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"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than for others; what has been written without effort is generally read without pleasure."
Words I needed to read, today.
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11 hours ago
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Thank you! I needed to hear this today too. And you might enjoy hearing that my now 8th grader of a historian has made me a huge fan of your book on the History of the Ancient World. He read it in 7th grade in prep for a history Olympiad and loved it:) I also read this, “I don’t like to write; I like to have written” in testimony to writing being as enjoyable and painful as childbirth.
St. Patrick's Day, just outside my office, just now. Spring is so close. ... See MoreSee Less
1 day ago
I love this time of year! Thank you God for the sunLooking forward to a blazing summer this year 🌞
Forsythia bushes💛
Narcissus ❤️❤️❤️
Another "Classical Education is Growing" piece that ran in Forbes, late last year. Some of the same issues are addressed, although it's a bit more of a survey.
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A growing number of families are enrolling their children in schools that provide classical education. We need a way to identify schools that use a content-rich curriculum, but the “classical” label may be too slippery—and too co-opted by political conservatives—to provide it.
A spate of articles over the past year have noted a surge of interest in classical schools. A study conducted in Texas found that a disproportionate number of students who left traditional public schools for the charter sector were going to classical schools, with several thousand on waitlists. An article in the National Review identified this as a national trend, with networks of classical schools expanding and unaffiliated classical schools “popping up across the country in response to local demand.”
...But why are so many parents—albeit still a small minority—flocking to classical schools? No one knows for sure, although some speculate it may be due to parents not liking what they saw over their children’s shoulders during the era of remote schooling.
One AEI panelist, Erika Donalds—a parent herself and founder of a virtual classical school—said that for her, it started with an inchoate sense that something was missing from the standard elementary school curriculum. “Parents are dissatisfied with what they’re getting,” she said, “but they’re not really sure what they’re looking for.”
That may well be true. But other parents may not be lucky enough to stumble upon a nearby classical school, as Donalds did. And even if they do, they may not immediately feel—as she did—that it’s the answer. Donalds was excited to hear that the school would provide “more history, classic literature, explicit phonics, and grammar”—just what she felt her son needed. But it was also an explicitly Christian school, and not all parents are looking for that.
There are also undoubtedly many parents out there who don’t feel there’s something missing from their children’s schooling—even if in fact there is. The lack of content Donalds noticed is widespread at the elementary and sometimes middle school level, largely because schools have been focusing on reading comprehension “skills” at the expense of subjects like social studies and science. Not only is that far less engaging for kids, it also sets many up for failure at higher grade levels, when knowledge of history, geography and science is assumed by the curriculum.
For parents who are looking for an alternative to the typical curriculum, what’s needed is an easier way to find it. And the designation “classical” is unlikely to serve that purpose for many of them. As defined by advocates like the AEI panelists, the category is sufficiently vague that they might not feel they know enough about what they’re getting. And values like truth, beauty, and goodness are often in the eye of the beholder. One person’s “truth” can be another one’s falsehood.
But perhaps the more fundamental problem is that the term “classical” has become identified with conservative politics and Christianity, even if it shouldn’t be. That could put off many families whose children deserve some kind of content-rich, knowledge-building curriculum, whether it’s labeled “classical” or not.
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Can ‘Classical Education’ Help Parents Find The Schools They Want?
A growing number of families are enrolling their children in classical schools, but they're unlikely to be the solution to our education crisis.3 days ago