Anchored by the Classic Learning Test

On this episode of Anchored, Arooba is joined by David Arndt, a tutor in the integral program of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College. David talks about his experience attending public school, and how at a very early age he knew that there was something fundamentally wrong with the way students were taught. He discusses his mother's interest in classical books, and how it sparked his own journey into the world of Liberal Arts. David expresses the timelessness of classical books and says that it is important for students to understand how good books can change their life. He also shares his thoughts on what Liberal Education has lost over time. 

This episode features Spencer Klavan's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit. Spencer Klavan is the assistant editor of The Claremont Review of Books and The American Mind at the Claremont Institute. He has a Ph.D. in Classics and is also the host of the Young Heretics podcast. 

This episode features Jessica Wilson's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit.  Jessica Wilson is a professor, author, and speaker. She is also a Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas in the Classical Education and Humanities Graduate Program.

This episode features Elias Moo's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit about his transformation from a typical modern educator to an educator who is "discovering the rich educational patrimony of the west". Elias Moo is the Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Denver. He holds a bachelor's degree in theology and sociology and master's degrees in education and educational leadership from the University of Notre Dame.

This episode features Robert George's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit. Robert Peter George is an American legal scholar, political philosopher, and public intellectual who serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He lectures on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties, philosophy of law, and political philosophy. A Catholic, George is considered one of the country's leading conservative intellectuals.

This episode of Anchored features Dr. Anika Prather's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit on what the Classics mean to her.  Dr. Prather's research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon.  She has served as a teacher, supervisor for student teachers, director of education, and Head of School.  Currently, she teaches in the Classics department at Howard University. 

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Tracy Gardner, CLT's Chief Operating Officer.  Tracy discusses her love for tests from a young age, her journey to becoming a psychometrician, and how it ultimately led her to CLT. She also shares her relationship with religion, her conversion to Catholicism at the age of 24, and her experience as a Catholic student at the University of Pittsburgh.  She discusses her dilemma of creating tests for public schools, and how doing that went against the kind of education she wanted to provide her children. She explains that discovering and working with CLT allowed her to combine her love for testing and classical education. 

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Hamza Yusuf, president of the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in the United States. Growing up with parents who loved truth and knowledge, Hamza Yusuf describes his childhood as multifaceted. He explains that much of his education occurred outside of school with his father, who studied the humanities and worked as a college professor. When Hamza was 17 years old, a head-on collision prompted him to investigate life after death, ultimately leading to his conversion from Irish Catholicism to Islam. Hamza discusses the relationship between the liberal arts and Islam, the troubles of modern ideologies influencing Islamic education, and the decline of western civilization caused by forgetting its secret sauce…classical education. 

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Oscar Ortiz Duarte, CEO, and Superintendent of Heritage Classical Academy. Oscar discusses his early life growing up in Honduras and describes how different education and schooling was for lower-class individuals. He explains his first encounter with beauty through reading at a young age and how it opened the gateway for truth and knowledge for him. Oscar’s belief if that classical education is for everyone, and this belief fuels his mission to open a free, classical charter school for children of lower-income families. He hopes that he will be able to show others that classical education equips lower-income families with the tools to thrive in the world. 

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Dale Ahlquist, President of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Dale discusses becoming a fan of Chesterton through other writers such as C.S Lewis, and how Chesterton’s artistic way of weaving different subject matters made him unique. He also discusses his journey of co-founding the original Chesterton Academy, which ultimately became a network of more than 60 schools and counting, drawing on the Chesterton Academy curriculum and approach. Dale explains that his vision for Chesterton Academy was to give students the kind of education that he wishes he had. Dale emphasizes the importance of creating complete thinkers through classical education, adding that, “Classical teaching is teaching happiness.”