Developing Classical Thinkers: Recent Episodes
Developing Classical Thinkers
Developing Classical Thinkers is a classical podcast for classical thinkers, created and supported by the teachers at Thales Academy, a classical school in Raleigh, North Carolina.
A Thales Press podcast.
A conversation with Andrew Abela and Robert Luddy on the nature of virtue ethics, human flourishing, and the small, incremental but invaluable steps we should take each day for personal improvement and growth.
Andrew Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business and Ordinary Professor of Marketing at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Ethics from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kathleen, have six children, three of whom (so far) have graduated from Catholic U.
Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Tiffany Whitaker about her experience teaching elementary school at the Thales Academy Wake Forest campus.
Tiffany Whitaker is a Franklinton, North Carolina resident, East Carolina University alumnus, and seventh-year teacher at Thales Academy. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with a reading concentration and has had teaching experience in third and second grade. Ms. Whitaker teaches second grade at the Thales Academy Wake Forest campus.
Interested in teaching at Thales Academy? Check out job postings across our network at https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/careers
In this lecture, Kellie Scripter addresses the virtue of justice in the context of a content-rich classical education. A classical education provides students with opportunities to understand virtues like justice by encouraging them to develop intellectual discipline, exercise their moral imagination, and thus establish the patterns by which they can strive to pursue a just life.
Mrs. Scripter received a B.A. in History and French from the University of Rochester and an M.A. in American History from Binghamton University. She teaches History and Humane Letters.
Kellie Scripter delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 14, 2025. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education.
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.
Winston Brady, director of Thales Press, addresses the virtue of temperance and why students should cultivate this important virtue.
Temperance is the virtue of self-control and moderation, a habit people can achieve by bringing their appetites into harmony with their reason.
Winston Brady delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 14, 2025. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education.
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....
Anthony Esolen, distinguished professor of the humanities at Thales College, addresses the virtue of prudence.
Dr. Anthony Esolen received his A.B. in English Literature from Princeton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Esolen has been a professor of literature and humanities for 35 years and is the author or translator of more than 30 books, which include a range of English translations, analyses of culture, literary and Biblical criticisms, meditations on modern education, meditations on the Christian life, and original poetry. Dr. Esolen serves as a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College.
Dr. Esolen delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 14, 2025. The Conference of Miletus is a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education.
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.
Robert Luddy, founder of Thales Academy, addresses the virtue of courage and how important it is for students to face their fears, overcome adversity, and take small, practical steps to cultivate this cardinal virtue.
Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems.
Bob Luddy delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 14, 2025. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education.
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 the needs across our network. Find out more at https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/careers.
Eric Wearne is a Visiting Associate Professor with the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University. In line with his work on the intersection of statistics, school choice, and classical education, Professor Wearne conducted a survey of parents with children in a wide variety of classical schools.
In this survey, Professor Wearne examined what parents want in a classical school and the benefits they see from their children being classically educated. Professor Wearne served previously as Provost at Holy Spirit College, Associate Professor of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College, and Deputy Director of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement in Atlanta.
Dr. Wearne’s research work focuses on education policy, school choice, and the history of American education. Find out more about his work at https://sites.google.com/view/eric-wearne/home
A special episode on the history behind the celebrations of the Fourth of July, plus some of the most significant people in American history who have been born on, or departed from this Earth on, the 4th of July.
On March 13-15, several Thales faculty members participated in the 2025 annual meeting of the Ciceronian Society in Harrisonburg, Virginia. This lecture comes from Winston Brady, director of Thales Press.
In this address, Winston examined the relationship between limits and liberty, for the purpose of understanding what it means to be human, with insights drawn from C.S. Lewis and The Abolition of Man, particularly about the "conditioners" Lewis describes at the end of this groundbreaking book on education.
The Ciceronian Society exists to equip and encourage Christian scholars to serve the church as a center of cultural and civic renewal. Find out more about their mission and work at https://ciceroniansociety.org/
Author David Bahnsen joins Developing Classical Thinkers to talk about the importance of work for our health and happiness, with insights drawn from his book, "Full Time: Work and the Meaning of Life."
In "Full Time," Bahnsen argues that the time has come to stop tip-toeing around the issues that matter and to encourage students to look at a theology of work in its fullness to discover our meaning and purpose, a significant and successful life being one rooted in full-time productivity and cultivation of God’s created world.
Check out https://www.fulltimebook.com/ to find out more about "Full Time" and David Bahsen's work.
David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm with offices nationwide, managing over $7 billion in client assets. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and Fox Business and regularly contributes to National Review. He hosts the popular weekly podcast Capital Record and writes daily investment commentary and weekly macro commentary at The Dividend Cafe website.
This week, we have a special episode in honor of Memorial Day, a holiday that honors those who have given their lives in service to our country and in preserving our freedom.
In this episode, we look at the beginnings of Memorial Day, why we celebrate the holiday and how long we have done so. Then, we draw out the significance of the day by looking at the life and education of Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you to everyone who serves or has served in our military for your time, support, and sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy each day.
In American history, tariffs have been one of the most controversial and divisive economic issues. Today, tariffs are back in the news as President Trump has levied massive import fees on various goods coming into the United States from around the world--but what is a tariff? How are these fees calculated? And who is really benefiting from these fees coming into America's ports?
We are honored to welcome Dr. Roberto Salinas León to Developing Classical Thinkers to talk about tariffs, the disruption they cause, and the value that free trade brings to consumers.
Roberto Salinas León is President of the Mexico Business Forum, where he works on assorted projects of policy analysis, media, investment advisory, and economic consultancy. He is currently the Director of the Center for Latin America of Atlas Network. He holds a B.A. in Political Economy, History and Philosophy from Hillsdale College, Michigan; and an M.A. and Ph. D. in Philosophy, Purdue University, Indiana. Dr. León serves as a debate fellow for the Calvin Coolidge Foundation.
A Socratic seminar is not a lecture where the teacher imparts information to students, nor is it some sort of a debate. Instead, it is a meaningful dialogue with teachers and students and the authors of the great ideas they are examining together. Join veteran educators Chelsea Wagenaar, Chris and Kellie Scripter, and Winston Brady and hear their best practices for leading engaging, rigorous, and joyful seminars for students.
Dr. Chelsea Wagenaar received a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Texas. She teaches Literature and Trivium.
Chris Scripter received a B.A. in History and Religion from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in European History at the State University of New York. Mr. Scripter teaches History. Chris Scripter received a B.A. in History and Religion from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in European History at the State University of New York. Mr. Scripter teaches History.
Kellie Scripter received a B.A. in History and French from the University of Rochester and an M.A. in American History from Binghamton University. She teaches History and Humane Letters.
Interested in teaching at Thales Academy? Check out: https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/careers
In this episode, Winston Brady and Marc Fusco discuss the joys of teaching middle school and studying astronomy.
Mr. Fusco currently teaches Junior High History and Trivium at Thales Academy Raleigh, where he shares his love of classical education, literature, and history with his students, and he also is an Assistant Varsity Soccer Coach at Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS. He enjoys playing music, playing soccer, building rockets, studying history, and learning.
After graduate school, Mr. Fusco worked as a Management Consultant and business owner 15+ years, and most recently, worked at NASA for 10 years before coming to Thales Academy. In the episode, Winston asks Marc about star nurseries, spiral arms, and galactic clusters, among many other topics.
Mr. Fusco received a B.A. and an M.A. in Medieval and Renaissance Literature and History from Arizona State University, an M.S. in Space Science from the University of North Dakota, attended Cambridge University in the UK, and was a doctoral fellow in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He teaches History at Thales Academy Raleigh and is an Assistant Varsity Soccer Coach at Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS.
At the root of classical education is a noble challenge championed by master teachers throughout the Western heritage: teaching is the process of soul-craft—by which educators cultivate virtue within other human beings so that they might live good lives.
This challenge inherently elevates the role of teachers beyond mere transmitters of knowledge to shapers of innate potential— people with the power and influence to build up or undermine the lives and willpower of students.
In this presentation, Mr. Palmer explored the tragic landscape of contemporary American education, explicated the nuances of soul-craft in theory and practice, and revealed why this kind of soul-craft possesses ultimate significance for human flourishing.
Zach Palmer received a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction: History from Liberty University. Mr. Palmer teaches American History, Western Civilization, and Civics.
What is the telos of education? In a free society, is it desirable or practical to attempt to design a single system of schooling that is ideal for everyone? Can schools hold a neutral position regarding morality and values, or is education a fundamentally ethical enterprise that inevitably adopts a new moral framework when an old one is removed?
In this presentation, Patrick Halbrook considered these questions in a historical framework as they have been applied to American education in the twenty-first century.
Patrick Halbrook is a teacher, graphic designer, and writer—as well as a passionate advocate for classical Christian education. Over the years he has written for various publications including The Imaginative Conservative, FORMA Journal, The Classical Difference, and Cary Christian School’s blog, The Forum. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal and Biblical Studies from Florida College and a Masters of Art in History from North Carolina State University.
The current education system in the United States is increasingly misaligned with the needs of many Americans. This paper explores the shortcomings of our “federalist” approach to education, emphasizing how federal overreach and bureaucratic stagnation have hindered progress and outcomes.
While federal involvement was intended to promote equity and accountability, it has often devolved into inflexible mandates and uniform policies that erode local autonomy and fail to address the unique needs of communities. These dynamics not only limit the ability of families to govern themselves but also weaken the cultivation of moral character, which is vital for personal and societal growth.
Ray Nothstine is a Future of Freedom Fellow and senior editor and writer for State Policy Network, where he primarily helps to shepherd the American Habits publication. He previously worked as opinion editor at Carolina Journal and as a Second Amendment research fellow at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nothstine graduated with a Master of Divinity (M.Div) degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He also holds a B.A. in political science from The University of Mississippi in Oxford. He currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and three sons.
In this presentation, Robert Luddy walked through Thales Academy’s mission—to offer the highest quality education at the lowest possible price—and the real, practical steps that educational entrepreneurs can take to establish similar schools and educational institutions.
Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems.
If values like respecting proper parental authority and discretion, promoting awareness and admiration for American and Western culture, preparing students for constructive and knowledgeable citizenship, and conveying an accurate sense of American history in world context, once again became priorities, as there were in the past, what would K-12 education look like?
In this presentation, Professor Amy Wax examined the debate on education to go beyond advocacy for school choice and how expanded school choice policies can produce desirable substantive reforms in K-12 educational practice.
Professor Wax addressed these issues in her keynote address at the Liberty & Literacy Forum.
Amy Wax’s work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy as well as the relationship of the family, the workplace, and labor markets. By bringing to bear her training in biomedical sciences and appellate practice as well as her interest in economic analysis, Wax has developed a uniquely insightful approach to problems in her areas of expertise. Wax has published widely in law journals, addressing liberal theory and welfare work requirements as well as the economics of federal disability laws. Current works in progress include articles on same-sex marriage, disparate impact theory and group demographics, rational choice and family structure, and the law and neuroscience of deprivation.
Her most recent book is "Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century" (Hoover Institution Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). Wax has received the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course and the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. As an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wax argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court.
Winston Brady offers opening remarks at the 2025 Liberty & Literacy Forum in Wake Forest North Carolina. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin "libertas," and within the word "libertas" is the word "liber," meaning “book." The Romans never separated "liberty" from a sound, content-rich education, and neither should we.
The ways of grammar, logic, and rhetoric taught students how to think and write, while the quadrivium helped students comprehend truth and study everything from simple shapes to the highest heavens. These arts were called liberal arts because, in reality, they liberate students. They free an individual from ignorance and help that person learn how to think.
As a result, it is a civilization-ending tragedy that American students are increasingly incapable of reading simple books and even completing simple math.
To promote sound, content-rich education, Thales Press hosted the Liberty & Literacy Forum on March 21, 2025. These papers addressed literacy, classical wisdom, and virtue and offer positive steps to advance the cause of freedom and human flourishing in our K-12 schools and across the United States today.
Kim Tully serves as the lead for the Luddy Industrial and Vocational Arts program and the Luddy Institute of Technology at Thales Academy. These programs guide students through the fundamental skills and topics and through rigorous hands-on activities and experiments, all of which are explained in detail and with photos throughout the books Kim Tully and her team have designed.
In this episode, Kim Tully and Winston Brady talk about these courses, the skills students will learn, and the goals they have for the program: a well-educated student capable of working with electronics and power tools as they are intellectually curious and virtuous.
Social media and smartphones present unprecedented challenges for educators and parents. Parents and teachers often recognize that smartphones and social media do not help students, but they have not had data to confirm this belief.
In this episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, Ashley Bahor and Olivia Holliday discuss Jonathan Haidt's 2024 book "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness," and the evidence of social media usage's negative effects.
In "The Anxious Generation," Haidt argues that social media apps hamper a teenager's normal social and emotional development. In this episode, Ashley Bahor and Olivia Holliday discuss "The Anxious Generation" and its claims, as well as strategies for parents to help their students avoid these kinds of technology.
More information about Jonathan Haidt's "The Anxious Generation" can be found here: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book
Mrs. Bahor received a B.S. in Child Development from Meredith College and a M.S.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mrs. Holliday received a B.A. in Psychology from Bryan College and an M.A. in Counseling with an emphasis in School Counseling from Marshall University Graduate College. Mrs. Holliday serves as Thales Academy's Guidance Counselor and is a helpful resource for every student.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Joseph Wolak, assistant head of school at the Thales Academy Apex JH / HS campus. Joe is a veteran teacher with over twenty years of experience teaching mathematics, and he shares his best tips and strategies in the classroom concerning pedagogy, classroom management, preparation, and grading for math teachers.
In this video, teachers Joe Wolak and Winston Brady walk through a fun lesson plan to do with students to calculate pi using some plates, mugs, some string, and a ruler.
Free download available at https://bit.ly/4gV7Cyd
January 31-February 1, the CiRCE Institute held its annual FORMA Symposium, hosted on the beautiful campus at Belmont Abbey College. The
In this speech from the FORMA Symposium, Winston Brady addresses the plight of science education in the twenty-first century.
Today, much of science education is not oriented toward truth but the cultivation and consolidation of power, with the objectivity of scientific knowledge used as a cloak for the mastery that scientific knowledge provides those who wield such power.
Winston addressed the nature of the controversy, the historical steps by which modern education diverted from ancient practices, and a remedy rooted in truth, goodness, and beauty for restoring science education to its proper foundations.
The problems in American secondary education cannot be solved by simply throwing money at the problem. They require innovative but practical insights to help drive down costs while creating more value for students, teachers, and parents.
In this episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, Robert Luddy explains his philosophy of continuous improvement and value creation and how he applies these insights for the benefit of Thales students. 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.
In this episode, Joseph Wolak will present strategies for teaching junior high mathematics for teachers. He will present tips on classroom management, strategies for grading, and some ideas for building inquiry-driven lessons with the Saxon math curriculum. Mr. Wolak is joined by Ashley DiPenta and Naomi Back, members of the Thales junior high staff.
Lesson plans and materials are all available upon request. Please email winston.brady@thalesacademy.org for more details.
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.
In this webinar, Kristin Gyure and Katie Jones present an overview of Direct Instruction and their best teaching practices for meaningful and effective engagement and learning.
Mrs. Gyure received a B.A. in Child Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She serves as Assistant Head of School at Thales Academy Wake Forest. Mrs. Jones served as the Head of School for the Thales Academy Cary campus and now serves as a Direct Instruction consultant and coach.
Virtue refers to the habits of moral excellence, something that cannot necessarily be taught but classical educators must try and incorporate into their lessons each and everyday.
To this end, Robert Luddy and Winston Brady provide this webinar for our character education program, the need to teach virtue and character formation, and a book to aid in the pursuit of noble character, "Super Habits" by Andrew Abela.
"Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life" was written by Andrew Abela, Dean of the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America. In a culture that prioritizes short-term fixes over long-term solutions, "Super Habits" offers a foundational, back-to-basics plan that produces both immediate and enduring results. Whatever issue you are struggling with right now, whatever challenge you may be facing, there is a super habit to help you overcome it.
Dr. Abela equips readers with the tools needed to embrace the lifelong pursuit of self-improvement to attain a life of greater ease, joy, and strength. Dr. Andrew Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His award-winning, widely cited research on integrity and effectiveness in business has been published in several academic journals and in three books.
Dr. Abela speaks to business leaders around the world about cultivating the super habits of success in themselves and in their organizations.
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.
There is great power in our ability to observe the world around us. We must make time to stop and see, for we never know when a small observation leads to a great encounter with truth. Students need to be trained in the way to discover truth by developing the naturalists ability to take an interest in what they can observe.
Naturalists like John Muir, Wendell Berry, Jacques Cousteau and Dian Fossey can show us all how to have greater appreciation for the world. Matthew Ogle received a B.S. in Marine Biology from Swansea University in Wales and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Mr. Ogle serves as Head of Classical Education for all campuses.
This lecture 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.
Conferences for teachers tend to be "mountaintop" experiences. These events are fruitful times of learning and reflection on the art of teaching and why the task of education is so vitally important today.
On this episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, Winston Brady interviews three Thales staff members about their recent experience traveling to Potomac, Maryland and attending the Heights Forum, a conference for classical educators. Anthony Batalla, Tim McDonald, and Marc Chiurco share about their experience and the lessons they picked up while at this great event hosted by the Heights School.
More information can be found at https://heightsforum.org/about/.
The Heights Forum is a department of The Heights School. We assist parents, school leaders, and teachers in their own efforts to educate boys into men fully alive. Through in-person and digital resources we share our experience in forming the hearts and minds of boys, and invite you to join the conversation.
Is Christmas "classical"? And by "classical," we mean an idea, a book, a value, an institution, or an ideal originating in the ancient world vivified by the Judeo-Christian tradition during the medieval period. In this episode, Winston Brady, Josh Herring, and Will Begley discuss the joys and difficulties of the Christmas season, where the holiday originated from, what the day truly means, and some ideas to reflect on and celebrate.
Classical education strives to preserve the past to give hope for the future. We recognize that the more we know about the past, the more confident our hope is that the future will be better, brighter, and more full of the joy and opportunities we hope to see in the world. The Christmas season is a particularly important time to reflect on such things, given the distance between what Christmas is and what Christmas has become–a byword for a shopping season that if you include the time needed to return unwanted gifts, stretches from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. This Christmas, don’t celebrate with empty materialism but give gifts in imitation of the God who gave Himself. Now that’s a reason to celebrate!
Special thanks to Josh Herring and Shawn Crownover for contributing to this episode.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Today's theme music is available under the following terms:
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Dee Yan-Key is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
An epic poem is by definition, a long poem on themes of universal importance. Every culture seemingly has one of its own, but a few have risen to the top as being one of a handful of epics that are must-reads on every Great Books program. In this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with Anthony Esolen about epic poetry and what makes an epic, epic.
Anthony Esolen is the Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College. Dr. Esolen has been a professor of literature and humanities for 35 years and is the author or translator of more than 30 books, which include a range of English translations, analyses of culture, literary and Biblical criticisms, meditations on modern education, meditations on the Christian life, and original poetry.
In this lecture, Dr. Chelsea Wagenaar offers her insights into leading robust discussions and explore common pitfalls to leading a good discussion in a literature (or other humanities) course, as well as numerous strategies to get students comfortable, talking, and invested in the material.
Dr. Wagenaar also looked at ways teachers can respond to students during discussion and work to overcome any possible nerves about the "unpredictable" nature of student discussion.
Dr. Wagenaar received a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Texas. She teaches Literature and Trivium.
