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What is The TA Scholars Program?

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! 'Have courage to use your own understanding!'--that is the motto of enlightenment."1

Immanuel Kant, 1784

Kant's description of enlightenment serves as the pattern for the TA Scholars program. Students who complete the program will be equipped with the philosophical and technical skills necessary to become independent thinkers and problem solvers, regardless of discipline.

In short, TA Scholars are enlightened, self-directed, highly motivated, and confident in their abilities to master the intellectual challenges of a quickly changing world.

The TA Scholars initiative accomplishes this goal by providing students:

              • The intellectual framework in which to conduct scholarly investigation.
              • The intellectual maturity necessary to:
                • challenge the prevailing communal paradigms.
                • critique and challenge their own assumptions, arguments, and world view.
                • identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
                • solicit and accept the constructive criticism of others.
              • Mentoring support and advice from faculty drawn from both the TA and the collegiate ranks, as well as from experts from outside traditional academia.
              • The completion of an original research project which must be presented to and evaluated by a jury of peers, teachers, administrators, parents, and other community members.

TA Scholars must enroll in the Philosophies of Knowing course.

              • This courses provides the academic and philosophical background to the modes of thought in Western society and serves as the intellectual basis for the TA Scholars program.
              • Why do you have to take this class?
              • So that you can:
                • determine the various ways we perceive the world, both tangibly and intangibly.
                • determine the various ways we describe the world.
                • determine how our actions impact the world.
                • describe the inter-relationship of the points above: understand the consequences of the human condition.
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1 Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? (Koningsberg, Prussia, 1784) http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

 

Purpose

The TA Scholars program serves Tuscaloosa Academy's intellectually gifted students by offering a liberal arts program which is competitive with the best schools in the United States and elsewhere.The program focuses upon these themes:

              • Developing well-rounded students.
              • Developing self-directed learners.
              • Equipping students for advanced standing in college.

 

Rewards

Completion of the TA Scholars' demanding requirements not only imbues students with a great sense of accomplishment but instills in them the self-confidence derived from challenges met and conquered, as well.The tangible rewards of successful completion of the TA Scholars program include:

            • The inclusion of student success on their permanent TA transcript.
            • The inclusion of a letter attesting to the competitive nature of the program to each student's college application letter.
            • Special recognition on Honor's Day.
            • The possibility of earning Advanced Placement credit.
            • Graduation from Tuscaloosa Academy with a liberal arts education comparable to that offered by like, superior schools nationally and internationally.