I want to thank the Heritage Foundation for hosting this important event. Having the honor of being on the same program, or even in the same room, as Professor Robert George is a bucket list-type day for me. So, thank you.
It is indeed monumental that for the 100 years since Pierce, the court has recognized the obvious — that parents have a fundamental right to choose the type of school their children attend, including private and religious schools. It is unfortunate, however, that it has taken this same 100 years to finally recognize that having the right to choose your children’s school is meaningless for most parents without the resources needed to exercise that right and make that choice!
Just last year, ninety-nine years after Pierce, we finally reached one million students participating in various school choice programs. There are now an estimated 75 such choice programs operating in 33 states and growing. And, with an administration determined to close the Department of Education and drive those education dollars back to the states and more importantly, to parents — this trend is likely to continue.
This growth in school choice, and in the choice to homeschool, is being fueled by a very deep and troubling crisis in public education. One can point to persistent declines in NAEP scores, declining scores on increasingly lax state assessments, declining performances on college entrance exams, the persistent and declining performance of our low-income students, particularly those of color — but really, the crisis goes beyond testing based assessments. After Covid, the drivel of so much public instruction was exposed firsthand to parents — who are now taking a second and third look into their children’s schools and are finding little to cheer. Parents are now asking about the books their children are reading, or worse, why their children aren’t reading any real books at all. Colleges, including Harvard, are being forced to teach remedial classes and businesses are finding their workforce unprepared for the tasks being given.
Sadly, the one size fits all public education monopoly, has fed our children a constant dose of “new” pedagogy — from whole language, to new math, to test driven curricula that does little to encourage critical thought, or to provide the tools to self-instruct and become the elusive but much talked about “lifelong learner.”
While a robust education marketplace is likely to develop a plethora of educational models, it is equally certain to weed out models that do not work. I am here today, I believe, because I am a firm advocate for an educational model with roots stretching back a millennia, a model that almost died on the altar of progressive instruction yet is now experiencing a vibrant resurgence and I believe will be a dominant model when school choice becomes the norm. I am speaking of course, of classical education.
For too long, classical education has been perceived as an antiquated approach. But as someone who has founded and run a private Christian classical school here in Southeast, Washington, DC, and having visited successful classical schools like the Great Hearts Academies in Phoenix, AZ — I have seen the power of this time-tested model. Classical education isn’t just about the great books of western civilization, or learning Latin, but more broadly it is about teaching students how to learn, how to think, how to take ownership of their education. It is about ensuring students have the tools to think logically, and to engage in critical discussions centered on life’s biggest questions. A successful classical school will have a discipline model that is kind and restorative. It will have positive classrooms where students lead discussions, and debates, with respect. Teachers will act as facilitators, not performers — there is no “Stand and Deliver” in a true classical school.
The benefits of this approach are powerful. By grappling with complex texts and ideas, students learn to analyze, evaluate, and form their own judgments. This is a vital skill for navigating an increasingly complex and sadly, dark world. It builds a strong academic foundation through exposure to rich literature, history, mathematics, and science, interwoven with the study of Latin. It cultivates intellectual curiosity and a broad base of knowledge. By engaging with timeless questions of human existence, morality, and the nature of reality, students are guided towards understanding what it means to live a good and meaningful life, and the joy inherent in the pursuit of wisdom and the virtuous life.
Classical education cultivates an appreciation for the true and the beautiful — through the study of great art, music, poetry and literature. It helps students develop an aesthetic sensibility and a recognition of value beyond mere utility. This nourishes the soul and enriches their understanding of the human experience.
Classical education is experiencing a resurgence across the United States. Driven by parents seeking a more rigorous and holistic education for their children. The number of classical schools, including charter and private institutions, as well as homeschooling families embracing this model, has been steadily increasing. Recent data indicates hundreds of new classical schools have opened in the past few years, and enrollment is projected to continue this upward trajectory. This growing movement reflects a desire for an education that goes beyond mere test scores and prepares students for a life of purpose and intellectual fulfillment.
But, what about our urban, African American students? Is classical education an answer to the ongoing crisis in education for these students — so many of whom are trapped in failing schools? Can classical education address the persistent achievement gaps, the higher disciplinary incidents and the greater level of dropping out? Can it replace the metal detectors, the drug sniffing dogs, and the resource officers roaming the hallways?
I believe classical education offers a powerful antidote. By providing a content-rich curriculum that values intellectual rigor, character formation, and the pursuit of the true and the beautiful, it can equip African American students with the tools they need to excel academically and become leaders in their communities. It allows them to actively participate in their education and gives them an outlet to express their thoughts and talents. And trust me, they have a lot to say and value being heard. I challenge you to sit in a classroom in a classical low income school and hear a student led grapple session with Plato’s The Cave, and hear them debate amongst themselves if they, in their struggling community, are in a cave — and hear them ask if they are missing out on a better world, or if there is really no better world awaiting them? It is powerful to witness.
Proof of the benefits of classical education can be seen in an historical context. When parents would ask me why their children should be forced to study books by dead white men, I would encourage them to walk down the road to the house of Frederick Douglas, go to his library, and see the classics he read. I would encourage them to look up the library of Martin Luther King, Jr. and see that he too read the classics.
Or, as economist Thomas Sowell documented, during periods of intense segregation, Dunbar High School in Washington D.C., which embraced a classical academic model, produced graduates who went on to achieve remarkable success in higher education and various professions, despite facing immense societal barriers. The first black general, the first black federal judge, the first black Senator since reconstruction, inventors like Charles Drew, and writers like Sterling Brown — all graduates of Dunbar High School back when it used a classical curriculum. In fact, Dunbar’s first principal was the first African American woman to graduate from college. In the year before Dunbar was segregated, 80 percent of its graduates went on to college — at a time when most Americans, white or black, did not.
The resurgence of classical education today presents an opportunity to build upon this legacy. Schools that intentionally incorporate classical pedagogy while also celebrating African American history and culture are demonstrating the transformative power of this approach. By engaging students with the “great conversation” of Western thought with their own rich intellectual traditions, helps them gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world. They learn that the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness is a universal human endeavor, one in which they are fully entitled to participate and contribute, and, I assure you, we need them to contribute and participate and will be better for it.
The growth of classical education in the United States, and its increasing adoption in schools serving low-income African American communities, offers a beacon of hope for a more just and intellectually vibrant future for all our children. I would be remiss, if in a room of so many talented and thoughtful people, if I didn’t encourage you to step out of your comfort zones and explore joining the classical education movement. I was your age, working in Congress, I joined with a group of young Hill staffers to found Cornerstone. And while it has been hard, the rewards are beautiful and eternal. Get out there, start a school, use the rights given parents in Pierce, and the funds available through parental choice to start a school…and if you are willing…start that school where it is needed most, in our struggling urban communities.
Thank you.
Derrick Max is the President and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, and a founder of Cornerstone Schools of Washington, DC — a classical Christian School serving low-income students in Southeast, DC. He may be reached at dmax@thomasjeffersoninst.org.