In this episode, Winston Brady and Josh Herring discuss about the Certificate in Classical Education Program at Thales College. CCEP for short, this is a certificate program that teaches the unique purposes and goals behind classical education, allowing classical educators to excel in their field and help their students to fulfill their potential.
The Certificate in Classical Education Philosophy (CCEP) program consists of eight courses taken in any order (details below), culminating in a certificate. Each course is offered with the following model: participants are in cohorts of up to twelve; class is held through Google Meet; at each meeting, participants are led in a seminar discussion of a text read the previous week in preparation for the class. Each class meets five times over nine weeks. The certificate is earned upon completion of all eight courses (expected to be completed over two years).
The classical renewal movement is growing at incredible speed, and the movement needs teachers and leaders who understand why we do what we do. We invite you to join us! This program is free of charge to Thales Academy teachers and administrators. For those outside of Thales Academy, each course carries a $300 course fee.
Check out https://www.thalescollege.org/academics/philosophy for more information or email Josh Herring at josh.herring@thalescollege.org
According to tradition, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at Plymouth Plantation in 1621.
102 settlers had crossed the Atlantic on board the Mayflower and landed off the coast of Cape Cod. They did not call themselves pilgrims, but the word pilgrim–meaning someone who undertakes a long, difficult journey for a spiritual purpose–is the best way, perhaps the only way, to describe these settlers and their mission. They hoped to establish a colony whose laws, practices, and mores derived from the Bible and might be, one day, a shining city on a hill, as later migrant John Winthrop described their errand in the wilderness.
We wish all the listeners of Developing Classical Thinkers a happy Thanksgiving!
Teaching is more than information transfer; it involves personal formation and imparting a "way of being" toward your subject matter (and, ideally, toward life in general). This formative approach is in line with both certain approaches to teaching that can be found in certain examples of both ancient and modern pedagogy. It can open up new vistas for students and teachers alike, as will be demonstrated with examples from middle-school Latin.
Dr. Kelley received a B.A. from Carolina University and an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches Latin and Trivium.
In this episode, science and educational consultant Tom Hardy looks at a brief overview of science and science education in the United States since World War II.
Tom Hardy is a friend of Thales Academy and Thales Press, working as a consultant for mathematics and science curricula. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and has done graduate work at the University of Chicago in mathematics education. He has worked as a teacher and headmaster in private schools for over 20 years. He is also versed in construction and mechanical trades. He is the author of a new textbook, "Physical Science and Technology," and has written articles on various issues in education.
In this session, Brian Balfour will look at issues making headlines in the news such as inflation, price controls, and tariffs. He will explain how and why inflation sets in, why price controls create shortages of vital goods and services, and why tariffs help create cartels and higher prices passed onto consumers. Lastly, Mr. Balfour will present why free markets offer a better alternative as prescribed by the Austrian School of Economics.
Brian Balfour is Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation, where he oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues. He previously worked for the Civitas Institute for 13 years, and has a master’s degree in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. He specializes in fiscal policy issues and is also the author of the book “Economics in Action,” which teaches the free-market principles of the ‘Austrian School’ of economics.
This lecture 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. Want to read more of Brian Balfour's work? Interested in economics taught from this perspective? Need a textbook that helps students see the vital principles and intuition behind economic concepts?
Check out Brian Balfour's "Economics in Action," a high school economics textbook based on the principles of the Austrian School of Economics, available here: https://amzn.to/3W4cmZs
For American writers, there is something of a quest in American literature to write the great American novel. Such a work would typify the American experience in the same way Homer's epics or Virgil's "Aeneid" did for ancient Greece and Rome, respectively. And while there are many great American novels, there is not one unquestioned work that earns this distinguished honor.
Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more have written works commonly lauded as the "great American novel," but have they gotten there? Is the issue settled? What is the great American novel?
For English teachers, we have the same quest to, at least, identify such a work. In this episode of DCT, Winston Brady speaks with literature teachers Ali Graziosi, Christina Salinas, and Chelsea Wagenaar, and head of classical education Matt Ogle. Each participant makes a pitch for the book they think is the "Great American novel" and why, along with the criteria as to why they picked that work and not others.
What do you think of our criteria? Or of our picks? Did we leave any works out? Be sure to let us in the comments section on your favorite podcasting platform.
The keynote address from the Fall Classical Summit, 2024. In this talk, Dr. Ryan Olson examines the value of classical education and the role the study of great books and great ideas contributes to the formation of great character. to resist the sweep of impoverished influences by nurturing your personal and professional soul in the moral sources of the rich Classical tradition we have inherited.
Dr. Ryan Olson is the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. A classicist, Olson’s scholarship has focused on the literary, historical, religious, and cultural context of the Levant from the Roman era through Late Antiquity.
This lecture 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.
In 1845, Congress passed a law designating the first Tuesday in November as election day. Henceforth, the nation would vote every four years for a Presidential candidate, members of the House of Representatives, and, depending on the year, a suite of Senate candidates, with elections for other offices occurring in by-years depending on the state and the locality.
The act of voting each year is often seen as the bare minimum of a citizen’s political participation. Voting is indeed an important, sacred trust that American citizens from age 18 upwards should not take for granted, for the vast majority of people across the world do not get a say in their “elected" officials or the policies that their leaders carry out.
Voting is neither the floor nor the ceiling of our political participation. Indeed, it is just one more thing we do to “keep” our republic, to quote an oft-told story from Benjamin Franklin at the close of the Constitutional Convention.
At the end of the convention, a local Philadelphia resident asked Benjamin Franklin: “Well Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy? She asked.
At this, Franklin quipped, “A republic!...If you can keep it!”
Franklin’s reply is a reminder: a republican government (like that of the United States) needs its citizens to have virtue, those “habits of moral excellence” if we are to keep our republic--and virtue lies at the heart of classical education and of our responsibility as citizens in the greatest country in the world. Let us not take this responsibility lightly but do our duty to keep the freedoms we have been entrusted with.
Why do we dedicate one night of the year to wearing costumes and asking for candy? How did such an odd holiday become an established part of the American calendar? Should students at a classical school be celebrating such a holiday? Is Halloween classical?
In this episode, Winston Brady and Josh Herring talk through the ways Halloween may or may not be classical. Halloween largely derives from the Catholic feast day of All Saints’ Day and All Hallow’s Eve, celebrated on a day that the ancient, pagan Irish used to celebrate a holiday called Samhain (pronounced, saa-wn).
In one sense, perhaps, Halloween is classical. Herein, we have a pagan holiday absorbed by a Christian feast day so that the occasion for gathering together and celebrating still remains–even if its dark undertones are obscured. Much of what we call classical education focuses on the relationship between Jerusalem and Athens (and Rome, for that matter). Think of the city of Rome, full of obelisks taken from pagan Egypt which the Catholic Church crowned with Christian crosses, symbolizing the Christian world’s triumph over the forces of paganism.
But of course today, those Christian overtones are largely missing from Halloween. Now, the night is a chance to escape one’s identity, eat gobs of candy, and perhaps engage in mischief–elements that are most likely, not classical, in the sense of classical education’s emphasis on virtue. Good character is what you do when no one is looking over your shoulder, a voluntary act of the will to pursue what is good, true, and beautiful.
After all, classical education emphasizes human dignity and gratitude for the way that God created you. Classical education emphasizes self-control and personal responsibility, so one should never eat too much candy in one sitting, regardless of the day.
Also, classical education emphasizes traditional morality and love of neighbor, so we would never encourage, tolerate, or promote the toilet papering of trees or the smashing of pumpkins. The mischievous elements of Halloween are in that way, uniquely unclassical.
So, this Halloween, if you go out and get candy, be safe. If you wear a costume, put some thought into it so that it’s clever and whole, both ingenious and ingenuous at the same time–not merely a costume you bought online. Be safe, and resist the temptation to engage in those Halloween pranks that do nothing to cultivate what is good, true, and beautiful.
And be aware of the background of some of the elements of Halloween–the spooky, ghostly elements–that might make for an interesting discussion with friends. Indeed, they may be the best argument for staying inside on Halloween and just reading a good ghost story.
We can acknowledge some reasonable, healthy religious impulses in existing pagan traditions and in the way described in the episode, “baptize” them. All the while though, we should, of course, recognize the ghastly, unnatural, and evil impulses and reject those elements of the holiday. A classical education should equip us to choose what is good and persuade others to choose what is good, too–and such things aren’t thrown out just because it’s Halloween.
In this webinar, Winston Brady, Kellie Scripter, Chris Scripter, and Matt Ogle conducted a model seminar for teachers over the opening chapters of Quintilian's "On the Education of an Orator." They presented and modeled best practices for seminar teaching and the kinds of habits, disposition, and overall love of learning teachers need to encourage in their students. That way, students and teachers can get the most out of reading these significant texts.
Quintilian lived from 35 to 100 AD and wrote an influential treatise on education, the aptly-titled "On the Education of an Orator." The work is one of a precious few on education and teaching from the ancient world and covers a wide variety of topics to equip a Roman boy to become an orator, a student "not (merely) blameless in morals only" but also equipped with "every excellence of mind."
The work is subsequently ideal for classical educators to read to remind ourselves of the goals of classical education and how we can bring out the very best in our students.
History, as the name implies, is a story, and history, at its best, is the most engaging and exhilarating story. As a story told about the past, the study of history contains meaningful insights about the present; insights that, if properly presented, should inspire students to make better choices in the future.
Thus, the study of history holds a particularly important role in classical education, for history class offers the very best examples of human achievement for students to study and to help form their character for the better. Classical education takes students through the great books, so those great students can take on the whole world. We designed The Thales Canon with this goal in mind for Junior High and High School students.
In this episode, Keller Moore talks to Winston Brady about this new history series and examines some strategies for teaching middle school history.
Today's episode is from a short training video produced by Thales Press for classical educators.
Classical educators use conversation in the classroom as a teaching method. By asking questions, we can determine if a student is off task and not listening, and we can help students understand a difficult concept.
And thoughtful, meaningful engagement in a good discussion is one of the simplest ways to measure a students' depth of understanding and attentiveness.
Matt Ogle is the Head of Classical Education at Thales Academy. He has taught both the humanities and the sciences and has served in a variety of leadership roles over his long career in education.
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.
Today's episode is from a short training video produced by Thales Press for classical educators.
In this recording, Winston Brady covers three helpful, simple rules (although they are more like “hypothetical scenarios") gleaned from years he taught middle school. Classroom management for classical educators requires a unique mix of leadership principles.
Teachers should be patient and kind; they should model the same love of learning they hope to see in their students; and they should have high expectations for student behavior that teachers positively reinforce each day. In general, the best practice is to have relatively few rules–maybe 3 to 6–so they are easier for the teacher to enforce fairly, and for students to know what are the appropriate consequences if they break said rule.
Winston Brady is the Director of Curriculum & Thales Press, an in-house publishing firm that produces textbooks, readings, and videos for Thales Academy and like-minded classical schools. He lives in Wake Forest with his wife and children.
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.
In a sense, grades shouldn't matter. Learning should be a joyful activity undertaken for its own sake. Grading and assessing can do much to stifle a student's appreciation, curiosity, and wonder. Yet, at the same time, a contemporary school with large classes has few other means to encourage students to do the work and provide feedback on their behavior. After all, grades communicate valuable feedback as far as student effort and achievement. So how can we make grades really work for the student and teacher and help keep the classroom moving in a positive direction?
In this episode, Winston Brady and Matt Ogle discuss grades and a teacher's grade book. Among the topics they cover are the number of grades, the value of completion grades, the superiority of accuracy grades, and the benefits of keeping a well-managed grade book that accurately reflects what was covered in class and how it was assessed.
Note: Please excuse the sound quality, given that Matt and Winston recorded en route to visiting a Thales campus.
Interested in teaching at Thales Academy? Be sure to check us out at www.thalesacademy.org.
Dorothy Sayers presented a paper entitled The Lost Tools of Learning at a summer conference at Oxford in 1947. In the paper, she makes a rather astute observation about “end-of-term reports” which should “combine a deep veneration for truth with a tender respect for the feelings of all concerned.”
Ms. Sayers’ description of comments is profound. The task of writing report card comments seems very burdensome and weighty, but is a task that the teacher should value. Such comments are the last opportunity in the quarter to offer encouragement and advice to students while giving a seal of approval on their progress over the course of the quarter.
In light of this advice on writing report card comments, here are the best tips from Matt and Winston on writing report card comments:
Deliver compliment sandwiches: Present one piece of encouragement with one meaningful, courteous way the students can (or should) improve for the next quarter.
Write comments throughout the quarter: Make a roster at the beginning of the quarter and add to that roster great things students did in class–good comments, meaningful insights, a great diorama here or there–these specific pieces of feedback go a long way in encouraging students.
When in doubt, email: If the comment gets too specific, includes too many action items, or seems like it could be misinterpreted, email or call parents and let them know what you’re seeing.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Zach Palmer, a high school history and civics teacher at Thales Academy Apex. In this conversation, they discuss the unique challenges of teaching civics in 2024 and their love for rooting civics in first principles, the Western tradition, and America's founding documents.
Zachary Palmer grew up in Barneveld, Wisconsin, on a horse farm where he learned the importance of education, hard work, and self-discipline. He taught history and civics for three years at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Boston, Massachusetts. During that time, Mr. Palmer advised the Model UN club, worked as the community service coordinator, and wrote several essays for publication. An avid believer in self-betterment, Mr. Palmer’s professional aspirations include becoming a master teacher while helping his students grow in virtue.
Outside of school, Mr. Palmer enjoys personal fitness and watching films with his wife. Mr. Palmer received a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction: History from Liberty University. Mr. Palmer teaches American History, Western Civilization, and Civics.
Recently, the Mises Club of the Carolinas hosted their annual meet-up at Sugar Mountain, North Carolina.
Dr. Paul Cwik of the University of Mount Olive delivered this address looking at the significance of the Austrian School of Economics. Dr. Cwik looked at the assumptions of the Austrian School including its emphasis on human action, individual liberty, and the role of prices in determining economic calculations. Most importantly, Dr. Cwik compared and contrasted the Austrian School with contemporary, mainstream economics and demonstrated how the Austrian School is more conducive for human flourishing, freedom, and material prosperity.
Dr. Paul Cwik is a Fellow of the Mises Institute and the BB&T Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Mount Olive. He earned a BA from Hillsdale College, an MA from Tulane University, and a PhD from Auburn University, where he was a Mises Research Fellow.
The virtue of prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues, and yet, it is often overlooked. Prudence is the virtue of making wise, reasoned decisions, absorbing the collected wisdom of the Western canon and applying that wisdom to the situation at hand.
In this talk from the Conference of Miletus, Matthew Ogle, Head of Classical Education at Thales Academy, examines the virtue of prudence and provides three points of application for teachers: 1) Model the love and joy that should accompany classical education; 2) Encourage curiosity and wonder through study and careful lesson planning; and 3) Continue the conversation from class and into the real world.
Mr. Ogle received a B.S. in Marine Biology from Swansea University in Wales and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Mr. Ogle serves as Head of Classical Education for all campuses and is the Assistant Administrator of Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS. Matt Ogle delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 8, 2024.
The Conference of Miletus is a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
Where you begin largely determines where you end. The modern, secular world defines human beings as being basically animals, but often dismisses the conclusions of such an idea. If man is basically an animal, then ideas of human dignity and the value of human life are easily subsumed in the reality of “might makes right.”
Such a starting place and ending point are not in the best interests of students. Instead, classical education asserts the proposition that human beings are image bearers, having been created by God with the capacity for reason and contemplation, the drive for creative self-expression, and the capacity to make free, meaningful, moral choices. The idea of the imago dei is unique to the Judeo-Christian tradition and has influenced the course of Western history so that we hold it as a cherished First Principle.
In this talk from the Conference of Miletus, Winston Brady, Director of Curriculum, Thales Academy and Director, Thales Press, examines the imago dei and the related concept of natural law and how these two ideas are of inestimable importance to the classical educator. Winston Brady has taught at Thales Academy since 2011 and has served Thales Academy in a variety of ways.
Mr. Brady received a B.A. in English from the College of William and Mary, a M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr Brady serves as the Director of Curriculum and Thales Press. Winston Brady delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 8, 2024.
The Conference of Miletus was a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education. 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.
Today, many educators downplay the value of the Western canon. They discount any wisdom or insights one may glean from being steeped in the tradition we have inherited.
In this lecture from the Conference of Miletus, Anthony Esolen presents five reasons why teachers ought to teach the great works of the Western tradition and the impact it can have on students at a classical school.
Originally from northeastern Pennsylvania and the grandson of southern Italian immigrants, Dr. Anthony Esolen received his A.B. in English Literature from Princeton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Esolen has been a professor of literature and humanities for 35 years and is the author or translator of more than 30 books, which include a range of English translations, analyses of culture, literary and Biblical criticisms, meditations on modern education, meditations on the Christian life, and original poetry.
Dr. Esolen serves as the Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Thales College. Dr. Esolen delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 8, 2024.
The Conference of Miletus was a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
Today, many schools disconnect the teaching of science and the scientific process from ideas of design, natural order, and natural law.
As a result, students lose sight of the purpose and limits of the scientific process and lack the habits of intellectual curiosity and academic rigor that lie at the heart of science education in grades kindergarten through twelve grade.
In this lecture from the Conference of Miletus, Robert Luddy, founder of Thales Academy and Thales College, addresses the unique approach to science education within the classical tradition.
Teachers may explain relatively simple concepts but with the right resources and methodology, they can do it in such a way that the students discover this concept for themselves and develop the habits of inquiry needed for future discoveries. Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems. Bob Luddy delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 10, 2023.
The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education. 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.
Each year, Thales Academy and Thales Press hosts the Conference of Miletus, a series of short lectures on topics related to classical education and practical teaching tips. This year, the theme of the conference was "First Principles for Classical Educators." In this episode, Winston Brady and Matt Ogle discuss each of these four principles.
A first principle is an assumption beyond which one may go no further and provides the foundation for a school to shape its culture and practices.
These principles include the principle of natural order, the idea of teaching students to recognize the beauty in the natural world, addressed by Mr. Robert Luddy, founder of Thales Academy, founder of Thales College, and president of CaptiveAire Systems.
Second is the principle of our intellectual inheritance, or the literary and historical treasures of the Western canon, presented by Dr. Anthony Esolen, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Thales College.
Third is the principle of moral philosophy, the idea of encouraging students to cultivate practical wisdom (prudence) in line with the Judeo-Christian and Aristotelian traditions, addressed by Mr. Matt Ogle, head of classical education at Thales Academy.
And last but not least is the principle of human dignity, the principle of teaching students to preserve the uniqueness of every individual in alignment with the imago dei and the concept of natural law.
In case you didn’t know, summer vacation started for two reasons: one, to free up children to help with important farm chores as the time for harvesting came close and two, there was no air conditioning. Since more and more Americans are out of farming, and the invention known as air conditioning has made it possible to live in even the hottest states (North Carolina, where Thales Academy is largely located, being one of them) during the summer, many schools have set up a year-round schedule. That is, they do not offer the typical two to three-month summer vacation but instead go back to school in July or early August.
Thales Academy is one of those schools, and next Monday, July 15, we will have our first day of school. To help get the school year started off right, Winston Brady speaks with Matt Ogle, head of classical education at Thales Academy, about what teachers need to focus on during those first few important days of school.
During our conversation, Matt and Winston recommended some of the following tips. Begin the school year by making a positive connection with students while outlining your classroom expectations and procedures. How should they enter a room? What are your rules for classroom behavior (be sure to keep them simple) What should students do when they start class?
