New Third Edition
Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America examines the decline of American education and offers a solution. It is not more spending or a new and innovative program. Rather the solution, according to authors Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Andrew Kern, is classical education. Whether you are a parent anxious about your child's education, a family considering homeschooling, or a young person contemplating a career as a teacher, this book will help you think through what a true education involves.
After a brief survey of where education in America has gone wrong, including a glance at controversial efforts like Common Core and Race to the Top, the authors describe the alternative to today's failed fashions in learning: a classical education."Classical education," they explain, "cultivates wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty."
Succeeding chapters sketch how this approach has been applied by a wide variety of educators, including Christians (Protestant and Catholic), Great Books enthusiasts, and social entrepreneurs who serve poor and minority students at home and abroad. Chapters are also devoted to homeschooling and higher education. In an epilogue, the authors honestly confront the weaknesses to which classical educators are prone and offer hope for an even stronger future for this growing movement.
With a New Introduction by Dr. Brian Phillips.
About the Author: Gene Edward Veith is Professor of English and Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia University-Wisconsin. He is the culture editor of World magazine and author of a dozen books, including Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, State of the Arts: From Bezalel to Mapplethorpe, Modern Fascism: The Liquidation of the Judeo-Christian Worldview, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, and Christians in a Dot.Com World. Veith is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas.
Andrew Kern is director of CIRCE (Consulting and Integrated Resources for Classical Education), a consulting and research service to classical schools and those that want to start one. He helped establish two classical schools, Providence Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Foundations Academy in Boise, Idaho, and has taught every grade from third to twelfth on almost every subject. A sought-after teacher-trainer, Kern is a popular speaker at classical education conferences and workshops. He is a graduate of Concordia University.
