The 250-Year American Experiment in Non-Sectarian Education Has Failed

"Education, by its very nature, is sectarian and therefore religious, because education forms the intellect and will, which are faculties of the soul. The human person is created by God with a desire to develop these faculties in accordance with truth. But because The Fall clouded our intellects and weakened our wills, we need divine revelation. Religion encompasses the practices and beliefs that respond to and integrate revealed truths. We can acquire knowledge through our senses and reason, but we need guides—teachers to instruct, train, and morally direct us."

How the Classical Trivium Helps Students Master Their Work

One of the most effective approaches to clarifying the content and purpose of study derives from the classical trivium: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric…Countless publications dwell on strategies for instructing students in reading and math, science and language arts, classroom behavior and good citizenship. Professional development courses train teachers in new methodologies. Students practice test taking, note taking, narrating, annotating, mapping, diagraming, executive functioning, and stress management. For all its usefulness, overemphasis on skills often obscures fundamental questions about what to study and why.

Schools That Teach The Classics Instead Of Marxism See Exponential Growth

"Since lockdowns showed American parents what public schools teach kids, a competing method of human formation called classical education has seen a massive jump in enrollment, the leaders of multiple K-12 networks told The Federalist. The number of new school startups within the Association of Christian Classical Schools nearly tripled in 2022 and 2023 from previous years, said ACCS President David Goodwin in a phone interview. Their typical number of school startups per year is 20-30, he said, but in 2022 and 2023 startups respectively numbered 83 and likely near 100 by the end of this year, he said."

Going Phone-Free at School? A Resource for Parents and Schools

"Phones in schools are strongly linked to poor academic performance. Math, reading, and science scores have been dropping in the United States since 2012. As of 2022, scores for the lowest performing students are at levels last seen in the 1970s. Studies show that excessive smartphone use negatively impacts grades and skill development. The mere presence of a smartphone is mentally distracting. Research shows that having a cellphone, even turned off in students’ backpacks, decreases test scores."

All Roads Lead Back to Curriculum

"Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on K–12 education, specifically curriculum development. His chapter in A Nation at Risk +40 makes the case for a focus on higher-quality curriculum as a lower-cost, high-impact means of boosting student achievement. He spoke with Chris Herhalt about curriculum development and why it is not discussed by leading education reformers."

Setting the Stage for a New Year: Building Classroom Culture

"It is an astonishing fact that, during the school year, students spend more (waking) hours with their classmates and teachers than they do with their own families. To ensure that the children entrusted to our care are being nurtured in the same way they would be in their homes, Catholic school classrooms can and should have a family feel…Here are some tips to build and sustain a beautiful and rich classroom culture with your students this year."

Mary, Model of Teachers

"At first glance, it is somewhat counter-intuitive to think of the Blessed Virgin as a model for teachers rather than as a model of discipleship. But, of course, a disciple by one’s very nature is intended to become a teacher. After all, didn’t Our Lord Himself say: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher” (Lk 6:40)?"

Read the Bible, Understand America

"Educators in Oklahoma and Louisiana and a few other red states have called for biblical content in public classrooms. Right on cue, liberals have criticized them for it. It strikes them as dangerous and coercive. They don’t distinguish between the act of discussing selections from the Old and New Testaments and the act of proselytizing. If you pressed them, they might acknowledge the relevance of the Bible to the fields of English, history, art history, civics, and oratory, but they would nonetheless mistrust the practice of Bible teaching."

On Beauty and Imitation

"Once upon a time, art was the handmaid of religion. Culture was understood as society’s “address to sacred order,” and art was at the very heart of that “address.” The cave drawings of Lascaux and Peche Merle, the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the architecture of the Parthenon, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, and Palestrina’s polyphony—each of these works was the product of a believing community giving praise to the divine and seeking to understand itself as existing under sacred order."

Rising Trend of Classical Education Offers Hope for Civic Renewal

"On the most recent National Assessment for Educational Progress, American students’ history scores hit an all-time low. Only 13% scored at or above proficient in history, while two-fifths of eighth grade students performed below basic proficiency—meaning, they “likely cannot identify simple historical concepts in primary or secondary sources.”… But there is yet hope for the nation Lincoln called “the last best hope of earth.” American parents are in the midst of a great educational reawakening, in which they are rediscovering the form of education—classical education—so treasured by our Founding Fathers."