That way, students know what to expect when they come to class, where the boundaries are during class, and how they can be successful. Spend time building in the kinds of habits you want students to practice during class for the rest of the year since this will free up class time later on.
Good luck to all the teachers and students getting ready for their first day of school! We look forward to a wonderful year in 2024-2025 with you all.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Matthew Young, Site Manager of the CSS Neuse and Governor Richard Caswell Memorial Museum in Kinston, North Carolina, part of a collection of North Carolina Historic Sites. In the episode, they discuss the history behind this Civil War-era ironclad, the battles in which it took place, and how such a massive ship became the focal point of a museum in nearby Kinston, North Carolina.
Most importantly, Mr. Young provides tips for listeners who want to visit the museum as part of a field trip including the museum's attractions, parking, and nearby places to eat.
Find out more about the CSS Neuse and Governor Richard Caswell Memorial Museum at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CSSNeuse
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Lauren Spier about the Fort Raleigh historical site, better known as the "Lost Colony." They discuss the history of the site--who founded the colony and how the site became "lost"--as well as suggestions for parking and food options for teachers and parents planning a field trip to visit the site.
The park is located at 1401 National Park Dr, Manteo, NC 27954 and they can be reached at (252) 473-2111. More information can be found at https://www.nps.gov/fora/index.htm
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Dr. Gary Hartenburg, director of the Honors College at Houston Christian University and an Associate Professor of Philosophy. In the episode, they discuss the dialogues of Plato, the questioning habits of Socrates, and the very nature of truth, goodness, and reality itself--a can't miss episode, to be sure!
For more information on Dr. Hartenburg's work, check out his faculty profile at Houston Christian University: https://hc.edu/contact/gary-hartenburg/
This week, we are reposting this episode in honor of Memorial Day, a holiday that honors those who have given their lives in service to our country and in preserving our freedom.
In this episode, we look at the beginnings of Memorial Day, why we celebrate the holiday and how long we have done so. Then, we draw out the significance of the day by looking at the life and education of Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you to everyone who serves or has served in our military for your time, support, and sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy each day.
In this webinar, Dr. Anthony Esolen examined three seminal works art: Raphael's "The School of Athens" and two paintings from John Singer Sargent's "The Triumph of Religion" with "The Israelites Oppressed" and "The Messianic Era." The beauty we see, hear, or touch has the power to enter our minds and memories more powerfully than do philosophical or political abstractions expressed in words.
As teachers, we must remember this, especially when we want to introduce our students to ways of life embodied in another culture. A painting--even the decorated hilt of a sword--can work wonders.
Dr. Anthony Esolen received his A.B. in English Literature from Princeton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Esolen has been a professor of literature and humanities for 35 years and is the author or translator of more than 30 books, which include a range of English translations, analyses of culture, literary and Biblical criticisms, meditations on modern education, meditations on the Christian life, and original poetry.
Dr. Esolen is a senior editor and regular writer at Touchstone magazine and has published well over 1000 articles in a wide variety of journals. With his wife, Debra, he writes a daily a web magazine, Word & Song, dedicated to language, music, poetry, and classic film.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Heather Bakogiannias, Brittney Massey, and Katherine Greco-Fortney about their recent trip to the National Symposium for Classical Education held in March of 2024 in Phoenix Arizona.
The National Symposium for Classical Education is hosted by the Great Hearts Institute and this year, focused on the theme of "Renewing the Great Conversation." For these classical educators, their highlights from the trip included leadership insights from former prime minister of Australia Tony Abbott, the need for more Socrates and more classical wisdom from Roosevelt Montás, and wisdom on how to deal with (or avoid) social media usage from Jane Austen.
For classical educators, stay tuned to the Great Hearts Institute for more information about next year's conference: https://classicaleducationsymposium.org/
In November of 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot capable of answering simple questions from users to writing papers, essays, blogs, and other forms of longform communication–sometimes so well that people cannot tell that the difference between a paper written by a student and one written by a machine.
Since then, educators have been divided in their response to ChatGPT: do we embrace this new form of technology and teach students how to use it effectively, or do we encourage students to refrain from using it, even as more and more professionals in a wide number of fields are using chatbots to do their work for them–marketing, insurance, finance, healthcare, and more. But in the field of education, will this form of technology actually deliver on its promises to students. Or, will it be as earlier innovations, like devices in classrooms, that underdelivered on its promises and may have actually impeded student progress?
In this panel, classical education leaders Joe Davison (Thales College), Chelsea Wagenaar (Ph.D., Thales Academy Rolesville), Winston Brady (Thales Press), and Matthew Ogle (Thales Academy Rolesville) on the background of ChatGPT, hy students should not use these products, and what these AI-empowered technologies mean for students and educators going forward. In short, this panel of teachers and leaders explained why students should refrain from using artificial intelligence chatbots students in their writing because such programs shortcircuit the valuable process of writing, researching, and ultimately thinking for oneself.
This panel was held on April 25, 2024 at the Thales Academy Rolesville campus.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Leigh Bortins, founder of Classical Conversations. During the conversation, they discuss her philosophy of education, homeschooling and its relationship to educational freedom, and how to nurture a community of parents and students and orient them to what is good, true, and beautiful.
Leigh Bortins is a nationally acclaimed educator, perhaps best known for her ability to demystify the fundamental tools of learning. As a teacher, author and commentator, Leigh is credited with helping to launch the “home-centered learning” education movement.After earning a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan, Leigh worked in the aerospace industry before beginning her work as an educator. She also holds a D.Min. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts.
In teaching study skills for 30 years to children and adults, she has written several books including "The Core," "The Question" and "The Conversation," a series which explores the classical trivium from a parent’s perspective. She has also authored complete K-12 curriculum guides for parents and homeschool tutors all across the country.
More information about Leigh Bortins and Classical Conversations can be found here: https://cchomeoffice.com/leigh-bortins-bio/
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Heather Bakogiannias, Brittney Massey, and Katherine Greco-Fortney about their recent trip to the National Symposium for Classical Education held in March of 2024 in Phoenix Arizona.
The National Symposium for Classical Education is hosted by the Great Hearts Institute and this year, focused on the theme of "Renewing the Great Conversation." For these classical educators, their highlights from the trip included leadership insights from former prime minister of Australia Tony Abbott, the need for more Socrates and more classical wisdom from Roosevelt Montás, and wisdom on how to deal with (or avoid) social media usage from Jane Austen.
For classical educators, stay tuned to the Great Hearts Institute for more information about next year's conference: https://classicaleducationsymposium.org/
In today's episode, Winston Brady speaks with Daniel Coupland, author of the new book "Tried & True: A Primer on Sound Pedagogy" published by Hillsdale College Press.
During the conversation, they discuss the parameters of good teaching, the advantages of a seating chart, the need for a small number of fair, rational, and easy-to-enforce rules, and how a great teacher can help create a classroom where students can be their very best.
"Tried and True" is available from Hillsdale College Press here: https://shop.hillsdale.edu/products/tried-true-daniel-b-coupland
Dr. Daniel B. Coupland is dean of the Diana Davis Spencer Graduate School of Classical Education and a professor of education at Hillsdale College, and he formerly served as the dean of faculty at Hillsdale. He earned a B.A. in Spanish from Liberty University, an M.A. in Linguistics from Oakland University, and a Ph.D. in Education from Michigan State University.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Ken Pope, Vice President for Academic Operations and Strategic Partnerships. In the episode, they discuss the history of Communist regimes and Mr. Pope's experience working in countries such as East Germany that suffered under Communist regimes.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is an educational, research, and human rights nonprofit organization devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes.
The Foundation was authorized in 1993 by a unanimous Act of Congress signed as Public Law 103-199 by President William J. Clinton on December 17, 1993. Find out more about their work at https://victimsofcommunism.org/about/
In this presentation, Ken Pope, Vice President for Academic Operations and Strategic Partnerships, addresses the deadly history of Communism. Mr. Pope begins with his own experience in the military serving in West Berlin, addresses the life and writing of Karl Marx, then examines the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century from the Soviet Union onwards.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is an educational, research, and human rights nonprofit organization devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes.
The Foundation was authorized in 1993 by a unanimous Act of Congress signed as Public Law 103-199 by President William J. Clinton on December 17, 1993. Find out more about their work at https://victimsofcommunism.org/about/
Professor Adrian Bejan traces his approach to science to growing up during a totalitarian Communist regime in Romania during the 1950s and 60s. Dr. Bejan witnessed the destruction of his parents, their generation, and the values they held dear. During this time, he learned to question in silence the difference between the truths spoken at home and the lies that filled the school and the street.
In response, Dr. Bejan found his best teachers were his parents and grandparents and today, in honor of them, he teaches students and readers to question everything, from scientific claims to opinions. In this lecture, he illustrates the method with examples from three topics of current interest: hierarchy, diversity, and innovation. Advances come from the few individuals with the courage to ask "Why?" and offer better ideas without fear.
Dr. Bejan is a J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, a notable author, and a leading scientist in the field of thermodynamics. In his work, Freedom & Evolution, Dr. Bejan explores the relationship between freedom and evolution through the lens of physics and thermodynamics and notably grounds freedom in the observable, natural world.
This lecture was conducted at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on March 8, 2024.
Robert L. Luddy is the founder of CaptiveAire Systems, Thales Academy, and Thales College. He is a lifelong entrepreneur and philanthropist and in this lecture, Mr. Luddy examines skills such as alertness, personal integrity, and a willingness to serve the customers he considers essential to success in any entrepreneurial venture. Bob Luddy is the founder of Thales Academy and the President of CaptiveAire Systems, a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment.
In 2007, Bob opened Thales Academy, a network of private schools offering a high quality Pre-K-12 education at an affordable tuition. The Luddy Schools are quickly growing, with over 5,000 students enrolled throughout North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Bob is an avid supporter of entrepreneurs and the free market system, and published his book, “Entrepreneurial Life: The Path from Startup to Market Leader,” in 2018. This lecture was delivered live at Thales Academy Rolesville on March 8, 2024.
Famously, our school’s spiritual founder, Thales of Miletus, made his reputation as a wise and noteworthy scientist predicting an eclipse.
The event is recorded in Herodotus’ "The Histories" as the armies of the Lydians and the Medes were fighting for control of Anatolia.
Thales predicted an eclipse would happen on May 28, 585 BC, and when the celestial phenomenon took place, the Lydians and the Medes concluded a hasty peace treaty. The event is noteworthy on a number of levels, chief amongst them that the event is one of the earliest events that be dated to the precise day on which it occurred and others celebrate Thales’ achievement as the birth of science.
With the eclipse coming up on Monday, April 8, we are releasing this special episode to help students know what an eclipse is, how they form, and how they can watch an eclipse without doing serious damage to their eyes. In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Robert Luddy, founder of Thales Academy, and Melissa Svirida, a junior high science teacher at Thales Academy Waxhaw, about solar eclipses and how to enjoy them safely.
For students out there, we hope you enjoy the eclipse but be sure to wear the appropriate glasses to ensure you do not do any lasting damage to your eyes!
Check out this video from NASA Goddard on making a pinhole projector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI1ttQxXt5s
In this panel discussion, Winston Brady interviews Dr. Adrian Bejan of Duke University about his childhood growing up in Romania and the influence that life growing up under a Communist regime has had on his work in thermodynamics and physics.
Dr. Bejan is a J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, a notable author, and a leading scientist in the field of thermodynamics.
In his work, "Freedom & Evolution," Dr. Bejan explores the relationship between freedom and evolution through the lens of physics and thermodynamics and notably grounds freedom in the observable, natural world.
This interview was conducted at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on March 8, 2024.
To celebrate and explain St. Patrick’s Day, today’s episode features a brief biography of St. Patrick. Roman-British missionary St. Patrick lived from 385 to 461 and is famous for bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland. Learn the full story and how Patrick’s life shows the value of being classically educated.
The quote from St. Patrick’s Confessio is available from https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_latin#01
The story about Irish monasteries preserving manuscripts from the ancient world is drawn from “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” available here: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/how-the-irish-saved-civilization-the-untold-story-of-irelands-heroic-role-from-the-fall-of-rome-to-the-rise-of-medieval-europe-by-thomas-cahill/247589/?resultid=14dc8acd-4e59-40b8-b2ef-02c8bb1116a9#edition=2381566&idiq=4442804
In this webinar, Katie Flaherty presented strategies and classroom resources to bring together History, Art, Archaeology, and Culture into the Foreign Language classroom through a sample Latin curriculum ranging from grades 6-12. Flaherty also discussed additional pedagogical resources for increasing teacher confidence and knowledge on these topics outside the classroom.
Mrs. Flaherty received a B.A. in Classics and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Classical Languages from the University of California - Los Angeles, and a M.A. in Classics from Florida State University. Mrs. Flaherty teaches Latin.
In this webinar, humanities instructor Zach Palmer discussed strategies parents and teachers can implement to address and improve student writing. To help improve student outcomes, teachers can coordinate with one another to prioritize writing effectively rather than overload students with the sheer quantity of papers and compositions.
Mr. Palmer also went over sample writing assignments used in the past that provide students with quality, useful feedback.
Mr. Palmer received a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, with a concentration in History from Liberty University. Mr. Palmer teaches American History, Western Civilization, and Civics.
Rhetoric is the art of public speaking, the ability to give a stirring and persuasive speech. Accordingly, the ancients looked at rhetoric as the one indispensable skill for leadership and public service.
This webinar offered practical tips for successfully navigating public speaking opportunities, including how to get over nervousness, how to project your voice, how to memorize a speech, how (or when) to use your hands, and other practical areas of concern when one is speaking in public. Rubrics and materials are available upon request.
Winston Brady has taught at Thales Academy since 2011 and has served Thales Academy in a variety of ways. Mr. Brady received a B.A. in English from the College of William and Mary, a M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr Brady serves as the Director of Curriculum and Thales Press.
Happy Valentine's Day! In this reposted episode, Winston Brady speaks with longtime DCT contributor Will Begley about the life of St. Valentine. St. Valentine is a holiday that many people celebrate but few people know why we do so. When did we start celebrating Valentine's Day? Who was St. Valentine? Why hearts? Was this holiday cooked up to sell cards and chocolate, or was there something real, true, and meaningful at the heart of Valentine's Day?
In this episode, Will Begley makes some guesses about the origins of St. Valentine’s Day, how Valentine’s Day became a day of card-and-rose-giving, and the backstory behind a number of the different St. Valentine figures.
The apostle Paul, author of a series of letters in the New Testament, had a vocation by which he took care of himself through the day: tentmaking. Indeed, as a pharisee, Paul was required to learn such a trade so that he had a meaningful, marketable skill with which to earn his daily bread and bless others. The idea is so popular that individuals in education or in ministry refer to side jobs (or even a full-time job) as "tentmaking"--that is, something outside of their highly-specialized academic that is more technical and hands-on.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Miguel Echevarria, a professor of New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC about the idea of tentmaking and how students can learn from Paul's example.
Dr. Echevarria is the co-author of a new book on Paul entitled, "40 Questions About the Apostle Paul," available here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/40-Questions-About-Apostle-Paul/dp/0825447526/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IIHUOPSYNUKN&keywords=miguel+echevarria&qid=1704821075&sprefix=miguel+echev%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-1
In this episode, Winston Brady and Keller Moore discuss classroom management tips and strategies, with Winston sharing three rulers or, better yet, "hypothetical scenarios" to help classroom teachers manage large classrooms between 25 and 35 students, at the Junior High level. Those scenarios are as follows:
Hypothetical Scenario #1: If someone is talking, you should not be talking.
Hypothetical Scenario #2: If we are working, please stay in your seats.
Hypothetical Scenario #3: If you have time to “lean,” you have time to clean.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Hunter Hastings, Vice President of the Kingman Institute. The Kingman Institute is dedicated to integrating the principles of entrepreneurial free-market capitalism into business and education. We teach the morality of merit-based reward and an applicable understanding of value-based entrepreneurship.
Hunter Hastings is an economist by education, a marketer in my professional track, a venture capitalist by vocation, and a passionate supporter of entrepreneurship. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Kingman Institute.
More information about Hunter Hasting and his work can be found at https://hunterhastings.com/
One Thales Rolesville staff member is leaving this quarter, taking a job at a local sandwich shop. While his departure is sad, we not only wish him the best but want to draw out from this new opportunity some valuable lessons for our students.
Chief among those lessons are: the value of hard work, the joy of learning in and of itself, and the need to learn those people skills called "emotional intelligence" needed to flourish.
Take care, Mr. Crownover!
Key among her insights: the need for leaders to "connect" before they "correct", cultivate a sense of empathy and sympathy with their team, and be willing to endure the same sorts of challenges students and teachers go through each school day.In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Rachael Bradley, administrator of the Thales Academy Franklin campus. In the episode, Rachael shares her insights into being an administrator and how to motivate both students and teachers to give their best each day.
Rachael Bradley has a passion for education that has accompanied her throughout her career. Mrs. Bradley is a strong advocate of the formation cultivated and maintained at Thales Academy. Mrs. Bradley received a B.S. in Family and Child Development and an M.A. in Education from Virginia Tech. She has worked in private, public, and charter schools throughout her career in teaching. She currently serves as the administrator at Thales Academy Franklin campus, located just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
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.
Our theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," performed by John Harrison.
Merry Christmas! With Christmas coming up, it's time to revisit our favorite Christmas films and understand the elements that make up a Christmas film. In the episode, Winston Brady and Keller Moore discuss the criteria that make for an essential Christmas film.
The criteria are as follows:
(1) A Christmas film must have a happy ending
(2) A Christmas film must end in a state of good fortune for the protagonist
(3) A Christmas movie must have at least one warm and fuzzy moment
(4) A Christmas film must have at least one scene with snow
Let us know what you think in the comments. Merry Christmas!
In this webinar, just in time for the 2023-Christmas season, Dr. Anthony Esolen walked viewers through four seminal pieces of art including: "The Nativity" by Giotto (1314-1315), "The Presentation of the Holy Family" by Mantegna (1455), "Christ among the Doctors" by Dirck van Baburen (1622), and "The Holy Family" by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1650).
The beauty we see, hear, or touch has the power to enter our minds and memories more powerfully than do philosophical or political abstractions expressed in words. As teachers, we must remember this, especially when we want to introduce our students to ways of life embodied in another culture. A painting -- even the decorated hilt of a sword -- can work wonders. Dr. Anthony Esolen received his A.B. in English Literature from Princeton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Esolen has been a professor of literature and humanities for 35 years and is the author or translator of more than 30 books, which include a range of English translations, analyses of culture, literary and Biblical criticisms, meditations on modern education, meditations on the Christian life, and original poetry. Dr. Esolen is a senior editor and regular writer at Touchstone magazine and has published well over 1000 articles in a wide variety of journals. With his wife, Debra, he writes a daily a web magazine, Word & Song, dedicated to language, music, poetry, and classic film.
On this date, at 7:55, December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Their goal was to keep the U.S. military from supporting American possessions like the Philippines and Guam or British outposts like Singapore and Hong Kong. Such territories Japan attacked within hours of striking Pearl Harbor, annexing them all as part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the name Japan had given to their empire.
Check out reflections on Pearl Harbor from Winston Brady, available in two forms: on our podcast Developing Classical Thinkers and at the American Spectator.
Theme music is from John Harrison and the Wichita State Players.
In this talk, George Leef presented an overview of education policy in the United States, beginning with the Higher Education Act of 1965. Mr. Leef's examined the many unintended consequences that have resulted from federal meddling and government intrusion into higher education and academia, chief amongst these unintended consequences was the transformation of standard curricula away from the liberal arts and towards a series of social goals.
George Leef is director of editorial content for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Carroll College (Waukesha, WI) and a juris doctor from Duke University School of Law. He is the host of Classical Cafe on radio station WCPE in Wake Forest, NC is the author of two books, "Free Choice for Workers" in 2005 and a novel, "The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale" in 2022.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
The Covid-19 pandemic has radically reshaped our world and almost every level of society. Capitalizing on these changes, the World Economic Forum has been urging a “great reset” for civic and political leaders to reshape the world in light of the pandemic. But what changes are they proposing, and will any of these changes make our world a better place?
Learn about these changes and more in this lecture from Brian Balfour, a Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation. Mr. Balfour oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues related to economic policy.
If you want to read more of Mr. Balfour's work, check out Brian Balfour's "Economics in Action," a high school economics textbook based on the principles of the Austrian School of Economics. The book is available from Thales Press: https://amzn.to/3W4cmZs This webinar was streamed live on November 16, 2023.
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.
Thanksgiving is today, so it is an appropriate time to look back and reflect on all the things we should be thankful for.
I was reminded of these things watching, then editing a recent webinar from Dr. Anthony Esolen, entitled To Read a Painting, to Enter Another World. While watching, I was reminded of how blessed I was to have gotten an education like this growing up. Dr. Esolen’s walked the audience through four paintings in carefully interpreted explanations of iconography, techniques, the painters used to achieve, vibrant, scintillating colors, and the ways that we could identify an artwork. It was created just by the artist’s use of colors. Dr. Esolen gave a wonderful webinar, and it reminded me of art classes I got to attend while I was in high school and college.
Such an education is a journey filled with many twists and turns and unexpected parties (to use Tolkien’s words). Like Tintoretto’s “Annunciation,” the wider world may be full of debris—broken pieces of wood and ruined stones—but occasionally moments of great beauty burst in.
Likewise with the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were sojourning in a cold, rocky unforgiving wilderness and yet, there were those moments when profound clarity burst through like the angel Gabriel visiting Mary. Like how the Pilgrims found fields already sowed and planted, thus giving them food supplies when they would otherwise run out. A Native American named Squanto who spoke English and could teach them how to survive the bitter New England winter. Or the foresight to compile a founding charter, the Mayflower Compact, which would serve as the first governing document in the United States.
As I examine my own life, I see those moments of beauty and clarity when God burst through and directed my attention to the better things, the sublime things, that inspire the soul and bring joy to life.
I hope that on Thanksgiving, such moments may happen to you as you gather with family and friends and celebrate the things that really matter.
How can you learn about, or teach about, the Renaissance or any great period of human civilization, from dwelling upon the art that the masters produced? If the beauty we see or hear or touch enters our minds and memories more powerfully than do ideas expressed in words, isn't it advisable for the teacher to show how the ideas of a culture are embodied in art? What experience does the student have, for example, when he is taught to "read" two very different paintings of the same subject, one from the early Renaissance and one from the time near its end?
In this lecture, Dr. Anthony Esolen answered these questions and more as he walked through four great works of art: "The Annunciation" by Fra Angelico, "The Annunciation" by Jacopo Tintoretto, "Magdalene Penitent" by Donatello, and "Magdalene Penitent" by Caravaggio.
Originally from northeastern Pennsylvania and the grandson of southern Italian immigrants, Dr. Anthony Esolen received his A.B. in English Literature from Princeton University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Renaissance English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Esolen serves as Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College.
It is increasingly difficult to find students at the collegiate level who know how to engage in spirited, rigorous, but amiable debate about important matters. Grandstanding, emotive outbursts calculated to silence opposition, and the recitation of prefabricated talking points mark much of the environment. Rather than seeking to expose the truth, much of what counts for debate is actually aimed at domination and manifests an unhealthy conformance to the reigning ideas of a school of thought or a political activist agenda. A proper training from a younger age in the art of seminar discussion would help contemporary college students navigate the choppy waters of young adulthood.
This talk addressed how those of us who teach secondary students can create environments free, curious, and open for seminar discussions. It will address the goals of a seminar; the necessary habits and tools for a fruitful discussion; and common mistakes that spoil a seminar.
Andrew J. Zwerneman serves as Cana Academy’s President and as Cana Academy's Master Teachers. For 39 years, he has taught and consulted in secondary schools that emphasize classic humanities. For 19 years he headed schools—2 at the public charter school, Tempe Preparatory Academy in Tempe, Arizona, 17 at Trinity School at Meadow View in Falls Church, Virginia.
He is the founder and owner of The Academy Project, LLC, which wrote the curricula and trained faculties for Thomas MacLaren School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. Education: B.A., A.B.D., University of Notre Dame; M.A., St. John’s University. He is the author of "History Forgotten and Remembered" (2020) and "The Life We Have Together: A Case for Humane Studies, A Vision for Renewal" (2022).
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
In August 2023, Thales Press published The Thales Wayby Bob Luddy, founder of Thales Academy. The Thales* Way*** explains the history and mission of Thales Academy, the rationale for our educational approaches, and standards and methods for teachers, students, and families.
In this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with Bob Luddy about the book, his vision for the school, and his heart for students coming through Thales Academy.
Check out The Thales Wayon Amazon at https://bit.ly/3rNWC2e and be sure to leave us a review of the work.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, available here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHUWnB10_4I&list=PLdqEepE4oj9Y277Dn6MBDIn2AktxD2WUo
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), is an economic theory that allows unlimited government spending financed by deficits and debt. However, MMT leads to high taxes, high-interest rates and lower growth. High government debt crowds out private investment, which is critical to production and growth. MMT and related policies of the federal government have also led to bank failures such as the Silicon Valley Bank.
In this lecture, Bob Luddy explained the financial and economic underpinnings of MMT and why this economic theory causes more disastrous consequences the more we act on it.
Bob Luddy is the founder of Thales Academy and the President of CaptiveAire Systems, a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment. In 2007, Bob opened Thales Academy, a network of private schools offering a high-quality Pre-K-12 education at affordable tuition. The Luddy Schools are quickly growing, with over 5,000 students enrolled throughout North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Bob is an avid supporter of entrepreneurs and the free market system, and published his book, “Entrepreneurial Life: The Path from Startup to Market Leader,” in 2018. This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
Classical Education is concerned, as a matter of first importance, with the cultivation of the virtues in our students. But we cannot have a reliable grip on what the virtues of a human being are without an accurate philosophical account of the nature of the human person, i.e. without a solid understanding of what it means to be human, a concept known as philosophical anthropology. This subject is especially important now, given the widespread confusion about human nature and personal identity in our contemporary culture, including in our schools. In this workshop, I will seek to do two things.
To support his argument, Dr. Forrest begins with the Natural Law tradition and then outlines a philosophical account of humans as essentially conscious embodied creatures. Then, Dr. Forrest draws out practical implications of this account for classical educators in general and teachers in the classroom in particular.
Peter Forrest, Ph.D., received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford in 2015, after having previously received a B.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford in 2011, a M.A. in philosophical theology from Yale University Divinity School in 2009, and a B.A. in English from Yale University in 2005. Dr. Forrest’s primary area of research has been in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and he has spent the past five years teaching undergraduates in the philosophy department at Auburn University. He is married and is father to two young children, and in his spare time he enjoys coaching his son’s soccer team. He serves as the Dean of Humanities for Thales College.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, available here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHUWnB10_4I&list=PLdqEepE4oj9Y277Dn6MBDIn2AktxD2WUo
Thales Academy has been named a Semifinalist for the 2023 Yass Prize, which is considered the “Pulitzer of Education Innovation” and is designed "to find, reward, celebrate and expand best-in-class education organizations from every sector." The Yass Prize is a prestigious award of recognition and also grants a $1 million reward to the grand prize winner.
In this episode, Winston speaks with Josh Herring, professor of Classical Education at Thales College, about the Yass Prize and the events he's attending as the representative from Thales Academy.
Thales Academy is one of 33 Yass Prize Semifinalists, narrowed down from 64 Quarterfinalists that were originally selected out of nearly 2000 schools and educational organizations in the nation. As a Semifinalist, Thales Academy is a “STOP Award” (“Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless”) winner and will compete to be among the Finalists announced in December.
Also, be sure to vote for Thales and the Yass Prize Parents Choice Award at: YassPrize.org/vote and help us win an additional $100K for our campuses! We hope you will vote daily for us (or as many days as you can) between now and November 25!
Encourage your adult friends and family to vote, too! On your mark, get set, VOTE! YassPrize.org/vote
Thank you for supporting Thales Academy in this exciting Yass Prize endeavor!
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.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, available here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHUWnB10_4I&list=PLdqEepE4oj9Y277Dn6MBDIn2AktxD2WUo
In the Ransom Trilogy, C.S. Lewis presents a theory of reality as a gift. Through the metaphors of fruit and waves, Lewis suggests that we rational creatures find our best flourishing when we receive reality and unfold its riches throughout our lives.
Josh Herring, Professor of Classical Education at Thales College, presented this talk based on a chapter of his recently completed dissertation. Josh Herring (PhD, Humanities) serves as Professor of Classical Education at Thales College. He hosts The Optimistic Curmudgeon, an interview show platforming the best in conservative thought. He tweets at @TheOptimisticC3. He regularly writes for Liberty Fund and the Acton Institute.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
At its best, teaching history helps our students recover their bearings in a world that increasingly makes it difficult to see and love the life we have together. Like being and nature, history is a concept of unity by which we get our minds around the whole of things: in this case, the whole of our existence as the past, the present, and the future. As a discipline within the humanities, history is the study of change in society as it moves in time. Change is a given, not an end. In order to grasp the significance of change, students of history must see the past in its pastness, neither as the present writ small nor as the occasion to condemn the past for not rising to their demands for what it should have been. In other words, they need to study the past observationally and sympathetically, free from anachronisms and moralizing.
Finally, history is a way of interpreting our existence as a community that consists of the dead, the living, and the yet to be born. It is a way of seeing how we are responsible for one another across generations. To forget that unity is to lose ourselves. To remember it is to see ourselves as recipients of the life passed on by our forebears and as givers of life to our neighbors and to future generations.
Andrew J. Zwerneman serves as Cana Academy’s President and as one of our Master Teachers. For 39 years, he has taught and consulted in secondary schools that emphasize classic humanities. For 19 years he headed schools—2 at the public charter school, Tempe Preparatory Academy in Tempe, Arizona, 17 at Trinity School at Meadow View in Falls Church, Virginia.
He is the founder and owner of The Academy Project, LLC, which wrote the curricula and trained faculties for Thomas MacLaren School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. Education: B.A., A.B.D., University of Notre Dame; M.A., St. John’s University. He is the author of "History Forgotten and Remembered" (2020) and "The Life We Have Together: A Case for Humane Studies, A Vision for Renewal" (2022).
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Rolesville Junior High-High School on October 6, 2023.
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.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, available here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHUWnB10_4I&list=PLdqEepE4oj9Y277Dn6MBDIn2AktxD2WUo
On Thursday, August 29, Thales Academy Rolesville hosted a special with Dr. Paul Cwik of University of Mount Olive. In the lecture, Dr. Cwik examined the national debt, investigating the question, “how much debt is really too much”
Dr. Paul Cwik is a Fellow of the Mises Institute and the BB&T Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Mount Olive. He earned a BA from Hillsdale College, an MA from Tulane University, and a PhD from Auburn University, where he was a Mises Research Fellow.
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.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, available here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHUWnB10_4I&list=PLdqEepE4oj9Y277Dn6MBDIn2AktxD2WUo
Dorothy Sayers presented a paper entitled The Lost Tools of Learning at a summer conference at Oxford in 1947. In the paper, she makes a rather astute observation about “end-of-term reports” which should “combine a deep veneration for truth with a tender respect for the feelings of all concerned.”
Ms. Sayers’ description of comments is profound. The task of writing report card comments seems very burdensome and weighty, but is a task that the teacher should value. Such comments are the last opportunity in the quarter to offer encouragement and advice to students while giving a seal of approval on their progress over the course of the quarter.
In light of this advice on writing report card comments, here are the best tips from Matt and Winston on writing report card comments:
Deliver compliment sandwiches: Present one piece of encouragement with one meaningful, courteous way the students can (or should) improve for the next quarter.
Write comments throughout the quarter: Make a roster at the beginning of the quarter and add to that roster great things students did in class–good comments, meaningful insights, a great diorama here or there–these specific pieces of feedback go a long way in encouraging students.
When in doubt, email: If the comment gets too specific, includes too many action items, or seems like it could be misinterpreted, email or call parents and let them know what you’re seeing.
Thales Academy is unique among classical schools thanks to founder, Robert "Bob" Luddy. Thales incorporates many ideas and principles from Bob's experience in leading and founding new business ventures, chief, amongst them being the idea of "Kaizen."
Kaizen is a Japanese business and engineering philosophy that emphasizes a process of continuous self-improvement. That is, kaizen is about inculcating a desire to improve products, decrease waste and inefficiency, and create more value for the consumer.
In this episode, Winston Brady and Keller Moore talk about Kaizen and how it applies to classical education and how classical teachers can work it into their classes each day.
That way, teachers are making the best use of class time, creating better outcomes for students, and using every moment of class time to the best extent that they can.
Interested in sending your student to a classical school? Want In this episode, we look at three factors that separate classical schools from other institutions: the curriculum, the teachers, and the students.
This episode is based off an article written by host Winston Brady that appeared on the American Spectator on July 12, 2023. That article is available here: https://spectator.org/a-guide-for-parents-in-search-of-a-truly-classical-school/
Interested in learning more about Thales Academy? Check out our website at www.thalesacademy.org
On today's episode, Winston speaks with Marianna Davidovich, Chief External Affairs Officer at the Foundation for Economic Education. On the program, they discuss her backstory and how it shaped her understanding and love of liberty, as featured in articles published at FEE, as well as the important role that the rule of law and entrepreneurialism play in promoting a free society and a high standard of living.
Learn more about Ms. Davidovich's work at https://fee.org/people/marianna-davidovich/
In this special episode, Winston Brady sits down for an interview about Research & Writing, a new writing textbook with a unique primary source-driven focus.
Written by senior members of the trivium faculty at Thales Academy, namely, Winston, Elizabeth Jetton, and Josh Herring, Research & Writing integrates grammar and writing lessons with primary source texts.
The goal of the Research & Writing series is to integrate the intellectual heritage of the Western tradition with the skills, concepts, and content to help students become excellent leaders, writers, and thinkers. These primary source texts include the very best works of philosophy, literature, and history from the beginning to the end of the Western canon and include the likes of Aristotle, Quintilian, Jane Austen, and more.
For more information about this new book, check out Research & Writing, available here: https://bit.ly/3YjrD9Z
In this presentation, Matt Ogle encouraged students and students alike to take greater responsibility for their own learning.
Taking a cue from "The Law of Diffusion of Innovation" and "the tipping point," Matt urged teachers to hold their students to high expectations and positively reinforce them each day. Students will rise or fall to the expectations placed on them, and students tend to succeed in response to their teachers' unwavering resolve and high expectations towards them.
In short, students have every opportunity to succeed but the best teachers never let them settle for second best.
Matt Ogle received a B.S in Marine biology from Swansea University in Wales and a Masters of Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
Matt Ogle delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 10, 2023. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
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.
An excellent teacher inspires students to love learning, has high expectations for content and behavior, and invests in students beyond the classroom. Dr. Josh Herring of Thales College describes three excellent teachers from his own education as a way of encouraging teachers to pursue excellence in their craft as they consider the beginning of a new school year.
Josh Herring (PhD, Humanities) serves as Professor of Classical Education at Thales College. He hosts The Optimistic Curmudgeon, an interview show platforming the best in conservative thought. He tweets at @TheOptimisticC3. He regularly writes for Liberty Fund and the Acton Institute.
Josh Herring delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 10, 2023. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
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.
Winston Brady explains how parents and teachers work together for the mutual upbuilding of students. This relationship is a unique, collaborative partnership between teachers and parents for the time teachers have these students in their classes. Winston presents three ways parents can join in the work of classical education: asking, challenging, and encouraging. By asking students questions about what they're learning, challenging them to try new things or avoid taking shortcuts, and encouraging them each day, parents can help teachers help these students form good character and reach their unique, God-given potential.
Winston Brady has taught at Thales Academy since 2011 and has served Thales Academy in a variety of ways. He also hosts the Thales Academy podcast, Developing Classical Thinkers. Mr. Brady serves as the Director of Thales Press, an in-house publishing firm that produces textbooks, readings, and videos for Thales Academy and like-minded classical schools. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and three boys, all of whom he hopes will one day learn Latin.
Winston Brady delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 10, 2023. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
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.
In this presentation from the Conference of Miletus, Bob Luddy offers his vision for virtuous leadership. Bob argues that leaders, particularly in the field of education, have a responsibility to cultivate good character and personal integrity if they are to be effective leaders who educate students to their highest potential.
Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems.
Bob Luddy delivered this presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 10, 2023. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, informative lectures given by members of the Thales Academy leadership team on ideas relating to classical education.
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.
In this episode, Winston speaks with Kon Bouzikos, President of ACES ( Australian Classical Education Society) about the growing movement of classical education in Australia.
ACES is a group of teachers and parents across Australia interested in promoting classical education through various means. The mission of ACES is to create classical schools, train teachers and parents, and allow all students to flourish as human beings.
If you're interested in classical education in Australia, check out ACES' website here:
http://www.classicaleducation.org.au/
https://logosaustralis.com/
https://m.facebook.com/ausclassicaleducation/
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Crystal Joy Campbell, a classical education consultant based in Alberta, Canada. They speak about the educational landscape in Canada, as well as the growing number of classical schools and programs in Canada that are helping students to appreciate beauty, recognize truth, and live out the nature of the good life.
Find more about Crystal Joy Campbell and her work at https://classicalmattersproject.com/
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with a group of seniors from Thales Academy Rolesville about their time in high school.
To these seniors and everyone graduating this year, especially those seniors who have been classically educated, congratulations! As evidenced by this episode, this group of seniors has accomplished many great things already and, during their time in high school, has studied so many good, true, and beautiful things we hope they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Congratulations, class of 2023!
Over the past few months, prominent voices in the classical renewal movement have debated over what books should be read at classical schools and why. Some voices argue for wider inclusion amongst authors of diverse backgrounds, and others call for works of great value regardless of their author.
In today’s episode, Winston Brady speaks with Phillip Johnson, Matt Ogle, and Josh Herring, who himself is a contributor to this debate, talk about the purpose of classical education and how that purpose shapes what constitutes a great book.
For links to the articles cited in this episode, check out:
Josh Herring, "What is the Future of Classical Education"
https://lawliberty.org/what-is-the-future-of-classical-education/
Jessica Hooten Wilson, "Restoration, Not Representation"
https://lawliberty.org/restoration-not-representation/
This week, we have a special episode in honor of Memorial Day, a holiday that honors those who have given their lives in service to our country and in preserving our freedom.
In this episode, we look at the beginnings of Memorial Day, why we celebrate the holiday and how long we have done so. Then, we draw out the significance of the day by looking at the life and education of Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you to everyone who serves or has served in our military for your time, support, and sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy each day.
In this webinar, Mrs. Warfield presented practical tips for teaching students how to annotate texts and how annotating can help students develop better reading habits. Topics included the habits of active reading, good questioning, and annotating, as well as ways to encourage whole-group class discussions over texts that matter.
A Knightdale native, Mrs. Warfield is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and has been a teacher for 11 years, with experience in both public and private education. She is certified to teach literature, science and history to all grade levels. Mrs. Warfield is passionate about teaching and loves to learn. This webinar was streamed on April 27, 2023.
Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resourc... 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
Since ancient times, classical educators regarded math as a subject to make one wise. Math demonstrates the order, beauty, and harmony in the world around us in a way language cannot always do, and classical education roots the teaching of math in the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. In this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with Phillip Johnson, Professor of Engineering and Sciences at Thales College, and Ravi Jain, an Alcuin Fellow, author of "The Liberal Arts Tradition," and the graduate scholar in science and religion at Oriel College, Oxford University.
In the episode, they discuss the history of mathematics education, as well as the ways in which mathematics helps students better understand truth and beauty, and thereby gain wisdom and virtue. We can use mathematics not only to solve problems but also to gain confidence that our world is not inherently random and chaotic—that there is an order to the world that we can see, test, and demonstrate through the power of mathematical reasoning.
On this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with CiRCE-certified educator Kristen Rudd on the value of classical education in general and on Dante's Divine Comedy in particular—why students should read it and the insights they'll gain for life by finishing Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Kristen has homeschooled her two children for 15 years, and she is in the final year of her homeschooling journey. She is a CiRCE-certified master classical teacher, holds an MAT in Classical Education from the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University, and teaches online literature and writing classes for both high schoolers and adults.
She teaches the Dante Atrium for the Circe Institute and directs the Independent Classical Educator Fellowship, a convivial group for like-minded entrepreneurial classical educators, as well as the Triangle Classical Forum in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina. Feel free to contact Kristen through her website.
Elizabeth Jetton, a long-time teacher of 6th through 8th grade trivium, will share her insights for teaching middle school students how to write. Her workshop will introduce the steps of the writing process, revising their writing and adding sentence dress-ups, and paragraph structure in and alongside how to introduce these concepts to students.
Mrs. Jetton earned a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from St. Andrews University and a M.A. in English from Wake Forest University. Mrs. Jetton teaches Trivium and chairs the Trivium Department, as well as serving as a writer, editor, and content expert for Thales Press.
This episode was streamed live as a webinar on April 12, 2023.
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.
ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot, capable of producing short and long form written communication. Unlike previous iterations of AI-powered chatbots, ChatGPT produces essays, blog posts, and other forms of written communication that are almost indistinguishable from those written by a human being.
When the service was launched in November of 2022, educators and parents immediately recognized the challenges ChatGPT presented for learning and writing. Thanks to this advancement, students could ask ChatGPT to write an essay, set parameters for the assignment, and provide a word count, and ChatGPT could write the essay for the student.
On this episode of #DevelopingClassicalThinkers, Winston Brady speaks with two Thales College professors–Peter Forrest, Dean of Humanities and Phillip Johnson, Professor of Engineering and Mathematics–to work through all the challenges presented by ChatGPT.
Such challenges included not only the opportunities for plagiarism but also the likelihood students may cease researching topics and instead rely on the machine–ChatGPT–to do their thinking and researching for them. Along the way, they discuss the amazing gifts we humans have for creativity and originality, what it means to be human, and the implications of teaching against the machine.
John Henry Crosby, the president and founder of the Hildebrand Project, joins Bob Luddy in a discussion on "The Dethronement of Truth" by Dietrich von Hildebrand.
Hildebrand (1889–1977) was a major personalist philosopher, heralded as "one of the great ethicists of the twentieth century" by Pope John Paul II. Amongst his numerous books and publications, Hildebrand was a prolific essayist, including his 1943 article, "The Dethronement of Truth." In the work, Hildebrand explains the nature and importance of truth and how the rejection of and indifference to truth tears apart the fabric of society. "The Dethronement of Truth" addresses issues of morality, epistemology, and relativism, as well as speaking out against the totalitarian ideologies of Communism and Nazism that Hildebrand, as a German philosopher, had publicly and heroically resisted.
As Hildebrand articulates, and as Bob and John Henry discuss, we seek to understand the truth because human dignity and freedom are connected to us being the kind of beings who can seek and come to know the truth about reality. To put any other criterion in place of truth degrades the human person.
Bob's Book Review is a periodic webinar led by Bob Luddy, the founder of Thales Academy, Thales College, and CaptiveAire. Learn more about upcoming webinars and all Thales Press events at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press.
Classical education cultivates people of excellence through the contemplation of truth, beauty, and goodness–and a Spanish classroom should do the same, albeit in Spanish! The art and literature of Spain provide a worthy vehicle to discuss beautiful things, providing that one has the resources to focus on Spain’s artistic and cultural treasures, read beautiful poetry in Spanish, or talk about such wonderful things in Spanish.
In this webinar, Judith Castillo-Arzeno presented resources for high school Spanish integrating beautiful works of Spanish art, including the likes of Diego Velasquez and Pablo Picasso, and Spanish language learning.
Ms. Castillo-Arzeno teaches high school Spanish at Thales Academy Rolesville. She grew up in the Dominican Republic until her family relocated to New York City. A graduate of The City College of New York (CUNY), she has taught high school Spanish since 2009.
This webinar was streamed live on January 18 at 4:00 pm.
Each year, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky releases a report entitled the “Festivus’ Report on Government Waste.” He catalogs different projects that the federal government has used taxpayer dollars on that, in Paul’s estimation, is not a wise use of tax payer funds.Many of these projects are funded through various scientific laboratories and, upon reading the list, looks eerily similar to the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels, a work of satire by the 18th-century writer Jonathan Swift.
In the episode, Matt, Winston, and Josh play a game in which they guess whether or not the experiment is from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” or from Rand Paul’s Festivus Report. Then, the group discuss the larger implications of satire and the purposes of scientific investigation. In short, they follow the purposes of satire itself: they use works of classical literature to try and better understand our own culture and our own foibles.
For a copy of this year's Festivus' Report (and others), click on this link here: https://www.paul.senate.gov/?s=festivus
To celebrate and explain St. Patrick’s Day, today’s episode features a brief biography of St. Patrick. Roman-British missionary St. Patrick lived from 385 to 461 and is famous for bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland. Learn the full story and how Patrick’s life shows the value of being classically educated.
The quote from St. Patrick’s Confessio is available from https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_latin#01
The story about Irish monasteries preserving manuscripts from the ancient world is drawn from “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” available here: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/how-the-irish-saved-civilization-the-untold-story-of-irelands-heroic-role-from-the-fall-of-rome-to-the-rise-of-medieval-europe-by-thomas-cahill/247589/?resultid=14dc8acd-4e59-40b8-b2ef-02c8bb1116a9#edition=2381566&idiq=4442804
Socrates described himself as the "gadfly" of Athens, someone who continually bothered Athenian citizens with his incessant questioning. Socrates' goal with these questions was to spur people onto greater understanding and self-reflection--and this is ultimately the goal of the teacher imitating Socrates in the classroom through Socratic questioning.
In this episode, Isaac Jennings and Winston Brady talk through the idea of Socratic questioning, as well as ways of inserting such questions into your lessons and thinking of such questions on the fly.
Isaac Jennings teaches logic and philosophy at Thales Academy Apex. Mr. Jennings earned a B.A. from North Greenville University, a M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a M.A. in Philosophy of Religion from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mr. Jennings teaches Trivium.
In this webinar geared for middle school teachers, Heather Brame and Winston Brady will present best teaching practices for teachers with large classes.
Heather Brame will present an overview of direct instruction and strategies for implementing DI into their lessons. That way, teachers will have more tools to facilitate student engagement and aid in student understanding. Winston, meanwhile, will present an overview of seminar teaching and how to lead large classes in meaningful discussions, drawing from principles of Direct Instruction to help increase student participation and produce better educational outcomes.
On this special President's Day episode, host Winston Brady interviews Amity Shlaes, author of four New York Times-bestsellers and Chairman of the Board of the Calvin Coolidge Foundation, to celebrate the life and example of President Calvin Coolidge.
On President's Day, we focus on those presidents who accomplished great deeds for their country: men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, among others, who led the country through times of great crisis and hardship. Often, President Calvin Coolidge is overlooked amongst such notable leaders because his presidency did not include such events, but his life and example, as well as the genuine prosperity that occurred during his presidency, merit President Coolidge being celebrated on such occasions as President's Day.
As president, Coolidge believed that his role was to step back and refrain from doing anything that might limit the opportunities of individual Americans to pursue their natural, God-given rights of life, liberty, and happiness.
Check out this episode celebrating the life and example of Calvin Coolidge, and be sure to look into the Calvin Coolidge Foundation. For more information, check out their website at https://coolidgefoundation.org/about/
Happy Valentine's Day! In this reposted episode, Winston Brady speaks with longtime DCT contributor Will Begley about the life of St. Valentine. St. Valentine is a holiday that many people celebrate but few people know why we do so. When did we start celebrating Valentine's Day? Who was St. Valentine? Why hearts? Was this holiday cooked up to sell cards and chocolate, or was there something real, true, and meaningful at the heart of Valentine's Day?
In this episode, Will Begley makes some guesses about the origins of St. Valentine’s Day, how Valentine’s Day became a day of card-and-rose-giving, and the backstory behind a number of the different St. Valentine figures.
In this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with Jarrid Looney, humanities teacher and Upper School Director at Millennium Charter Academy in Mount Airy, NC. On the episode, they discuss the joys of teaching at a classical school, what makes the charter schools unique in the educational space, and their favorite books.
Millennium Charter Academy is an independent, public school whose classroom is the community, which invites parents, teachers, students, and the community to collectively challenge each child to achieve superior academic standards and to develop the highest moral character. We will expand educational choice with an innovative, student-centered environment producing life-long learners equipped with the knowledge and critical-thinking skills necessary to become leaders in the 21st Century.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Gene Fisch, author of To Have a Tomorrow, a memoir of World War II and the hardships that the Fisch family and millions of other people endured while living in Nazi-occupied, and later Soviet-occupied, Poland.
In the episode, Gene talks about his experience growing up in the forest hideaway in Polesie and his journey to the United States and Ellis Island as a young child. Along the way, Winston and Gene talk about the meaning of the American dream and the kinds of habits students and teachers need to develop to reach their real potential.
Be sure to check out Gene's website https://www.genefischstory.com/ to find out more about his books and how you can find a copy of them.
This week is National School Choice Week, a series of events to draw attention to various school choice initiatives across the country. For any one unfamiliar with school choice initiatives, these are policies to make it easier on parents to send their students to a school of their own choice. These educational options may include charter schools or private schools but at its heart, these are schools that provide the best fit for a student.
On this week's episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, Winston Brady speaks with Ray Nothstine, Senior Writer & Editor at State Policy Network. Ray joins the program to talk about school choice initiatives and how they help provide better educational outcomes for students and parents, why they tend to be popular across the political spectrum, and why they are important to sustaining a free and virtuous citizenry.
For more information about school choice policies, check out https://schoolchoiceweek.com/.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks Mark Bauerlein, Professor Emeritus at Emory University, about the need for high-quality, content-rich educational programs, the perils of young adulthood, and the joy that comes from reading and learning about worthwhile things.
Mark Bauerlein is a prolific writer and scholar. He is a Professor Emeritus of English at Emory University, serves as Senior Editor at First Things, and hosts the First Things podcast. Amongst his many books is "The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults," available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3TbiQTo
Learn more about Dr. Bauerlein and his work at https://www.firstthings.com/featured-author/mark-bauerlein
Classical education strives to preserve the past to give hope for the future. We recognize that the more we know about the past, the more confident our hope is that the future will be better, brighter, and more full of the joy and opportunities we hope to see in the world. The Christmas season is a particularly important time to reflect on such things, given the distance between what Christmas is and what Christmas has become–a byword for a shopping season that if you include the time needed to return unwanted gifts, stretches from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. This Christmas, don’t celebrate with empty materialism but give gifts in imitation of the God who gave Himself. Now that’s a reason to celebrate!
Special thanks to Josh Herring and Shawn Crownover for contributing to this episode.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Today's theme music is available under the following terms:
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Dee Yan-Key is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
In this episode, Winston Brady, Josh Herring, and Matt Ogle discuss their favorite Christmas books and Christmas movies. Along the way, they discuss the true meaning of Christmas, as rooted in the message of the birth of Jesus Christ, how Christmas traditions have changed over the past centuries, and how the consumerism of current Christmas traditions can be distracting and unhelpful.
Then, they discuss their favorite books including the likes of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "A Christmas Carol," and "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey." And providing they have the criteria of a Christmas film right--takes place at Christmas, includes Christmas iconography, and has a redemptive story arc--their favorite movies include "A Muppet Christmas Carol," "It's a Wonderful Life," and even "Die Hard."
From the team at Developing Classical Thinkers, we hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Today's Theme Music: Ⓒ CC BY 4.0, Twin Musicom (twinmusicom.org), available at http://ow.ly/zYom30h6ZfA
In this episode, Winston speaks with Hilary Herman-Pagliolo, senior administrator and longtime Thales Academy teacher and leader. Building on her talk from the Fall Classical Summit, Mrs. Herman talks about the importance of looking at student data and using that information to make decisions for their students.
Mrs. Herman received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s of School Administration from North Carolina State University. Prior to serving Thales Academy, Mrs. Herman spent seven years teaching in public and charter schools.
The process of learning involves cooperation between the teacher and the student. Teachers traditionally spend a lot of time and energy learning and practicing their skills of communication and class management in order to improve their own ability to teach. It is less common that students put in the time to learn and practice the skills or best practices of learning itself. There are many potential reasons this is the case, but at Thales Academy, we advocate for students to take responsibility for their own learning since, after all, it is impossible to have a proxy do it for you.
In this webinar, Matt Ogle and Winston Brady will present some findings from modern scientific research about how we learn and take in information, along with studying tips to help students make the most of their time in school. Learning is not accomplished unless information can remember that information when they need it, and we hope to inspire all students to learn more effectively and make durable lasting memories.
In this episode, Winston interviews Richard Dryer, the longtime band director and history teacher at Thales Academy Apex.
Richard explains how to listen to classical music, some important concepts and ideas to consider when choosing a piece of music, and what to look for (or listen for) when listening to a piece of beautiful music.
Mr. Dryer holds a B.M.E. from Butler University and a M.M. in Clarinet Performance from Kent State University. Mr. Dryer teaches Band.
Theme music is from John Harrison and Witchita State University Chamber Players.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Benjamin Quinn about the life and education of Augustine of Hippo, a 5th c. AD theologian and philosopher.
This episode is adapted from a talk Dr. Quinn gave at the Fall Classical Summit in October 2022, where he presented an overview of the life of Augustine and his educational journey from a rebellious teenager to one of the foremost writers of Late Roman Antiquity.
Benjamin Quinn serves as the Associate Professor of Theology and History of Ideas and the Associate Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. He earned his doctorate at the University of Bristol on Augustine and the wisdom tradition.
According to tradition, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. Check out this episode to hear a brief history of the holiday and some lessons gleaned from a classical education.
Theme music from John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.
On today's episode, Winston interviews Kerry McDonald, a Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and host of the LiberatED podcast, a podcast on recent trends in education.
Kerry's work has appeared in FEE, the Cato Institute (where she is also an adjunct scholar), and Forbes, with her columns focusing on school choice, educational entrepreneurship, and alternatives to conventional schooling.
Find out more about her work at FEE here: https://fee.org/people/kerry-mcdonald/
and more about her book, "Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom," on Amazon, available here: https://amzn.to/3ExxH74
Today's theme music is from John Harrison and Wichita State University Chamber Players.
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Ashley Bahor on classroom management and pedagogy and the means by which teachers can create a welcoming and enriching classroom environment.
Theme music from John Harrison and Wichita University Chamber Players.
Founder of Thales Academy and Thales College Bob Luddy discusses Adrian Bejan's book "Freedom and Evolution". Bejan is a J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, a notable author, and a leading scientist in the field of thermodynamics. In his work, Freedom & Evolution, Dr. Bejan explores the relationship between freedom and evolution through the lens of physics and thermodynamics and notably grounds freedom in the observable, natural world.
Bob's Book Review is a periodic webinar led by Bob Luddy, the founder of Thales Academy, Thales College, and CaptiveAire. Learn more about upcoming webinars and all Thales Press events at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
Humanities teachers have great books, and science teachers have groundbreaking experiments. In this episode, physics teacher Beth Lewis talks with Winston Brady about how science and STEM teachers can help teachers recreate some of the experiments described in Galileo's "Two New Sciences," including Galileo's "Leaning Tower of Pisa" experiment and calculating the acceleration due to gravity.
Check out the Thales Press reader here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S39rEFRHlVgV1ET_sQB_lZ2uD5ak7e3q/view?usp=share_link
Want to Readers with selections from Galileo's Two New Sciences and detailed instructions on how to set up the experiments will be made available digitally to workshop participants.
In this special Zoom session from the Fall Classical Summit, Dr. Anika Prather discusses her new book, "The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature," co-written with Dr. Angel Parham. "The Black Intellectual Tradition" details the powerful legacy of classical education among Black intellectuals and teachers in America.
Check out the book at Classical Academic Press: https://classicalacademicpress.com/products/the-black-intellectual-tradition?_pos=1&_sid=b9987d8c6&_ss=r
About Dr. Prather: Dr. Anika T. Prather earned her B.A. from Howard University in elementary education. She also has earned several graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University. She has a Masters in liberal arts from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and a PhD in English, Theatre and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland (College Park). Her research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon and self-published her book "Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature." She has served as a teacher, supervisor for student teachers, director of education and Head of School. Currently she is a sought after speaker on the topic of the relevancy of classical studies to the Black community. She teaches in the English dept at Howard University, serves as Director High Quality Curriculum and Instruction at Johns Hopkins University, and is the founder of The Living Water School, located in Southern Maryland.
Epistemology is the area of philosophy that studies and evaluates how we come to form our beliefs and know things about the world. Historically, epistemology was studied as a private enterprise but today, particularly with social media, the task of gaining knowledge is a thoroughly social enterprise.
In this lecture, Dr. Forrest examined four epistemic principles that correct false and destructive messages from our culture about how we gain knowledge and brainstorm ways to integrate these principles into the classroom. These principles, if grasped by middle and high schoolers, will go a long way in helping them navigate through an often confusing and hostile world, while confidently forming beliefs that align with the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Peter Forrest, Ph.D., received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford in 2015, after having previously received a B.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford in 2011, a M.A. in philosophical theology from Yale University Divinity School in 2009, and a B.A. in English from Yale University in 2005. Dr. Forrest’s primary area of research has been in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and he has spent the past five years teaching undergraduates in the philosophy department at Auburn University. He is married and is father to two young children, and in his spare time he enjoys coaching his son’s soccer team. He serves as the Dean of Humanities for Thales College.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Apex Junior High-High School on October 7, 2022.
The Creature from Jeykll Island is the United States Federal Reserve, created in a planning session amongst the United States’ top financial representatives on Jekyll Island, Georgia. The title comes from G. Edward Griffin's "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" and a similarly-themed Tuttle Twins book, "The Creature from Jekyll Island."
In this session, Brian Balfour will examine a history of the U.S. Federal Reserve, its directives in maintaining employment and cofntrolling inflation, and the unintended and often very negative consequences of monetary policy and the role of central banks.
Brian Balfour is Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation, where he oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues. He previously worked for the Civitas Institute for 13 years, and has a master’s degree in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Apex Junior High-High School on October 7, 2022.
