The success of the classical education movement continues to generate headlines in major publications and the support among parents hoping to see better educational options for their students continues to grow. As the number of classical schools continues to increase, whether they are charter schools, independent private, or parochial schools, people are now debating the extent to which, if any, classical education is (or should be) aligned with a political tradition and affiliation.

Classical educators say they are offering a traditional liberal arts education–does that make classical education liberal? Classical educators say they are conserving the intellectual inheritance of the Western tradition–does that make classical education “conservative” in the Edmund Burke valued tradition, a sense of place, and one’s intellectual inheritance?

Could a content-rich education rooted in the great books of the Western canon, books that molded the minds of the Founding Fathers and history’s greatest thinkers and leaders, produce a new generation who may cultivate the same opinions and values as such leaders concerning suspicion of government power, individual rights and freedoms based on the imago dei, and a regard for the truth, virtue, and liberty? 

This panel is intended to investigate these questions and the extent to which classical education is conservative and where along the conservative tradition we may find such principles. Jenna Robinson (Ph.D) is the president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in Raleigh, NC. Jake Noland (Ph.D) serves as the Dean of Faculty at St. Thomas More Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina. Robert Luddy is the president of CaptiveAire Systems and the founder of Thales Academy. 

This panel was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 4, 2024. Interested in teaching at Thales Academy? Please check out our website if you are interested in pursuing a career at Thales Academy and learning about needs across our network. Find out more at https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/careers.