Classical ed -- Great Books and George Washington -- is coded conservative

What is the good life?, students discuss at Pineapple Cove Classical Academy, a charter school with three Florida campuses. They read the great books of Western civilization. Technology use is rare. "Children at the K-12 school learn Latin, engage in the Socratic method and write in cursive," reports Lauren Lumpkin for the Washington Post. "Students walk past paintings of historical scenes that include Betsy Ross sewing an American flag and down hallways lined with portraits of the Founding Fathers."

Classical education is popular with families seeking academic rigor, a traditional curriculum and freedom from screens, writes Lumpkin.

While the model is "apolitical," it's seen as "a Trojan horse for conservative ideology," she writes. (That's a metaphor classic ed students will understand.) "Classical education’s newfound popularity comes as the Trump administration seeks to promote patriotism and frames criticism of the darker chapters of U.S. history as un-American."

Most of the 895 classical schools in the US. are private and Christian, but a growing number are public charter schools.

Students receive “a very wide view of the world and our country,” says Lisa Wheeler, principal of Pineapple Cove's Palm Bay campus. Studying classic books that have shaped Western civilization develops students who are critical thinkers, she says. “Classical education … it’s tried and true. It’s what’s worked,” she said.

Pineapple Cove students do well on standardized tests, but the schools draw fewer than average students from low-income, less-educated families. More than 60 percent of students are White, about 20 percent are Hispanic and 9 percent are Black, according to state education data.

Classical schools "focus on cultivating virtues and teaching the liberal arts of grammar, logic and rhetoric — or effective communication," writes Lumpkin. Children study literature written "mostly by White men, including Homer, William Shakespeare and John Steinbeck." Pineapple Cove students also Frederick Douglass's memoir about his escape from slavery.

Classic education leads to a "narrowing of history," EdTrust's William Rodick told Lumpkin. “Diversity in curriculum is very vital to the kinds of actual critical thinking that students should develop." Students don't see themselves reflected in the curriculum.

“It would be impossible to study U.S. history without being honest about the fact that this is a diverse country," said Julie Austin, who teaches eighth-grade history. “When we talk about George Washington and that he owned slaves, but he was still a virtuous man, we have those conversations about those things.”

I took Great Books from the wonderful Miss Anderson in 12th grade at my suburban public high school. I remember the thrill of reading Pericles' funeral oration, and the shock of Thucydides' Melian Dialogue. You want to talk about a slave-owning democracy, imperialism and hubris? There's a lot there. None of us has Greek heritage, but we saw ourselves in what we read. We were all humans.