In this session, Matt Ogle will offer a sample lesson plan and resources and explain the pedagogical means by which the sciences, taught Classically, can help students cultivate both academic rigor and intellectual curiosity about the world in which we live.
Matt Ogle received a B.S in Marine biology from Swansea University in Wales and a Masters of Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. He taught at the Great Hearts Academy in Phoenix, Arizona for four years, and he currently serves as the Head of Classical Education at Thales Academy.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Apex Junior High-High School on October 7, 2022.
According to Pew Research, in a comparison of 72 nations, the US fell from 6th place in math performance in 1997 to 38th place in 2017. Yet, by 2017 the US government was spending $12,800 per student. In 2019, the average Math SAT score across the nation came in at 528 out of a total 800. In the same year, classical schools saw an average score of 611 with similar results in reading, writing, and the sciences. For centuries, the kind of education we call classical has produced superior educational outcomes often with far fewer resources.
So what is it about classical education that makes such a difference for students and parents? In short, classical education succeeds with tried and true methods of teaching and learning, many of which have been used for centuries or more, and all of which are rooted in what we know about human nature and how and why children learn. In this keynote address, Dr. Jonathan Yonan will examine the values and virtues that make classical education the best possible educational option for students and families.
This lecture was delivered live at the Fall Classical Summit, a regional classical conference held at Thales Academy Apex Junior High-High School on October 7, 2022.
In this episode, host Winston Brady interviews homeschool educator Holly Lee on her experience teaching in a wide variety of educational models from traditional public schools to homeschool programs such as Classical Conversations and Charlotte Mason.
Holly Lee is a homeschooling mother of three and operates My Little Brick Schoolhouse, a blog offering homeschooling support and academic resources. A native of Charlotte, NC, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an educator who served four years in Durham and Wake County’s public schools, and now a homeschool enthusiast and educator, Holly lives in Wilson, North Carolina with her husband and three rambunctious redheads.
This reposted episode focuses on Thales of Miletus, the namesake and spiritual founder of Thales Academy. In the episode, Dr. Jon Stewart examines the life and impact of Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece for whom Thales Academy is named.
More information can be found out about Dr. Stewart at https://www.jonstewart.dk/
On today's episode, we're reposting an early episode of Developing Classical Thinkers: "The Podcast of the Cave."
In this very first episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, released in November of 2018, Josh Herring, Brooke Frisch, Winston Brady Stacey Egger, and Mary Dodson discuss Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from Book VII of Plato's "Republic."
In recent weeks, we’ve had a number of big, high-profile stories come out about education: the first being the noted decline in reading and math scores as a result of school closures and online learning over the past two years, the second being the recent cancellation of student loan payments for college students. Today’s episode features a special guest, Brian Balfour of the John Locke Foundation, to talk about student loans and the cancellation of those student loan payments.
Brian Balfour is Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation, where he oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues. He previously worked for the Civitas Institute for 13 years and has a master’s degree in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.
Theme music is from John Harrison and Wichita State University.
In recent years the Classical Learning Test has provided for the classical renewal movement what, for everything else we have going for us, has been lacking: a standardized test. CLT provides “assessments steeped in content that is intellectually richer and more rigorous than other standardized tests and college entrance exams,” geared primarily around a substantial author bank “of men and women who have made invaluable contributions to culture and history.”
In this episode, Winston Brady interviews CLT-president and founder Jeremy Tate about the early years getting CLT off the ground, his perspective of the educational landscape, and his thoughts for the future of education. Jeremy Tate is a former college admissions test prep consultant and counselor. Alarmed by the lack of logic- and philosophy-based subject matter in the two dominant forms of entrance exams, he founded Classic Learning Initiatives (CLI) as a means of restoring the foundation of Western education.
Most simply, an entrepreneur is someone who starts his or her own business. They recognize opportunities and needs in the market that others do not see, and from there, they come up with new ways to meet these market needs. Our society values entrepreneurship because such individuals create innovative products and services that improve our quality of life and contribute to human flourishing in a meaningful way.
In this webinar, Bob Luddy, founder of Thales Academy and Thales College, and Winston Brady, Director of Thales Press, will examine the ideals of entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship contributes to human freedom in a meaningful way, as well as more practical tips on starting and managing your own business.
This webinar was streamed live on August 25, 2022 and is available to watch on the Thales Press YouTube channel.
Many students and teachers have not gone back to school yet. But, Thales Academy has been in session for almost a month now--what have we learned, and what can listeners pick up on as far as the best practices to get the year off on the right track?
Join Winston, Matt, and Josh as they discuss the first days of school and the best pieces of advice they've gotten for how to set up their students for success.
In brief, here are the top three pieces of advice for teachers:
(1) It is easier to "lighten up" than to "tighten up."
(2) No more than rules.
(3) Find the best in each student and tell that student's parents about it.
On today's episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, host Winston Brady interviews a former student and honorary-Thales alumnus Lyle Broughton.
Lyle is a chain reaction artist, meaning that he builds complicated, intricate, and winsome machines and films doing simple tasks in the most complicated and roundabout ways possible.
Check out Lyle's work at his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jackofallspades98
Do classical schools deliver on their promises? Thales Academy can answer the question by simply pointing to the remarkable academic achievements of last school year, which are similar at both high school campuses and consistent with every graduating class since its inception.
Check out the episode to hear the benefits of classical education and how Thales Academy is helping preparing its graduates to not just survive but thrive in the colleges and careers of their choice.
How does mathematics fit within a classical education? Does the emphasis on the humanities crowd out mathematics? Will students develop the mathematical skills they need if they are classically educated?
Listen to this episode and learn how mathematics, classically taught, can help students develop academic rigor, intellectual curiosity, and a confidence that our world is orderly and beautiful–skills all students need for the world in which they live.
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
What is the West? What does the Western tradition mean? What makes an idea, a book, or an author part of the Western tradition? To answer these questions, Josh Herring will draw on the ideas and framework of scholar Russell Kirk. Dr. Kirk described Western Civilization as a developing process, with the cities of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia contributing specific concepts to the idea of the Western tradition. Today, members of the present generation have inherited this literary and historical tradition and are tasked with curating their inheritance for future generations.
Josh Herring has taught at Thales Academy since 2013 and has written extensively on issues related to Classical education and the humanities. He is currently the Dean of Classical Education at Thales Academy Apex and a doctoral candidate at Faulkner University.
This webinar was streamed on July 25, 2022.
It is often said in education that, "Whoever is doing the work is doing the learning." The typical format of a lesson involves the teacher teaching a concept, and then the student practicing that particular skill through a series of problems meant to reinforce that skill. Such a practice looks different in different classrooms and subject areas, but the goal remains the same: help students learn the material through practice, with the teacher providing meaningful feedback and coaching to students as needed.
As the final episode in a triptych of episodes on classical pedagogy, host Matt Ogle talks to Winston Brady and Josh Herring about the idea of guided practice and how to manage a classroom of students who are actively working.
Why should we study the humanities, subjects like history, English, or philosophy? Shouldn’t the humanities make way for more relevant, more practical subjects, such as STEM education? We study subjects like history and literature for their own sake (they make us happy), and they help us learn what it means to be human.
Listen to this episode from Thales Press to learn more about how the subjects in the humanities contribute to human flourishing and human happiness so that such subjects are relevant now more than ever.
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
How does science fit in with a classical education? Does a Classical education really downplay the sciences in favor of reading old, outdated, and unnecessary books?
In reality, a classical education teaches students how to think creatively, ask thoughtful, engaging questions, and formulate inquiries, all of which lie at the heart of the scientific method.
Listen to this episode and learn how science, taught classically, can help students appreciate the beauty, harmony, and wonder of the natural world.
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
In this conference presentation, Bob Luddy explains the role of the transcendentals, the ideas of truth, goodness, and beauty, and how these ideas influence life in the family, the business world, and the classroom environment.
Bob Luddy is the founder of Thales Academy and the President of CaptiveAire Systems, a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment.
Bob Luddy delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 11, 2022. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, TED-talk-style lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
Theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.
In this presentation at the Conference of Miletus, Matt Ogle explains what the transcendental idea of beauty. Beauty is, in short, the apprehension of truth by the senses and the recognition that the world is orderly and life is meaningful, realities to which classical teachers should direct their students' attention.
Matt Ogle is the Head of Classical Education at Thales Academy. He has taught both the humanities and the sciences and has served in a variety of leadership roles over his long career in education.
Matt delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 11, 2022. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, TED-talk-style lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
The theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.
In this presentation at the Conference of Miletus, Josh Herring examines the transcendental idea of the good, drawing from the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas and integrating the idea of the good with the goal of the teacher to bring about the very best in their students.
Josh Herring is the Dean of Classical Education at Thales Academy and a humanities teacher. He is also the Director of the Thales debate program and coordinates debate tournaments for middle and high school students in the Raleigh area.
Josh delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 11, 2022. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, TED-talk-style lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
The theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.
In this presentation at the Conference of Miletus, Winston Brady examines the idea of truth, as far as what a world in which there is no truth would look like, how do we know what's true, and how do classical teachers teach what is true.
Winston Brady serves as the Director of Curriculum & Thales Press, an in-house publishing firm that produces textbooks, readings, and videos for Thales Academy and like-minded classical schools. He lives in Wake Forest with his wife and three boys.
Winston delivered this conference presentation at the Conference of Miletus on July 11, 2022. The Conference of Miletus was a series of short, TED-talk-style lectures from members of the Thales Academy leadership team discussing what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful and the importance of these transcendental ideas to classical education.
The theme music is Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.
How do more practical subject areas such as architecture and engineering fit within a Classical education? Does an education founded on what is true, good, and beautiful really help students develop the academic rigor and problem-solving skills needed for fields outside of the humanities?
Actually, Classical education is ideally suited to prepare students for careers in engineering, architecture, and other similar career paths.
Listen to this episode to learn how an education founded on the contemplation of beautiful things helps students make this world a more beautiful place.
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
The lecture is a unique pedagogical tool for the classical teacher. A lecture is a well-developed, logical exposition of a subject of great importance that, when delivered with excitement and interspersed with the right kinds of questions, can be a powerful means of disseminating information to a wide audience. But what makes a good lecture? When is the lecture the most appropriate tool to use in the classical classroom? Should you use PowerPoint slides or lecture straight from a manuscript?
Host Josh Herring interviews Matt Ogle and Winston Brady about the use of lecture in the classroom and how a teacher can use this tool in an uplifting, rewarding, and age-appropriate way for students.
On our occasional series "Classically Educated," we are looking at the life and work of the Roman educator Quintilian (AD 35 - 100). Born in Spain with the full name Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Quintilian is one of the few educators from the Roman world who wrote down anything concerning tips for running a classical classroom.
Quintilian's great work, the "Institutio Oratoria" or, in English, "On the Education of an Orator," includes tips that range from teaching phonics to small toddlers to delivering speeches before crowds of senators.
Quintilian's "Institutio Oratoria" is available here from the Loeb Classical Library: https://www.loebclassics.com/view/quintilian-orators_education/2002/pb_LCL124.51.xml?rskey=VPkNHn&result=1
George Kennedy's "Quintilian: A Roman Educator and His Quest for the Perfect Orator," available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Quintilian-Roman-Educator-Perfect-Orator/dp/0989783618/ref=sr_1_1?crid=399HPPBVHXRCL&keywords=george+kennedy+quintilian&qid=1655472354&sprefix=george+kennedy+quintilian%2Caps%2C51&sr=8-1
In this episode, Winston Brady interviews Matt Denhart, President of the Coolidge Foundation, to talk about the legacy of Calvin Coolidge, the importance of America's founding principles, and some of the unique programs that the Coolidge Foundation puts on for students across the country.
Learn more about the Coolidge Foundation and its programs on its website here: https://coolidgefoundation.org/
We referenced an issue of the Coolidge Quarterly on the show on Calvin Coolidge and the Great Depression. Check out the issue here: https://coolidgefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TheCoolidgeQuarterly_Vol4_Issue1.pdf
Many people think that an education founded on books, ancient languages, and meaningful ideas cannot prepare students to make the latest and greatest technological developments. But in reality, classical education is uniquely suited to help students develop the rigor and curiosity needed to dream up new inventions and technology.
Listen to this episode to find out more!
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his army into Ukraine. Since then, the Ukrainian people have been engaged in a struggle to defend their territorial integrity and very status as a nation in the midst of this Russian attack. How should we understand such geopolitical events? What are we to make of the events in Ukraine? How do these events fit in with the longstanding foreign policy goals of the Russian Federation, and how much of these events derive from the personality of Russian President Vladimir Putin?
In today’s episode, host Winston Brady interviews Dr. Richard Vedder to talk about these issues. In 2000, Dr. Vedder was invited as part of a special delegation of free-market economists to provide advice to recently-appointed President Putin on the issues of taxation, private property rights, and other reforms in line with free-market economics.
In the show, Dr. Vedder talks about his personal experiences traveling through Russia, meeting President Vladimir Putin, and providing economic advice to various high-ranking officials of the Russian government.
What is the purpose of higher education? What should students expect out of their college experience, and what should students do to get the most out of the four years they may spend on a college campus? Is college for everyone? And what other alternatives are out there for students who don't want to go the route of the traditional, four-year undergraduate program?
In this webinar, Dr. Jenna Robinson will examine the purpose of higher education, that of character formation through study and fellowship, as well as a survey of the challenges in the higher education landscape awaiting students.
Jenna Robinson is the President of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a Raleigh-based nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation. Dr. Robinson received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has written for numerous academic and popular publications.
This webinar was streamed on May 19, 2022.
Find out more about the James G. Martin Center at their website: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/
Thales Academy Pittsboro recently moved into its new building in Chatham Park, North Carolina. In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with administrator Johanna Murphy about the founding of this new campus and what makes Thales Pittsboro so unique. Go Pumas!
Classical education is uniquely suited to teach social studies, political theory, and economics. classical education emphasizes reading primary source documents so that students see important founding documents like the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution as the culmination of a longstanding intellectual and philosophical tradition spanning thousands of years.
Check out our Thales Press YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram for more information and content like this.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thalespress/
On today’s episode, host Winston Brady speaks with Richard Vedder about the study of economics, the value of hard work and entrepreneurship, and why the study of free market markets is more valuable now than ever.
Richard Vedder is the Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University. He has written for both scholarly journals and popular publications such as The Wall Street Journal. Vedder also has administered the "Best College Rankings" for Forbes magazine. He has been a long time supporter of Thales Academy, having spoken at some of our Luddy Debate tournaments on the value of economics, and delivered a lecture at Thales Academy Rolesville entitled, “American Greatness and Preparing for the Future.”
Check out more information about Thales and Thales Press here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ
Classical education aims to cultivate students of excellence through the contemplation of what is true, good, and beautiful. This is a lofty goal, so how does this come about in practice during a school day? How can teachers create the conditions needed for their students to understand a difficult concept, recognize the beauty in a biology lesson, or unravel the intricacies of a sonnet?
In this episode, Winston Brady, Josh Herring, and Matt Ogle talk about best teaching practices for the classical teacher and how to teach with such noble goals in mind.
On today’s episode, host Winston Brady interviews George Leef, the author of "The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale." On the show, they discuss the idea of classical liberalism, the works of Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville, and how these authors and the tradition of classical liberalism shaped Mr. Leef’s "The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale," a work of satire and a “political fable for our time” available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
George Leef is the director of editorial content at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. He holds a JD from the Duke University School of Law; has previously served as the Vice President of the John Locke Foundation; and has written for numerous popular and academic publications such as Forbes Magazine and the American Institute for Economic Research.
Check out The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Jennifer-Van-Arsdale-Political/dp/1637583567/ref=sr_1_1?crid=27VL1Q77CPQBP&keywords=awakening+of+jennifer+van+arsdale&qid=1649963336&sprefix=awkwaening+of+jennifer+van+arsdale+%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-1 and on Barnes & Noble at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-awakening-of-jennifer-van-arsdale-george-c-leef/1141110704?ean=9781637583562
In today’s episode, Will Begley and Chelsea Wagenaar discuss the value of memorizing poetry and prose and strategies for students to build up their ability to memorize.
Will Begley teaches high school Latin and Senior Seminar at Thales Academy Rolesville. He holds a Ph.D. in Medieval and Classical Latin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chelsea Wagenaar joined the Thales faculty in 2022, and she teaches trivium and medieval literature. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of North Texas. She is a published and much-acclaimed poet, having won the 2013 Philip Levine Prize and the 2018 Michael Waters Poetry Prize for her poetry, poems we are sure one-day many school children will memorize.
The reading and discussion of the very best books have long held a unique place in a Classical curriculum. We human beings make sense of the world through meaningful works of literature because such books provide us with the tools by which we may remind ourselves of what is true, good, and beautiful.
In this webinar, Josh Herring and Winston Brady will present an overview of the role that literature plays in classical education, how the Classical approach is better for students than modern methods of teaching and reading works of literature, and an overview of the Junior High and High School Literature program.
This webinar was delivered on April 8 at 3 pm. Check out our YouTube channel here for more information: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ/videos
The world we live in is a beautiful place, and the science classroom should point students towards a deeper appreciation for the beauty, order, and harmony we see in the natural world. Mr. Ogle will explain the pedagogical means by which the sciences, taught Classically, can help students cultivate both academic rigor and intellectual curiosity about the world in which we live.
This webinar was delivered on April 7. For more information, check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-5t4R8RSLX9A-CWJC9wDQ/videos
To celebrate and explain St. Patrick’s Day, today’s episode features a brief biography of St. Patrick. Roman-British missionary St. Patrick lived from 385 to 461 and is famous for bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland. Learn the full story and how Patrick’s life shows the value of being classically educated.
The quote from St. Patrick’s Confessio is available from https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_latin#01
The story about Irish monasteries preserving manuscripts from the ancient world is drawn from “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” available here: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/how-the-irish-saved-civilization-the-untold-story-of-irelands-heroic-role-from-the-fall-of-rome-to-the-rise-of-medieval-europe-by-thomas-cahill/247589/?resultid=14dc8acd-4e59-40b8-b2ef-02c8bb1116a9#edition=2381566&idiq=4442804
America has long been described as the land of opportunity. In this webinar, Dr. Richard Vedder examined the characteristics that have contributed to America’s greatness and the opportunities and freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States. Moreover, Dr. Vedder proposed ways students can contribute to the flourishing of the United States and prepare a future of excellence for themselves and their communities.
Dr. Richard Vedder is the Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University. He has written for both scholarly journals and popular publications such as "The Wall Street Journal." Vedder also has administered the "Best College Rankings" for "Forbes" magazine.
This webinar was streamed on February 8, 2022. It is available to stream here: https://youtu.be/w-LQBqx-x1Y
Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resourc...
Coming up on February 14 is Valentine's Day, a holiday that many people celebrate but few people know why we do so. When did we start celebrating Valentine's Day? Who was St. Valentine? Why hearts? Was this holiday cooked up to sell cards and chocolate, or was there something real, true, and meaningful at the heart of Valentine's Day?
In this episode, Will Begley makes some guesses about the origins of St. Valentine’s Day, how Valentine’s Day became a day of card-and-rose-giving, and the backstory behind a number of the different St. Valentine figures.
In this episode, economist Brian Balfour provides a brief check-in about the economy and explains all things concerning inflation, supply chains, and the trends we're seeing in the U.S. economy. Brian also offers his recommendations for students on how they can alleviate such problems in the broader, economic marketplace (hint: consider getting a part-time job).
