Policy analysts and educators Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Merino Doan join us to discuss their new book Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books)—an eye-opening look at the decline of liberal education in America’s most prestigious universities. Together they uncover what’s gone wrong with general education, what’s missing from modern curricula, and why the recovery of real learning still matters.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How the Ivy League abandoned the core curriculum and the study of Western civilization
📖 What their research uncovered in hundreds of “slacker courses” at top universities
📖 The historical shift from classical to elective education—and how Emerson and Eliot helped pave the way
📖 Why Columbia remains the lone Ivy preserving a true core curriculum
📖 How reform might begin—through trustees, states, and new classical colleges

LINKS:
➡️ Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books): https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/...
➡️ National Association of Scholars: https://www.nas.org

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Writers and editors Timothy Lawrence and Timothy House join us from FilmFisher—a community of classically minded Christian film critics dedicated to bringing the Great Tradition into conversation with modern cinema. Together they discuss the site’s origins, its recent relaunch, and the enduring need for thoughtful film criticism in an age of algorithms and crowd-sourced reviews.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How FilmFisher emerged from the classical education movement through Christopher Perrin and Joshua Gibbs
📖 Why film criticism matters—and how it can once again become humane, literary, and formative
📖 What sets great criticism apart from “thumbs up/thumbs down” crowd scores
📖 How to watch films more attentively by learning the language of images and perspective

LINKS:
➡️ FilmFisher: https://filmfisher.com
➡️ FilmFisher Substack: https://filmfisher.substack.com
➡️ Jedi Archives (Timothy Lawrence’s Star Wars lectures): https://explicatingstarwars.substack....

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Former congressman Bob Schaffer and physician Dr. Randy Everett—co-founders of Liberty Common School in Fort Collins, Colorado—join us to tell the remarkable story of how a small group of parents built one of the nation’s most successful classical charter schools. From living-room meetings to legislative battles, their work helped shape both Liberty’s founding and Colorado’s charter school law itself.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How a parent movement in the 1990s became a model for classical education nationwide
📖 The political and legal fight that made Liberty Common possible
📖 Why E.D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy became the foundation for the school’s curriculum
📖 How conviction, scholarship, and community built a school that still defines excellence thirty years later

LINKS:
➡️ Liberty Common School: https://www.libertycommon.org
➡️ Core Knowledge Foundation: https://www.coreknowledge.org

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Philosopher and educator Dr. Wes Siscoe joins us to discuss the renewal of philosophy as a lived practice—one that can transform not only university classrooms but also the wider culture of learning. Drawing on his work with the Philosophy as a Way of Life project and the Philosophy Teaching Library, Siscoe shares how a discipline often seen as abstract can again become formative and humane.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How teaching in the Mississippi Delta reshaped Siscoe’s vision of education
📖 Why philosophy must move beyond specialization to recover its practical vocation
📖 The “Philosophy as a Way of Life” movement and its call to form whole persons
📖 How the Philosophy Teaching Library helps students engage the great texts directly

LINKS:
➡️ Philosophy as a Way of Life Project (University of Notre Dame): https://philife.nd.edu
➡️ Philosophy Teaching Library: https://philife.nd.edu/philosophy-tea...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Classicist, translator, and educator Brian Lapsa joins us from Europe to discuss faith, culture, and classical education across the Atlantic. A scholar of ancient education and an advocate for living Latin, Lapsa reflects on the decline of the humanities, the renewal of moral formation, and his work bridging British and American classical traditions.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 The “long withdrawing roar” of faith in Britain—and why there’s still hope
📖 How late antiquity modeled education through imitation and moral exemplars
📖 What active (or “living”) Latin offers modern students
📖 How classical learning can restore intellectual virtue and cultural confidence

LINKS:
➡️ Memoria College: https://www.memoriacollege.org
➡️ Verbum Sapientiae Institute: https://www.verbumsapientiae.org

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Professor and founder Matthew J. Smith joins us to share the story of Hildegard College—a bold experiment in rethinking higher education by uniting the Great Books with entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How a transformative encounter with the Great Books led Smith to his vocation
📖 Why graduate school often fails to cultivate wisdom—and how new colleges are reimagining liberal education
📖 What makes Hildegard’s model distinct: a single B.A. in Liberal Arts and Entrepreneurship
📖 How wisdom, friendship, and creation are integrated into the Hildegard curriculum

LINKS:
➡️ Hildegard College: https://www.hildegard.college

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Dr. Jon Kirwan, director of the new Center for Educational Philosophy & Leadership at Christendom College, joins us to discuss how classical wisdom can revitalize leadership, teacher training, and Catholic education in the modern age.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How progressive education reshaped teacher training—and how Catholic schools can recover their roots
📖 Why the Ed.D. has become a leadership degree, and how it might be re-founded on Thomistic principles
📖 The surprising overlap between modern leadership theory, positive psychology, and Aristotle’s virtue ethics
📖 How Christendom College is preparing the next generation of educators to renew schools through classical philosophy and Catholic tradition

LINKS:
➡️ Christendom College Center for Educational Philosophy & Leadership: https://www.christendom.edu/academics...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Allison Ellis (Mount Titano Media) and Martin Cothran (Memoria Press) join us to discuss "Finding Our Words," a collection of great American speeches and why recovering the art of rhetoric is vital for education and civic life today.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How homeschooling and publishing led to the revival of classical education
📖 Why rhetoric and speech are central to forming citizens
📖 John Quincy Adams’s 1837 Independence Day oration—and what it reveals about America’s foundations
📖 How the Constitution reflects both classical wisdom and a Judeo-Christian inheritance

LINKS:
➡️ "Finding Our Words: Words That Made America": https://www.mounttitanomedia.com/products/finding-our-words-words-that-made-america-paperback
➡️ Memoria Press: https://www.memoriapress.com

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior