What if I told you that we live in a magical world? Everyone loves a refreshing visit to the fantasy world of their favorite book. This is especially true of children. There is a reason why many of the greatest and most popular works of literature in both the past (Lord of the Rings or...
What is the difference between history and memory? As the late great Bernard Bailyn said, through history, we work on the past, We reach back and put past events together. And in doing so we learn about ourselves precisely by observing those who came before us. Through memory, we allow the past to work on us. We receive our predecessors...
Today, we will use our daily blog to announce the Institute's annual conference. Join scores of scholars and practitioners from across the country at the National Classical Education Symposium 2021, "Teaching the Scientific Project." The 3rd Annual Symposium will be held ONLINE, February 22-23, 2021. Martin Cothran, Andrew Kern, Chris Perrin, Andrew Pudewa, and (Professor) Carol...
Note: The following entry is from Dr. Owen Anderson (Arizona State University), a Fellow of the Institute for Classical Education In my lasts posts we talked about the move from pre-skeptic to skeptic to post-skeptic. We underscored the purpose of the Academy as the pursuit of knowledge starting with basic things. Now we need to consider...
Note: The following blog entry comes to us from our colleague and friend, Betsy K. Brown, who teaches and chairs the humanities program at Cicero Preparatory Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona. A graduate of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, with a focus on creative nonfiction, Betsy loves to share the goodness of words...
Note: The following post is from our guest contributor Mr. Derek Anderson, headmaster of Ridgeview Classical in Fort Collins, Colorado. In addition to leading the school, Mr. Anderson remains an avid student of moral and political philosophy, alongside of intellectual history. His defense of the liberal arts curriculum is based upon his many years of having taught students history, philosophy, literature, and rhetoric. Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ. Classicists will know...
Reflecting upon yesterday’s national holiday, an occasion for us to commemorate the service and self-sacrifice of our veterans, I was struck by the ways in which our arts—sculpture, poetry and literature, painting, etc.—help us to capture the sentiments of society on such a day. As you probably know, Veterans’ Day was formally initiated on the anniversary...
[Note: Benjamin V. Beier, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor of Education at Hillsdale College. He has published articles on Shakespeare, Thomas More, and related topics, and is currently co-authoring a book on Aristotelian logic.] “Does classical education perpetuate racism, Ms. Hugh?” This question may strike the supporters of classical education as silly, but after a...
Note: The following entry is from Dr. Benjamin Storey (Furman University), a scholar and friend. He teaches the history of political philosophy and is Co-Director of the Tocqueville Program at Furman University. He has written for many journals, including Journal of Politics, the Review of Politics, The New Atlantis, and City Journal. My children wear simple but nice uniforms to their Classical Christian School. It is not uncommon to find their...
Seeking to better understand our contemporary moment, I’ve been looking at a variety of intellectual sources that help to make sense of our nation’s polarizing state of affairs. Some of you have probably discovered the sociologist Jonathan Haidt (NYU), whose research and publications (e.g., The Righteous Mind, The Coddling of the American Mind) strive to explain the increasing divisions in our...