Brian Balfour is Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation, where he oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues. He specializes in fiscal policy issues and is also the author of the e-book Economics in Action, which teaches the free-market principles of the ‘Austrian School’ of economics. He has helped Thales develop an economics curriculum and lesson plans.
We referenced the January 13 episode of the podcast, "The World and Everything In It," in today’s show; a link to a transcript of that episode may be found here: https://wng.org/podcasts/thursday-morning-news-january-13-2022-1642056593
Theme music is Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons, Spring (1st Movement)," recorded by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players. The recording is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7LVR_Lb_E
This webinar explored the relationship between mathematics and classical education, an approach that begins in wonder, explores a particular problem using mathematical principles, and builds from those solutions a greater intellectual curiosity and wonder about the world in which we live.
Our speaker is Jonathan Gregg, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Education at Hillsdale College. He regularly teaches classes in mathematics, deductive reasoning, and the quadrivium at Hillsdale College. He is also pursuing a doctorate in Mathematics Education from Michigan State University.
This webinar was given on January 6, 2022. Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
How does music fit into a Classical education? How does the study of music foster a love for truth and beauty? What brings more joy--listening to a beautiful piece of music, or just playing an instrument regardless of our skill level? What specific pieces might we listen to help cultivate that love for beautiful things in ourselves and in our students?
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Thales band directors Richard Dryer and Wendy Cheng about the enriching, transformative nature of music and the joy that great music can bring to a Great Books education.
Special thanks to Wendy and Richard for their time on the episode and their service in building up our music program.
Theme music is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Spring (1st Movement), recorded by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players. The recording is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7LVR_Lb_E
Songs referenced in the Episode include:
Bach, Partita No. 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjEVKxQCWs
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEPFH-gz3wE
Mozart, Kegelstatt Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_cfok4QxdU
Beethoven Piano Concerto Number 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTO9ms_eIEY
Gustav Holste, The Planets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs&t=15s
Thales Academy Administrators, Ashley Bahor, Matt Ogle, and Winston Brady, discuss how Thales Academy can help students focus on what is good, true, and beautiful through the value of the fine arts and their integration with practical, real-world skills.
This webinar was streamed on December 9, 2021. Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
Featuring Jonathan Yonan, M.St., D.Phil., "The Makings of a True Teacher", held on November 17th, 2021, discusses the value of a classical education and leadership formation when educating future teachers.
Learn more about Thales College and our unique Classical Education and Leadership degree at https://www.thalescollege.org/.
An interview with Bob Luddy and Amity Shlaes, author of four "New York Times"-bestsellers including "Coolidge" and "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression." In "Great Society," Amity Shlaes examines the 1960s and the advent of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society as a means of better understanding our contemporary challenges and the lamentable, avoidable consequences of economic planning and social welfare programs.
Amity Shlaes chairs the board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, a national foundation based in the birthplace of President Coolidge.
Find out more about Amity Shlaes and her work at the Coolidge Foundation at http://www.amityshlaes.com/bio.php
"Bob's Book Reviews" is hosted by Bob Luddy, President of CaptiveAire Systems and the founder of Thales Academy, a network of private schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and beyond. In Bob's Book Reviews, Bob provides a short overview of the book, explains why this book answers pressing issues of our time, and facilitates a discussion on topics that challenge and enlighten the human mind.
In today’s episode, Winston Brady takes a special look at the Thales Garden Club, a group of students who meet in the mornings to take care of the community garden at Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS. Through a series of on-the-spot reporting and interviews with the club's lead teachers and student members, we explore how the Garden Club positively impacts students.
Special thanks to Amanda Gruber, lead teacher for the Garden Club, as well as all of the students who participated in today’s episode. Great work everyone, and thank you for beautifying the grounds and providing such a rich learning opportunity for our Rolesville campus!
For more information on Thales Academy, check out our website at www.thalesacademy.org
Theme music is from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," performed by from Harrison with the Wichita State University Chamber Players, https://youtu.be/Bt_shKqtLDk
Will Begley, Latin and Senior Seminar instructor at Thales Academy Rolesville, speaks about the value of learning and loving Latin.
Dr. Begley received a B.A. in Classics from Davidson College, an M.A. in Latin and a Ph.D. in Classical and Medieval Latin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Begley teaches Latin and Senior Seminar at Thales Academy.
This webinar was streamed on October 21, 2021. Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
Just as Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and CaptiveAire Systems started in a garage, so the Luddy Institute of Technology started in a converted storage closet at the Thales Apex campus.
Today, the Luddy Institute of Technology (or "LIT" for short) is one of the most popular electives at Thales. The Luddy Institute of Technology (LIT) is an optional elective sequence of pre-engineering and STEM coursework for the upper grades.
In this episode, host Winston Brady speaks with one of the original “architects” of the LIT program, Kent Misegades, about the early days of the LIT program, the relationship between engineering and Classical education, and how Classically-trained engineers focus on beautiful things to make the world a more beautiful place.
The LIT curriculum covers a wide range of engineering-related content, beginning with the fundamentals and culminating in an independent engineering project for students to demonstrate their skills and creativity. Past projects have included restoring old cars and motorcycles and building items like a two-stroke engine, a footbridge for a local park, and an automated pancake pouring machine.
To find out more about the LIT Program, check out our website at https://www.thalesacademy.org/academics/Luddy-Institute-of-Technology-LIT
Kent worked closely with Bob Luddy to help design the LIT program, poured decades of his engineering experience into its curriculum, and even taught the first group of LIT students. Today, Kent owns AeroSouth, a business focused on products for light aircraft and sailboats as well as writing publications and curriculum on the topics of aeronautics and education.
Find out more about AeroSouth here: https://aerosouth.net/
And be sure to check out their engineering curriculum for great ideas and fun projects here: https://aerosouth.net/shop-and-engineering
What’s a dystopia, and why have dystopian novels become so popular in recent years?
The word “dystopian” in “dystopian novels” comes from two Greek words: “topos,” meaning “place” and “dys,” meaning “bad.” Thus, a dystopian novel is a novel set in a bad place--specifically, a bad future where a large, oppressive, and omnicompetent state controls all aspects of human life and stamps out all instances of human freedom.
The word "dystopia" was coined as a response to the word "utopia,” a place so “good” it cannot exist. In both cases, the word refers to a fictional world that's designed to reflect on the real world by emphasizing the differences and the similarities between our world and that of the novel.
Oddly enough, there has been a lot of interest in reading dystopian literature in prior years at Thales Academy. In this episode, Winston Brady, Josh Herring, Will Begley, Jessie Gillooly, and Sydney Harper discuss dystopian literature and how these works fit into the literature curriculum at Thales Academy.
Great examples of dystopian literature include Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” George Orwell’s “1984,” Walter M. Miller Jr.’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz,” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.”
The works referenced on today’s episode include:
George Orwell’s “1984”: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/nineteen-eighty-four_george-orwell/247716/?resultid=2183b4b4-d411-4767-992f-92481c254c08#edition=2400521&idiq=4326807
Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/brave-new-world_aldous-huxley_david-rogers/245736/?resultid=662b919e-f38b-4405-b0c5-28cdef45d290#edition=4283982&idiq=444123
Walter M. Miller Jr.’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz”: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-canticle-for-leibowitz-by-walter-m-miller-jr/252725/?resultid=010cc772-bf1e-4c6c-a22e-bb132fdc0493#edition=2226066&idiq=3464580
Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/fahrenheit-451_ray-bradbury/248594/?resultid=cb723a21-f16f-477d-84b0-2a3e180c75c2#edition=6426608&idiq=3872736
Bill Griffin, Vice President of Manufacturing at CaptiveAire Systems, discusses engineering and the ways in which Thales Academy helps prepare students for that career.
Mr. Griffin currently oversees CaptiveAire manufacturing, engineering, and R&D and is based in Lancaster, PA.
This webinar is also available to view on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxmk13EjAZc
This webinar was streamed on September 23, 2021. Learn more about Thales Press and register for upcoming events and webinars at https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
Next Webinar: Loving and Learning Latin on October 21 at 4 pm with Will Begley of Thales Rolesville!
What is school choice? What are the arguments for and against expanded school choice options? How might these school choice initiatives benefit parents when it comes to choosing the best school for their children, the best fit for their students’ unique gifts and abilities?
On today's episode of Developing Classical Thinkers, Winston Brady speaks with Bob Luebke, Senior Fellow at the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, a think tank in Raleigh, NC. Dr. Luebke has been involved in improving education and expanding educational opportunities. Prior to joining the John Locke Foundation, he wrote about education policy and served as the Director of Policy with the Civitas Institute.
Find out more about Dr. Luebke and the John Locke Foundation here: https://www.johnlocke.org/about-john-locke/
Dr. Grattan Brown speaks on issues related to bioethics and the need to understand the value and dignity of human life, an idea uniquely grounded in a Classical education.
Dr. Brown currently serves as the Academic Dean at Thales College and previously taught bioethics and related fields at Belmont Abbey College.
Join us on September 23 at 4:00 pm as we hear from Bill Griffin, Vice President of Manufacturing at CaptiveAire Systems, about engineering and the ways in which Thales Academy helps prepare students for that career.
Register here: https://bit.ly/2WTu9sa
It's been a long time since we last published an episode, but the crew at DCT have been working on some exciting projects, chief amongst them: Thales Press, an in-house publishing firm to create and publish educational materials that enlighten minds and empower students to focus on what is good, true, and beautiful.
Check out more here: https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
Thales Press Webinar Series, a series of webinars on topics related to Classical education.
Check out a webinar that interests you here: https://www.thalesacademy.org/resources/thales-press
On this episode, Winston Brady interviews Ashley Dundas, Administrator of Thales Academy Glen Allen, located outside of Richmond, Virginia.
Ashley Dundas received a B.A. in Elementary Education from Saint Augustine's University and a M.Ed. from Meredith College. Mrs. Dundas brings thirteen years of teaching experience from a variety of schools and learning environments. Mrs. Dundas is thrilled to bring Thales Academy to Glen Allen and looks forward to building a vibrant and thriving Thales community in Virginia.
Find out more about our Thales Glen Allen campus here: https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/glen-allen-campus
In this episode, Winston Brady interviews John D. Mays, the Director of Science Curriculum at Classical Academic Press. A Classical education is uniquely suited to teach the sciences, and Mays explains his unique approach to teaching science in a Classical school focusing on the ideas of "wonder," "integration," and "mastery."
Find more information about CAP's science curriculum here: https://classicalacademicpress.com/collections/novare-science
John D. Mays' "From Wonder to Mastery" is also available from Classical Academic Press here: https://classicalacademicpress.com/products/from-wonder-to-mastery?_pos=1&_sid=6f9aac4be&_ss=r
John D. Mays received a BS in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, an MEd in secondary education from the University of Houston, and an MLA in liberal arts from St. Edward’s University. He also has completed 36 hours of graduate study in the field of physics. John worked as an engineer and engineering manager for 14 years and has taught physics, physical science, and math in a variety of settings. At Regents School of Austin, he served as the Math-Science Department chair for 9 years and established the Regents Laser Optics Lab, a college-grade optics laboratory incorporating state-of-the-art lasers, optical components, electronics, and test equipment. John is the author of Novare’s chemistry, physics, and physical science textbooks, as well as many other resources. He has 3 adult children and lives with his wife in San Antonio, Texas.
The school year has begun at Thales Academy! To celebrate the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, Winston Brady, Josh Herring, Jessie Gillooly, Josh Akers, and Houston Clark got together to share some advice for students to make the most of the upcoming school year.
Good luck Thales students! Have a great first week at school!
Join Will Begley, Matt Ogle, and Travis Copeland as they discuss the poetry of Gerald Manly Hopkins (1884-1889), including the poems "Spring," "The Caged Skylark," and "As Kingfishers Catch Fire."
Gerald Manly Hopkins' Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gerard-manley-hopkins
Spring: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51002/spring-56d22e75d65bd
The Caged Skylark: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44391/the-caged-skylark
As Kingfishers Catch Fire: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44389/as-kingfishers-catch-fire
Information on the Eurasian Skylark: https://ebird.org/species/skylar
In our final episode of the 2020-2021 school year, Travis, Josh, and Winston discuss the life and works of British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, his inclusion in a Classical curriculum, and our favorite works of Tolkien.
Have a wonderful summer break, DCT fans!
Allison Burns, Emily Bass, and Jessie Gillooly interview five members of the Thales Academy Apex Class of 2021. Nick Lucovsky, Ashley Josey, Shae Reinberg, Brendan Lynch, and Hannah Jury discuss their time at Thales Academy, ways the unique classical education has benefited them, and where they are going next. Check it out!
Congratulations to all of our wonderful seniors!
In this episode, Winston Brady talks with Brian Balfour about economics, schools of economic thought, and the role that a right understanding of economics plays in a free society.
For context, Brian Balfour is Senior Vice President of Research for the John Locke Foundation, where he oversees the organization’s research and analysis on a variety of issues. He specializes in fiscal policy issues and is also the author of the e-book “Economics in Action,” which teaches the free-market principles of the ‘Austrian School’ of economics.
Check out "Economics in Action" here: https://www.nccivitas.org/econbook/
In this panel discussion, Bob Luddy (founder of Thales Academy), Josh Herring (Dean of Students), and Ethan Delves (Class of 2021) discuss the importance of Classical education, the value of reading a lot of books, and the Thales experience.
Ethan Delves has been at Thales Academy since kindergarten and we are all very proud of his accomplishments. Congratulations, Ethan!
Ashley Bahor and Josh Herring interview five members of the Thales Academy Rolesville Class of 2021. Morgan Taylor, Joojoo Rahim, Sophia Bany, Grayson Sakell, and Gabriel Walker discuss their time at Thales Academy, ways the unique classical education has benefited them, and where they are going next. Check it out!
In this episode, Winston Brady and Josh Herring talk about all things debate: debate tips, debate skills, debate strategy, plans for new debate tournaments and debate electives at Thales Academy, as well as an upcoming look at Josh Herring's new podcast and YouTube show, The Optimistic Curmudgeon, coming in August of 2021.
Winston Brady speaks with Andrew Kern, President of the CiRCE Institute. In this episode, Winston and Andrew talk about virtue and the role of a Great Books education in cultivating virtue and the role Classical education has in helping students to form good character and cultivate good habits, as well as the incredible importance of teaching students how to pay attention and resolve discord in an age where such things are increasingly hard to do.
More information about CiRCE, or the Center for Independent Research on Classical Education, can be found at their website: https://www.circeinstitute.org/
In this brief episode, we take a look at the Socratic Method. We look at how Benjamin Franklin used the Socratic Method in his own life, how Socrates asked questions of his interlocutors to encourage them to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty, and how the Socratic Method is used in the Classical classroom to help teach students how to think, not what to think.
On today’s episode, Winston Brady speaks with Dr. Wilfred McClay, an intellectual historian and the author of the recent textbook on American history, “Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story.” Dr. McClay is currently the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty at the University of Oklahoma but will soon be joining the faculty at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.
In this episode, they discuss trends in contemporary American politics, the influences on, and the education of, the Founding Fathers, and the enduring importance of studying history for character formation and the cultivation of virtue.
Check out “Land of Hope” available here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/land-of-hope-paperback/
In today's episode, Josh Herring, Matt Ogle, and Travis Copeland discuss three poems by Wendell Berry: 'What We Need is Here,' 'The Peace of Wild Things,' and 'A Small Porch in the Woods.'
Wendell Berry is a novelist, poet, essayist who lives and farms in Henry County, Kentucky. He studied English literature at both the University of Kentucky and New York University before returning to his hometown to again take up the life of a farmer. His agrarian style elevates the beauty of the natural, wild world focused on the particularities of place.
For more information about Wendell Berry checkout theberrycenter.org.
'What We Need is Here':
https://www.awakin.org/read/view.php?tid=2144
'The Peace of Wild Things':
https://onbeing.org/poetry/the-peace-of-wild-things/
'A Small Porch in the Woods': https://drive.google.com/file/d/125v0eSFpCBYWBZYrJoJipDw2PoeHARDd/view?usp=sharing
On today's episode, Winston speaks with Connor Boyack, the founder of the Libertas Institute, a Utah-based non-profit thinktank. He is also the author of the Tuttle Twins books, a children’s book series that introduces young readers to economic, political, and civic principles. On the show they discuss the creative process behind the books and the key thinkers and ideas of Austrian economics.
More information about the Libertas Institute can be found here: https://libertas.org/
In today’s episode, we look at the value of studying history as a subject in and of itself. Today, many people criticize history as an academic enterprise on several fronts: one, whether or not history is useful to study at all and two, if we study history, we tend to focus on certain monumental figures to the neglect of other voices within the historical narrative.
To that end, what people, places, and voices in history should we focus on in studying history? What are the principles upon which we should study history? What is the goal of studying history, and how might the study of history contribute to positive character development and human flourishing?
In this episode, we examine these questions and solicit answers from a wide array of opinions from teachers and educators on the content, purpose, and value of studying history, including Wilfred McClay, an intellectual historian at Hillsdale College, Leah Klein, the Chair of the History Department at Thales Apex, Clifford Humphrey, Director of Admissions at Thales College, Terry Stoops, Director for the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, and Bob Luddy, the founder of Thales Academy.
For further reading, please check out:
Shannon Watkins, “Reinvigorating the Teaching of American History”: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/02/reinvigorating-the-teaching-of-american-history/
Wilfred McClay’s “Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story": https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/land-of-hope-paperback/
Robert Strassler’s “The Landmark Herodotus,” and “The History of the Peloponnesian War,”
DCT Survey Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/u/1/d/1MQ69P9i_EGLA6vIY7v2PH9HSDkZ38RW59xqTUJtRDkY/edit?usp=forms_home&ths=true
Thales founder Bob Luddy offers our listeners lessons for our students in regards to good character, personal integrity, and virtuous leadership, oriented on "Lessons from Youth," "Lessons in Business," and "Lessons for the Future."
In today's episode, Winston Brady speaks with Sheel Chandra, graduate of the class of 2018 and a current student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about his experiences at Thales and what it means to be "Classically educated."
In today’s episode, we look at the life of the abolitionist leader, author, and noted orator Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). Born into slavery on a plantation in Tuckahoe, Maryland, Frederick Douglass endured great suffering and hardship during his childhood and adolescent years. Despite the often harsh treatment he endured from his masters, and the lengths they went to keep Frederick illiterate and uneducated, Douglass succeeded in teaching himself to read and later chanced upon a rhetoric textbook called "The Columbian Orator," a work that contained samples of noteworthy speeches from ancient Greece and Rome as well as contemporary speeches. "The Columbian Orators" and the speeches it contained helped, in part, to inspire Douglass to take whatever steps needed to gain his freedom.
Our 8th grade students read Douglass’ autobiography, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and in today’s episode, we examine the small part that texts from the Classical world, such as those included in "The Columbian Orator," had in forming the character of Frederick Douglass.
For more Information, check out the following resources:
Winston Brady, “The Legacy of Frederick Douglass,” available at https://blog.cltexam.com/the-legacy-of-frederick-douglass/
“The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” at Dover Thrift: https://store.doverpublications.com/0486284999.html
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” available at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, available at https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Socratic Seminar reading, available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NhxtMlf5skV1zIiJr5PDBAN3bD01_oiRUYRKEuijNZA/edit?usp=sharing
Developing Classical Thinkers' Survey for New and Upcoming Episodes: https://forms.gle/TVQANRjbQHiymxVs7
In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Andrew Pudewa, the founder and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW, for short). IEW's mission "is to equip teachers and teaching parents with methods and materials which will aid them in training their students to become confident and competent communicators and thinkers," and Andrew shares those tips and insights with our listeners today.
