Bryan Smith: A Sage in the Liberal Arts Tradition

May 2, 2024

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About The Guest
Bryan Smith has been in education for over thirty years, primarily in schools with a liberal arts or classical education philosophy. His own education at the University of Dallas was a solid classical liberal arts formation in great texts, classical Greek, and rhetorical practice.

Bryan has worked in private schools for most of his career, but for a decade he worked with Great Hearts Academies, a charter school network operating in Arizona and Texas. He began his employment at Great Hearts as the founding head of school for one of eleven Arizona campuses. During Great Hearts’ expansion into Texas, Bryan served as the founding headmaster for the first network school in the Dallas / Fort Worth Metro area.

Bryan’s most recent work as a consultant has allowed him to continue helping school staff with planning, solid pedagogical and administrative practices, classroom management and student culture.

You can find Bryan Smith on LinkedIn

Show Notes
Bryan Smith and Adrienne Freas of Beautiful Teaching, reflect on what is attractive about a Liberal Arts Education. They talk about the principles that define a classical school, and why the ethos of classical education imparts a hopeful view of humanity. A noble end unfolds from permanent and universal reflections. The principles that anchor classical schools are discussed in this significant podcast. All educators will appreciate the wisdom of how to place school on course either to develop or to improve.

Some Key Moments Include:

What books are really necessary for a classical school to include on their lists?
Why The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius ought to be in every classical highschool curriculum
What the early Christians thought about education
Classical education is rooted in common assumptions--these are elaborated

Resources Mentioned
The Consolation of Philosphy - Boethius

The Discarded Image - C.S. Lewis

Essay “Schooling in Byzantium” by Bryan Smith (this will be a chapter in a new book coming out by St. Vladimir's press with essays compiled by David Hicks. More info coming soon)

St. Basil on Prepositions: The Human Condition

The Iliad &The Odyssey - Homer

The Psalter
Atigone

Books 1 and 2 of Samuel

On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria with an introduction by C.S. Lewis

Plato
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

Frog and Toad series - Arnold Lobel
"The Allegory of the Cave" from Plato's Republic

Paradise Lost- John Milton

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Poetry by Virgil

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic