Classical Education Resurgence Is Shaping School Choice

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Teach them how to learn, not what to learn.

That’s the key concept for classical education, which is enjoying a national resurgence, with Florida leading the way.

Classical education advocates hope their movement will expand from private religious and chartered learning institutions to struggling public schools.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

Hope is high in the wake of an election year that saw the selection of pro-school choice candidates across the country, including President Donald Trump.

“During COVID, parents saw what their kids were learning, and there was general disappointment with the level of learning that was happening,” Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom, told The Epoch Times.

“The public education model has had a monopoly [on learning], but it’s mediocre definitionally. They’re serving the middle students. They are trying to reach that average student that doesn’t exist.”

Standard U.S. public education is referred to as the traditional model, even though classical learning, also known as liberal arts education, predates the era of neighborhood schools, local districts, and state education departments by centuries, according to the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS).

Classical education can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and is rooted in Christianity and Western teachings, the ACCS notes. It promotes moral development and emphasizes older literature such as Aristotle and Shakespeare instead of contemporary texts.

Under the classical education model, three pillars of learning—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—are applied holistically to all subjects with the goal of obtaining wisdom, not just understanding, according to the Classical Academy school in Indianapolis.

By contrast, in a traditional public education setting, subjects are compartmentalized and students engage in syllabus-led courses and project-based activities, with the goal of developing foundational skills through the accumulation of facts and information, according to the official Common Core website.

The vast majority of states have adopted Common Core standards.

The Classical Academy provides an example of the three-pillar concept on its website:

In a lesson about the War of 1812, students are first assigned to learn the facts (grammar) of that event, including names, dates, and places. Then, they apply what they’ve learned to answer questions about why the war started, how the war ended, and why it ended (logic).

“At the rhetoric stage, students would begin to integrate that grammar and logic, seeing where else in history or life we see similar patterns or outcomes, and what those might mean for our present every day life,” the Classical Academy notes.

The same topic in a traditional classroom might also involve memorizing the key facts of the War of 1812, followed by an in-class assignment completed on a laptop or tablet, either individually or in small groups. In that system, the emphasis is on demonstrating knowledge retained from the lesson specific to the topic but not necessarily how it relates to other events, past or present.

Children learn a variety of subjects in the arts and sciences. Courtesy of Hillsdale College

“It seems simple, but in all the noise of every next new thing in education trends, we have lost the ability to think for ourselves, to reason logically and persuasively, to maintain a love of learning, and to graduate compelling thought leaders who possess the gifts and abilities needed to shape culture and bring new innovative work to mankind,” the Classical Academy website states.

Alternative Learning Follows Pandemic

In the past four years alone, 250 classical schools collectively serving nearly 14,000 students have opened, according to an August report from The Heritage Foundation. A fifth of them are in Florida.

All told, more than 677,000 children in grades K–12 were enrolled in classical education programs last year, a 2024 market analysis report by Arcadia Education states.

That includes students in 1,024 Christian Evangelical schools, 308 Catholic schools, and 219 public charter schools.

Additionally, about 261,000 students were homeschooled using classical curricula.

Between 2017 and 2023, homeschooling under classical education instruction increased by 51 percent, followed by 7 percent in private religious schools and 4 percent in public schools, according to the report.

Arcadia forecasts an increase to 1.4 million students and 2,575 schools by 2035, including 119 new charter schools and 200 existing public schools that will adopt the classical curriculum.

“Many parents from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds are increasingly of like mind: Pre-K–12 education ought to prioritize a traditional focus on content, instill civic virtues and discourse in every student, and avoid an outsized emphasis on popular culture and politics,” the report stated.

Public schools still hold the overwhelming majority of U.S. students. In the fall of 2022, about 48.1 million K–12 students were enrolled in public schools, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Abigail Previlon, 13, takes part in remote distance learning on a Chromebook with the help of her mother Carlene at home in Stamford, Conn., on Oct. 28, 2020. Stamford Public Schools is using a hybrid educational model during the pandemic, with a combination of in-class and distance learning. John Moore/Getty Images

Opposition From Public School Teachers

Teachers unions at the national and local levels have opposed school choice measures, especially taxpayer-funded voucher programs that fund private school tuition, because they could decrease enrollment-based funding.

The Network for Public Education (NPE), in its July 2023 report “Sharp Turn Right,” acknowledged the growth of classical education public charter schools but denounced them as institutions that serve white Christian nationalism and “the Conservative agenda.”

“These charter schools have become weapons of the right as they seek to destroy Democratically governed public schools while turning back the clock on education and social progress by a century,” the NPE report states.

“Charter schools took a sharp turn right and now serve a purpose never imagined by their early proponents. The only question that remains is whether moderate, progressive, liberal-minded voters and politicians recognize where the runaway charter movement is headed.”

Based on an informal survey of their websites, classical schools, unlike public schools in several states, place little or no emphasis on social-emotional learning, critical race theory, gender ideology, or diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Read the rest here…