Classical Education is Exploding. Why?
Notes & Expansions on A Primer from Yours Truly
As part of my work at the 1776 Project Foundation, I wrote a primer on classical education— in this instance, specifically focused on classical education in the (traditional) public school system. Many classical schools are private, co-ops, or home schools.
There’s a small but growing number of classical charter schools across the United States, but the movement is scoring its biggest win so far. Miami Dade School District, the 3rd largest public school system in the country, is adopting a classical pilot program for elementary school students. The district has ~350,000 students, and the program likely won’t include more than a few hundred, but a successful implementation could have huge ramifications across Florida and the country.
Of course, it helps that Florida has rapidly become one of the most classical friendly states. They’ve allowed the Classical Learning Test to be used in college admissions, for determining scholarships, and even created a classical teaching certificate through the Florida Department of Education. Florida is probably one of the best states in America for classical proponents right now, up there with Texas, possibly even better.
(As an aside, the original proposal in Miami-Dade highlights the successes of classical programs in D.C., New York, and Nashville in proficiency and graduation rates above the averages in those areas. It’s been particularly successful in minority-majority schools too).
Classical education is not a new concept — far from it (as you might have guessed from the term itself). The more “modern” adaptation is largely influenced by The Lost Tools of Learning, an essay published in 1947 by Dorothy Sayers. Sayers heavily relies on the concept of the trivium for engaging with students and making sure they learn material in different ways as they mature — or more fundamentally, making sure our children learn how to learn.
The trivium is more skills-based and may not accurately correspond to grade level as we typically think about it, but there are rough comparisons to be made. They are:
Grammar (K - 4/5)
Logic or Dialectic (4/5 - 8)
Rhetoric (9 - 12)
Grammar is applied much more broadly than it may seem. Every “subject” has its own grammar, that is, its own foundational elements. Grammar is important for language development, but it’s also important that in each academic subject, the student learns the foundational elements for their long-term understanding of the subject. It is impossible to learn algebra without first knowing how to add, after all. Memorization and repetition are key for this stage.
The logic, or dialectic stage, is focused on critical thinking. They take the foundational knowledge presented in the grammar stage and build upon it. They ask questions about the material, make comparisons, and determine cause and effect. They may know the United States became independent in 1776, but this stage would address the conditions that led to such a declaration.
Rhetoric is the final stage in the trivium. It’s largely focused on output, that is, allowing students to synthesize the knowledge and understanding from the previous two stages to develop their own thoughts, and present it in their own words. By this level, the students would be able to engage with new information and form an opinion, then articulate it concisely and with persuasion.
The trivium has been adapted by Dorothy Sayers and those who came after her in an attempt to provide students with the core skills to engage with, understand, and articulate belief in material, whether it originates from the classroom or over the course of life itself. The end goal is an academically, morally, and intellectually well-developed student who is ready to enter the world upon graduation.
But why is classical education experiencing such a resurgence right now?
In February 2024, Arcadia Education performed a market analysis of K-12 Classical Education. They found that:
There were ~1500 classical schools in the 2023-24 academic year, totaling almost 700,000 students nationwide.
219 of those schools were public charter schools, with a total student population of roughly 125,000.
Homeschooling, co-ops, or micro schooling options with a classical curriculum had just over 260,000 students.
The number of classical schools is growing at almost 5% per year.
The 2019 National Household Education Survey, which Arcadia Education used in their analysis, showed that:
74% of parents considered homeschools out of a desire to provide moral instruction.
72% were dissatisfied with the academic instruction in their schools.
These are both very strong reasons to pull your children out of public schools, especially in such a charged environment. The obvious and immediate rebuttal to my own statement here would be that education has always been charged, it’s just that most people assumed that public education was “good enough.” That is rapidly changing. The school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic certainly accelerated the trend, but more parents, teachers, and lawmakers are starting to sound the alarm on the state of our education across the country. It’s not looking good.
The families that wanted moral instruction were likely more religious (particularly evangelical) and engaged enough to send their children to private religious schools or homeschool. A few months ago, I spoke with someone heavily involved in the Association of Classical Christian Schools, who informed me that their participatory schools had more than tripled from 2016 to 2024. This isn’t a new organization either. They’ve been around since 1993!
The Society for Classical Learning, an organization focused on promoting a classical Christian education model, released a document in 2023 that noted the classical Christian movement expanded from 170 schools in 2010 to over 700 in 2023. The growth associated with the classical movement, particularly classical Christian schools, is astounding.
The mistrust of public schools is on the rise, and people will naturally seek alternatives. It won’t change the fact that, despite record declines in public school enrollment, the over 80% of kids in America will attend public school. But that’s why public schools are starting to open up classical options of their own, including charter schools, or pilot programs like Miami-Dade.
It’s only one small band-aid on a massive wound for public schools, but offering (or bringing back) educational programs that serve thousands of students is bound to see results.