Meaning at Risk in the Age of Automated Information Processing

"We are in an age in which information processing has become dominant as both an overarching technological framework and medium, as well as a primary metaphorical framework through which we try to interpret and understand ourselves both individually and collectively. This is perhaps most prominent in the advent of artificial general intelligence (AGI) which threatens to challenge and change humanity in a profound and pervasive manner."

History & Memory: Two Habits, One Humanity

"History is a liberal discipline, a field of study. Aristotle, the father of the liberal arts, never developed a full account of history as either an art or a science. When, however, we consider the centrality of narrative in history we rightly conclude that it is sometimes an art, as historian Bernard Bailyn puts it, sharing with drama, novels, and stories a strong narrative component. We note too how history is akin to rhetoric, since, as Aristotle teaches, rhetoric relies on examples drawn from the past."

Why Fairy Tales Are Essential Reading with Dr. Vigen Guroian

"The Votive Podcast from Word on Fire is an exploration of art and literature that sparks the imagination. Hosted by Haley Stewart, author, children’s book editor for Word on Fire Votive, and mom of four, each episode features an interview with a writer or artist about how to share beautiful art and good stories that evangelize the hearts and minds of young readers."

What’s Wrong with Boys at School?

"Boys are not faring as well as girls in the classroom. Women outperform men in school in terms of school readiness in kindergarten, GPA, and increasingly in college enrollment and degree attainment. According to Richard Reeves, of the top 10% of students, two-thirds are girls. On the flip side, boys comprise nearly two-thirds of the bottom 10% of students. While boys outperform girls overall on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT, girls perform better on the written and verbal portions of the exams while boys outperform on STEM subjects."

Anxiety, Depression, Less Sleep … and Poor Academic Performance?

"Over the last decade, smartphones have become commonplace. Today, 95 percent of American teenagers have a supercomputer in their pocket. Jonathan Haidt, Jean Twenge, and others have brought necessary attention to the likelihood that smartphones and social media are partly to blame for the teenage mental health epidemic gripping our nation. It’s not a watertight case, because it’s nearly impossible to prove a causal relationship with a phenomenon as ubiquitous as this one. What scholars can say is that the sudden rise in teenage anxiety and depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide all happened at the same time that teenagers’ adoption of smartphones passed the 50 percent mark—around 2012 or 2013."

Why Teachers Are Fleeing Public Schools

"In 2007 I turned down a high-paying job in engineering to become a public school science teacher. I believed that making a difference in the lives of kids and maintaining the tradition of Western civilization would give my life meaning and value that money couldn’t measure. But I soon discovered that my ideals were often at odds with the school administration’s priorities. I wanted to teach; my administrators wanted to get the maximum number of students a diploma with the least amount of friction."

A Teacher Did All He Could to Keep Kids Off Phones. He’s Quitting in Frustration.

"Mitchell Rutherford faced a crisis of confidence as smartphones took over his Arizona classroom and students lost the motivation to learn. Mitchell Rutherford has taught biology at a public high school for 11 years. He’s quitting after this semester because he’s tired of trying to engage students who are lost in their phones."

Classical Education Is Taking Off. What’s the Appeal?

"Classical education has seen remarkable growth in recent years. Since the pandemic, hundreds of new classical schools have opened. Across the nation, it’s estimated that there are around 1,000 classical schools in operation today. These schools have tapped into a population of families attracted to their “back to the future” emphasis on the great books, traditional virtues, and the foundations of Western civilization. But it’s not always clear what this translates to in terms of pedagogy or practice. What’s driving the appeal? What’s happening in these classrooms? And where does this model fit in the educational landscape? To answer these questions, I reached out to Rob Jackson, the founder of Classical Commons, a web-based social network designed to further the advancement of classical schools. Here’s what he had to say."

This Is What Happened After Several Schools Banned Cellphones

"Banning cellphones in schools improved academics, reduced bullying, and reduced students’ need for counseling, a 73-page Norwegian paper found. Girls benefited the most from the policies. “Banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls,” Sara Sofie Abrahamsson, a postdoctoral researcher and the paper’s sole author, wrote in the abstract. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases.”

Christless Classical Curricula

"Classical charter schools have surged in number over the past thirty years in response to the decreasing quality of education and the often-disordered learning environments of American public schools. Aided both by this decline and the abundance of state funding for education, classical charter schools are multiplying across the country. Such expansion has benefited many students and communities while also causing problems for others."