More information about IEW can be found here: https://iew.com/intro-iew/history-mission-people/mission
For more information on influences at Thales Academy and how we equip students to be talented writers and Classical thinkers, check out our influences page at https://www.thalesacademy.org/influences
Developing Classical Thinkers' Survey on New and Upcoming Episodes: https://forms.gle/TVQANRjbQHiymxVs7
In this episode, Will Begley, Josh Herring, and Travis Copeland discuss the poetry of Richard Wilbur. They focus on the poems "A Wood" and "4C," which are available for you to read here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mJYY27pCAbK4SFqCpbs1w5mOvuI0dcd-hvhUto03pDk/edit?ts=601c197c
Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) was an American poet and literary translator who is often associated with a movement known as New Formalism.
In his poetry, Wilbur used traditional and nonce forms to explore the universals visible in everyday experiences. This episode will focus on two of Wilbur’s poems, both of which highlight and recast things that are overlooked or underrated.
More information about Richard Wilbur can be found here at the Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/richard-wilbur
In this episode, Travis, Will, and Josh referenced dogwood trees, maltese crosses, and the Romantic poet John Keats.
Here are links to photos of these items.
Dogwood Trees: https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/EwwBIhCoH2lMfvyyMB2BtS4i-UA=/2667x2000/smart/filters:no_upscale()/pink-dogwood-172784414-b9cc9ba1f47d46b9950abcf91c1b14b9.jpg
Maltese Crosses: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Malteserkreuz.svg/1200px-Malteserkreuz.svg.png
John Keats’ “When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fears-that-i-may-cease-to-be
Josh Herring, Dean of Student for Thales Academy Rolesville, went on The Open Door podcast; as part of their discussion, Mario Ramos-Reyes asked Josh what it means for Thales Academy to be a classical school. His answer is given in this episode of Developing Classical Thinkers.
If you're interested in the Open Door Podcast, you can check them out at https://www.spreaker.com/user/wcatradio/wcat-radio-the-open-door-010821b
In this episode, Josh Herring, Winston Brady, and Matt Ogle discuss the idea of a “No Excuses” Discipline Policy as taken from the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers." "Battle Hymn" was written by the faculty at the Michaela School, a “free school” (similar to charter schools in the U.S.) in Britain.
Josh, Winston, and Matt focused on one essay, “No Excuses Discipline Changes Lives” by Michaela teacher Jonathan Porter. While the group didn’t agree with everything in the essay, it was fascinating to read about school culture and classroom management at another school across the pond. In the discussion, the group focuses not on a "no excuses" system but instead on how to build a positive, engaging classroom environment uniquely suited to the needs and culture of Thales Academy.
If you would like to hear more about the Michaela School, check out an interview with their founder, Katharine Birbalsingh, on Anchored, the podcast of the CLT, available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anchored/id1530053338?i=1000494860076
In many ways, the Classical education movement began with “The Lost Tools of Learning,” a lecture delivered by Dorothy Sayers at a Vacation Course in Education at Oxford in 1947. In this episode, we’ll take a look at the life of Dorothy Sayers, walk through “The Lost Tools of Learning,” examine some objections to her argument raised by Classical educators, and end with how Thales implements some of the ideas in “The Lost Tools of Learning” into our school.
Here are some links to resources referenced in today’s episode:
Direct Instruction: https://www.thalesacademy.org/academics/what-is-direct-instruction
Dorothy Sayers’ Lost Tools of Learning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eRn-UqzHShRg5tZVifqcPEXeW3yktKfk/view?usp=sharing
Dorothy Sayers Society: https://www.sayers.org.uk/
On this episode, Winston Brady interviews Dr. Anika T. Prather about the value of a Classical education and the role Classical texts played in shaping the minds of leaders in the African-American community, notably Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.
Dr. Anika T. Prather earned her B.A. from Howard University in elementary education. She also has earned several graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University. She has a Masters in liberal arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and a PhD in English, Theatre and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon and recently self-published her book “Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature.”
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 and is the founder of The Living Water School in Southern Maryland. In her research, Dr. Prather focuses on “building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon”—that is, reading through the books in a Great Books curriculum to inspire in her students a lifelong love of learning.
"Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African-American Students Reading Great Books Literature": https://www.amazon.com/dp/172493337X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_DJo9EbDYGWCEV
This is our third (and final) interview with Dr. Don Devine. In the interview, Devine and Winston Brady, Dean of Academics at Thales Academy, talk about current trends in education, the importance of reading the very best books, and Devine's experience working in the Reagan administration.
Don Devine is a well-respected professor and civil servant with a long career in academia and public service. He is also the author of the new book, "The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order." Devine is a passionate supporter of Classical education, and he wrote much of the scope and sequence of our high school program at Thales Academy.
We have provided links to Don Devine’s new book, "The Enduring Tension," in the show notes below and our website for more information about our academic program and our influences.
Don Devine, The Enduring Tension: https://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Tension-Capitalism-Moral-Order/dp/1641771518
Thales Academy JH/HS Curriculum Overview: https://www.thalesacademy.org/academics/what-is-classical-education
In the second of three interviews with Dr. Don Devine, Josh Herring, Dean of Students at Thales Academy, discusses the role of education in promoting civic virtue and the importance of local, public associations.
Don Devine is a well-respected professor, civil servant, and author with a long career in academia and public service. Devine is also a passionate supporter of Classical education, and he wrote much of the scope and sequence of our high school program at Thales Academy. He is also the author of a new book, "The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order," that examines the idea of "freedom and [the] tradition moral scaffolding sufficient to hold the walls and preserve the best of capitalist civilization," (from the book's description).
We have provided links to Don Devine’s new book in the show notes below and to our website for more information about our academic program and our influences.
Don Devine, "The Enduring Tension": https://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Tension-Capitalism-Moral-Order/dp/1641771518
Thales Academy JH/HS Curriculum Overview: https://www.thalesacademy.org/academics/what-is-classical-education
Thales Academy’s Influences: https://www.thalesacademy.org/influences
In this episode, Bob Luddy, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Thales Academy, interviews Don Devine about his new book, "The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order," as well as the habits of visionary leaders and the significance of Classical education. Don Devine is a well-respected professor, civil servant, and author with a long career in academia and public service. Devine is also a passionate supporter of Classical education, and he wrote much of the scope and sequence of our high school program at Thales Academy. As Bob and Don discuss in the interview, a Classical education imparts to students timeless wisdom that helps them become confident, Classical thinkers. This interview is the first of three interviews with Don Devine.
We have provided links to Don Devine’s new book, "The Enduring Tension," in the show notes below and our website for more information about our academic program and our influences.
Don Devine, "The Enduring Tension": https://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Tension-Capitalism-Moral-Order/dp/1641771518
Thales Academy JH/HS Curriculum Overview: https://www.thalesacademy.org/academics/what-is-classical-education
Thales Academy’s Influences: https://www.thalesacademy.org/influences
How might a Classical education prepare students for the challenges of the modern world? How might the values and virtues of a Classical education help shape the minds and characters of students for the better? To help explore the link between a Classical education and strong, confident leaders and thinkers, this episode looks at the education of George Washington, how moral exemplars from Classical Antiquity helped forge the character of the first president of the United States, and how George Washington’s example has uniquely benefited our country.
If you are interested in reading more about the life of George Washington, check out the following resources:
Thomas Ricks’ First Principles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084VRH86P?pf_rd_r=ACMRQ6NTH0XZ8XJS0C9X&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8
Joseph Ellis’ His Excellency: George Washington: https://www.amazon.com/His-Excellency-Washington-Joseph-Ellis-ebook/dp/B000FC2K92/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joseph+ellis+his+excellency&qid=1610375179&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Richard Brokhiser’s Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington: https://www.amazon.com/Founding-Father-Rediscovering-George-Washington/dp/0684831422/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=richard+brookhiser+rediscovering+george+washington&qid=1610375240&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Cincinnatus from Livy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aLO2U8B94E0c9QLEZwHWMqFNdSQxh8Rm83FKpyO9CgY/edit
George Washington’s Farewell Address: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFBLkCXKzOFC_eneJmmGYxZ9hnKft631aNEPc-0zkrM/edit?usp=sharing
What is the value of a Classical education in the modern world? How does reading Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare help prepare anyone for a career in engineering or finance or some other field only tangential related to a Classical education. To find out, we spoke with Savannah Josey, a 2019-graduate of Thales Academy, Apex and a current Business Fellow at Elon University in Burlington, North Carolina, to see how her time at Thales prepared her for the rigors of her business program.
Since this is technically season three of Developing Classical Thinkers, we created this very brief episode to reflect on the past two seasons of our podcast and to look forward to the kinds of episodes we will produce this upcoming year.
Host Travis Copeland leads a discussion about William Shakespeare's "King Lear" with Will Begley, Jessie Gillooly, and Josh Herring.
Questions for the episode are available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HJN53sqWxlV21FwsPqCXE-1Y654Jriu0ZRRPbcej09c/edit?usp=sharing
Track out break is upon us. Thales is a year-round school: we go for 9 weeks of in-person instruction and 3 weeks of trackout break. Today, December 18, is the last day of the first semester and the first day of the three-week holiday. But how can students make the most of their time off from school?
In this episode Travis Copeland, Jessie Gillooly, Will Begley, Josh Herring, and host Winston Brady offer some advice on what students should do to get the most out of their break.
Also, check out our upcoming episode on Shakespeare's "King Lear," coming out next Tuesday. Questions for the episode are available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HJN53sqWxlV21FwsPqCXE-1Y654Jriu0ZRRPbcej09c/edit?usp=sharing
Host Matt Ogle, Travis Copeland, Josh Herring, and Winston Brady discuss an essay written by American educator and author Mortimer Adler, entitled "Teaching and Learning." The essay is itself a microcosm of much of Dr. Adler's educational philosophy. As a professor at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, Dr. Adler favored reading and discussing significant, meaningful texts from the Western canon as the primary means of instruction. In this episode, our teacher-panel examines how to bring Dr. Adler's philosophy into the typical 6-12 classroom in this episode.
Show notes available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UMuiB9VN_jVDlSnuL5d8yKnshCVxOgb6-EqWC8uMeuw/edit
In this episode, host Josh Herring, Rebecca McLane, Will Begley, and Winston Brady discuss the purpose of college, the reasons for attending college, and all the ways that students might get the most out of their college experience.
A Great Books discussion with Matt Ogle, Will Begley, and Winston Brady over some shared themes and motifs across Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the Gospel of John.
An interview with Kelsey Zoda, the administrator at our Thales Waxhaw campus located just outside of Charlotte, NC. Waxhaw was the first Thales campus to open outside of Raleigh, and we discussed the unique educational opportunities Thales Waxhaw is bringing to families in the Charlotte area.
And please join us for next week's episode on a Great Books discussion on Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the gospel of John, with the reading and questions available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LtKacZpDkBcLMqB5uU85HCRQKa48HNEp03X9NmAaIOA/edit?usp=sharing
A conversation with Thales teachers Winston Brady, Josh Herring, Will Begley, Jessie Gillooly, Travis Copeland, and Matt Ogle on how to survive midterms and college admissions.
A "freestyle" episode of great teachers talking about the great books they'll be teaching this quarter with Josh Herring, Will Begley, Jessie Gillooly, Matt Ogle, Travis Copeland, and Winston Brady.
A converstion with Jessie Gillooly, Travis, Copeland, Will Begley, and Winston Brady over the poetry of John Milton (1608-1674). Special thanks to Travis for organazing the episode and Jessie for suggesting the great title!
Host Josh Herring leads a conversation with Will Begley, Winston Brady, and Matt Ogle over Plato's "World of Forms" and its implications for teaching in a Classical school.
Thales teachers Jessie Gillooly, Winston Brady, Will Begley, Josh Herring, and Travis Copeland discuss a series of books about plagues including Camus' "The Plague," Thucydides, Lucretius, and Boccaccio, with the aim of finding ways to support our students and our teachers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos came and visited Thales Academy as part of a recent tour of North Carolina. Host Winston Brady talks with Allison Combs, Kristin Davis, and Ashley Bahor about the visit and what it was like for them and their students meeting the VP and the Secretary of Education.
Join Josh and Will for a discussion on C.S. Lewis' "This Hideous Strength" and why this book matters for both teachers and students today.
An interview with Heather Bakogiannis on organizational tips and strategies for middle school students, just in time for the beginning of the Thales school year.
A conversation with a small portion of our fantastic senior class at Thales Rolesville about their time at Thales, with Ashley Bahor (Senior Administrator) and Josh Herring (Dean of Students) as hosts.
A conversation with Heather Brame, Johanna Murphy, and Tiffany Hicks about ending the year online and celebrating student achievements virtually.
A conversation with a small (but fantastic) portion of our senior class at Thales Apex about their time in high school, with Allison Burns (Administrator) and Winston Brady (Dean of Academics) as hosts.
A conversation on great books with great teachers Josh Herring and Will Begley, discussing G.K. Chesteron's "Manalive."
Another week of online learning has gone by at Thales Academy! Host Winston Brady checks in with Hayley Looney, Emma Jackson, and Janice Holton about their transition to teaching entirely in the cloud.
A conversation with Josh Herring and Will Begley over William Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
School districts all over the country have shut down and classroom instruction has gone entirely online. Listen to this panel interview with Heather Bakogiannis, Sydney Harper, Jessie Gillooly, Josh Herring, and LeeAnn Moffit about how Thales has successfully transitioned into online learning for the benefit of our students and parents.
In celebration of our first day of online learning, here is a performance from our Thales Apex band and performing arts students. We hope you enjoy the program!
Our spring band concerts were cancelled, but we managed to record them and are posting them on the podcast!
Songs from our 6th graders include "Forward March!" "Do-Re-Mi," and "The Tempest," whereas the 8th graders and high school students played "Mars," "Mountain Dance," and "Salvation is Created."
We hope you enjoy today's program!
This episode is part history of kaizen, part interview with Mr. Robert Luddy, about how he incorporates this philosophy of continuous improvement into the culture at CaptiveAire and Thales Academy.
Robert Luddy, founder and CEO of CaptiveAire Systems and Thales Academy, speaks about the habits of entrepreneurship and the lessons he's learned in founding, running, and building his own business.
An interview with Josh Herring, Dean of Students at Thales, and Kiernan Fiore, Classical Curriculum Specialist at the University of Dallas, on the values and virtues of a Classical education. More information about the University of Dallas can be found here: https://udallas.edu/braniff/index.php
Hilary Herman-Pagliolo and Heather Brame interview Winston Brady, Dean of Academics at Thales, about the value of a Classical education and the benefits that Thales offers for both students and parents.
Thales Apex high school teachers Nicole Kimble, Leah Klein, and Sam Overacker discuss "Teach like a Champion" and successfully implementing their strategies in teaching.
An interview with Jill Sugg, high school school literature teacher at Thales Rolesville, on how to encourage students to closely read and identify with the texts they're reading.
Our students are going out on break, and Winston Brady and Josh Herring offer some suggestions on how to get the most out of your winter break.
Please check out this listener feedback form and lay us know what you think of DCT! https://forms.gle/MZiYka4wgGjk7UNo9
A conversation with Humanities teachers Nicole Kimble, Leah Klein, Sam Overacker, and Winston Brady to discuss "Teach like a Champion" and how to implement its strategies in the classroom.
An interview on science, the philosophy of science, and seminars with Matt Ogle, a high school biology teacher at Thales Rolesville.
A conversation about Socrates, the Socratic method, and Socratic questioning for teachers interested in leading Socratic seminars.
Tim Hall, Director of Academics at Thales Academy, speaks about influence of Soren Kierkegaard. For more information on this important, but often overlooked Danish philosopher, check out this article at the CLT Blog: https://blog.cltexam.com/kierkegaard-subjectivity-path-to-wisdom/
Suzanne Lambert, head administrator at Thales Academy Wake Forest, talks all about Direct Instruction.
Join Rob, Brian, and Matt as they discuss virtue, the good life, and the works of Leo Tolstoy and W.B. Yeats.
Dr. Matt Post of the University of Dallas examines the Socratic method and Plato's seminal dialogue, "The Republic."
Dr. Brian Williams of Templeton Honors College provides this lecture on the importance of reading good books in order to cultivate good character.
An interview with Josh Herring on the importance of Logic when it comes to facilitating classroom discussions.
Dr. Robert Jackson of Great Hearts Academy delivers this lecture on C.S. Lewis' "The Abolition of Man" and the enduring value of a Classical education.
Join Brooke, Mary, and Winston as we discuss the major thinkers of the Enlightenment and how the Enlightenment fits in with a Classical education.
On October 4, Thales Academy is hosting a conference on Classical education entitled the "Regional Classical Symposium." As a DCT listener, we would love for you to come! Lunch is provided for free. Check out our conference page at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/regional-classical-symposium-tickets-69088155533
An interview with Dr. Jenna Robinson, President of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, on how high school seniors can really make the most of their college experience.
An interview with Dawn Graff, Performing Arts teacher in Apex, about the importance of music to a Classical education.
An interview Ashley Bahor, JH/HS administrator of Thales Academy about the Thales Academy experience.
Join Jessie Gillooly and Leah Klein as we talk about helping students develop empathy, analyze conflict, and recognize biases by conducting Socratic Seminars in class.
Thales art instructor Persephone Hohls explains how art class is such a vital part of a Classical education.
This episode is sponsored by Designer Doughs: Come check them out at the Triangle Children's Business Fair on August 17th; more info at http://www.trianglecbf.com/
As a follow-up to last week's STEM-centered episode, this week's episode has the Thales Teaching Fellows discussing Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, and the Scientific Method.
Just in time for the new school year! An interview with Science Olympiad Coach Esther Morris.
An interview with Hilary Heman-Pagliolo on the Thales K-5 program and how it prepares students for academic success.
An interview with Dr. Jon Stewart about the life and impact of Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece for whom Thales Academy is named. More information can be found out about Dr. Stewart at https://www.jonstewart.dk/
Gravitas is now Developing Classical Thinkers! New school year, new classes, new students merit a new title and a new logo. Stay tuned for more great content on teaching through a Great Books Curriculum!
Join me while I talk to Dr. Grattan Brown, Associate Professor of Theology at Belmont Abbey College, about the value of a liberal arts education.
Alex and Winston take on David Hume and discuss how 11th grade philosophy instructor Alex walks through the "Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" with his students.
Join Josh and Winston as they discuss the importance of public debate and the new Luddy Debate League set up between the Thales Academy campuses.
Join Leah and Winston as they discuss one of the most influential-and controversial-works in a Classical curriculum, Machiavelli's "The Prince."
Join Jessie Gillooly and Winston Brady as they discuss John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and its place in a Classical curriculum.
Join Brooke, Nicole, Mary, and Winston as we discuss the values of reading Dante Alighieri and Thomas Aquinas.
Join Brooke, Stacey, and Mary as we discuss the three all-stars of the ancient world, Jerusalem, Greece, and Rome, and their impact on Classical education.
Join Nicole, Alex, and Winston as we discuss the role of the New Testament in a Classical curriculum.
Join a host of Thales teachers as we discuss Roman literature, Roman ideals, and the Roman reality.
Join Alex, Brooke, Mary, and Winston as they discuss Aristotle and try to make virtue ethics cool again.
Join Winston, Stacey, Josh, Brooke, and Mary as they discuss Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" as part of the Thales Teaching Fellows program at Thales Academy.