Classical education eschews pedagogical fads. It instead steeps students in the great works of literature, philosophy, history, and science—what the poet Matthew Arnold called “the best that has been thought and said.” Instead of Critical Race Theory and Marxist claptrap, children learn about Greece and Rome, Shakespeare and the Renaissance, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, and the glory of the American founding.
Drawing inspiration from Greek and Roman academic traditions, classical education seeks to ground students in the good, the true, and the beautiful. Its highest aim is to form virtuous students grounded in the best of the Western canon. Classical schools instruct students through the sequence known as the “trivium,” guiding them through grammar, logic, and rhetoric. They first establish a knowledge base, then learn how to evaluate arguments, and finally how to articulately express their thoughts.
As such, classical education is interested in more than forming good students; its charge is forming students who are good.
More than two hundred new classically oriented schools have opened across the country in just the last two years. Classical learning is being adopted by charters, start-ups, and homeschooling parents. And classical education networks will only grow further as states embrace parental choice.
Classical education is interested in more than forming good students; its charge is forming students who are good. | @KevinRobertsTXhttps://t.co/mCyviKWRw3
— First Things (@firstthingsmag) June 21, 2023