weeks studying ancient civilizations and then gathering as a community to celebrate them.
In a society where learning is often reduced to preparation for the next assessment, Innovate Academy's Fall Festival offers another possibility: knowledge can become the occasion for creativity, fellowship, competition, and delight.
Israel, Greece, Egypt, and Rome provide the inspiration for costumes, games, artistic experiences, and hands-on challenges. For scholars in Pre-K through Grade 2, STEM competitions introduce opportunities to build, test, investigate, and solve problems together.
The festival also brings Innovate's four Houses—Monica, Benedict, Hildegard, and Basil—into friendly competition. Scholars practice teamwork, leadership, encouragement, and perseverance while participating in a shared school tradition.
But perhaps the most compelling part of Fall Festival is not what the children will do.
It is what the adults are doing to make it possible.
Through Innovate's Culture Maker Committee, parents have been collaborating to create a celebration that embodies the school's educational philosophy.
The committee's teams contribute in different ways. Teresa Appleby's Hands-On Projects group supports experiential learning; Programs & Events helps organize the festivities; Scholar Formation strengthens House involvement; and Parent Connection helps bring families into the life of the school.
Together, parents are planning, coordinating, creating, problem-solving, and volunteering to bring the ancient world to life for their children.
There is a striking symmetry here.
During the week, scholars study the achievements of civilizations built through cooperation, ingenuity, and shared purpose. On Fridays, families extend that learning at home. And through the Culture Maker Committee, parents collaborate to build something meaningful for the school community.
The children are studying how cultures are made while watching their own parents make one.
That may be one of the most powerful lessons of the entire season.
For all the attention contemporary education gives to individual achievement, human flourishing has never been an entirely individual enterprise. Families, neighborhoods, institutions, and traditions are built through people contributing their different gifts toward a shared purpose.
An epic Fall Festival does not materialize through a single brilliant idea. It takes planning, creativity, patience, coordination, revision, and people willing to serve one another.
In other words, it takes festina lente.
The Forgotten Importance of Joy
There is another assumption worth challenging: that serious learning must be joyless.
The modern achievement culture can turn almost any childhood interest into an obligation. A sport becomes a pathway to recruitment. A hobby becomes a portfolio. A good grade becomes the expectation of another good grade.
Even rest can begin to feel like something that must be earned.
Yet children need opportunities to experience the intrinsic pleasure of understanding something.
The delight of recognizing a historical character, solving a difficult problem, constructing something that works, or explaining an idea to a friend is not a distraction from education. It can be one of its rewards.
Fall Festival offers a visible expression of that delight.
A costume becomes more meaningful when its wearer knows the story behind it. A STEM challenge becomes more engaging when a scholar recognizes the principles involved. A House competition becomes more memorable when it is part of a tradition shared with classmates and families.
And when parents participate as fellow learners, organizers, and culture-makers, children encounter something larger than a school event. They see adults treating learning, creativity, service, and community as worthwhile pursuits.
This is not a claim that a festival can solve the pressures facing modern children. Nor is slower education, by itself, a treatment for anxiety or a guarantee of academic success.
It is a more modest—and perhaps more important—proposition: schools can choose what kinds of habits and values they reinforce.
They can communicate that achievement is the measure of a child's worth, or that achievement is one expression of a child's developing gifts.
They can reward the quickest answer, or cultivate the patience required to ask a better question.
They can treat parents as spectators, or invite them to participate in building the culture their children inhabit.
And they can regard joy as an interruption to serious learning, or recognize that intellectual discovery and celebration belong together.
The Things That Last
The paradox of festina lente is that making haste slowly is not really about moving slowly at all.
It is about knowing what deserves our time.
The Romans associated the expression with purposeful action and careful judgment. Classical educators have embraced it as a reminder that understanding cannot always be hurried. Modern cognitive science reinforces the value of revisiting, retrieving, and applying knowledge over time.
And in a world where childhood can feel like a race toward the next accomplishment, it offers a different vision of what education might become.
At Innovate Academy, that vision is taking shape through ancient-world studies, integrated STEM learning, Friday collaboration with families, House traditions, and a Fall Festival built through the imagination and service of the Culture Maker Committee.
The goal is not merely for scholars to remember Egypt, Greece, Israel, and Rome until the next test. It is for them to develop the intellectual habits and character that will help them recognize truth, solve problems, persevere through difficulty, and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
In a world racing to deliver the next answer, classical Christian education teaches children to linger.
And sometimes, after weeks of thoughtful study, the most fitting thing to do is put on a costume, join your House, tackle a STEM challenge, and celebrate with the people who helped make the learning possible.
Festina lente.
Make haste slowly.
Every scholar is a culture-maker. And perhaps the most important thing a school can teach is how to build a culture worth inheriting.
Research and Further Reading
• Pew Research Center (2025), The Gender Gap in Teen Experiences: Academic, social, and extracurricular pressures facing teenagers (https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2025/03/13/pressures-teens-are-facing/).
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2024), Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2023: Adolescent mental health and protective factors (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7304a9.htm).
• Dunlosky et al. (2013), Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Research review of effective study practices (https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266).
• Christopher Perrin, Classical Academic Press, The Scholé Way: Classical education, attentive learning, and the principle of festina lente.
