A glimpse inside Hillsdale College's network of classical schools across the country.
At the start of each school year, I pose the question to my students: why do we study history? Each year their answers become more thoughtful and nuanced. They begin with the standard “so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past” and different variations of “because it is interesting and good” to know history for its own sake. Both are fine answers and open the door to productive and edifying discussions.…
The world could certainly use more thoughtful, virtuous people. The common cry I hear from families who are interested in our school is that education has become more about teaching to the test than teaching to the heart. Our school’s mission is directly geared toward that need: to train the mind and improve the hearts of young people in a content-rich, liberal arts education rooted in the liberal arts and sciences.…
Movies can be so captivating. They take us on a journey through events, lives, struggles, and victories. For me, I am particularly drawn in when the movie ends and right before the credits, I see the words based on a true story. When the movie is based on real events, I relate more to the characters and to their struggles. I feel their victories more acutely.…
History class is supposed to be the place where we hear the story of the past, in all of its fascinating detail, and then draw conclusions from the evidence. Much of that evidence is available to us today, and so students should be taught to read it and think about it before drawing conclusions.…
Recognizing the critical moment in which we live, and in response to what Prof. Wilfred S. McClay calls “the weaponization of history,” Hillsdale College’s K-12 Education department has published a comprehensive K-12 American history and government curriculum for students, parents, and teachers.
The curriculum is available now via free download at k12.hillsdale.edu.
The curriculum, nearly 2,400 pages long, gives educators across the country the tools they need to teach American history thoroughly and well, with lesson plans, sample tests and quizzes, Hillsdale-vetted books, primary sources ready for students, timelines, key terms, geography, and “Keys to the Lesson,” which help teachers think through each lesson during their prep time.…
I’ve been writing about the teaching of American history, and last time in Recovering American History I mentioned the White House’s panel at the National Archives featuring Prof. Wilfred McClay, author of Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story, featured in Hillsdale College’s free online American history course.
Another speaker on the panel was Jordan Adams, a former teacher in Hillsdale College’s network of classical schools and now an instructional coach at our Barney Charter School Initiative.…
The story of the United States of America is remarkable, and in the average American school, we’ve lost the ability to remember how unusual and impressive a place America is. As Stanley Kurtz wrote this morning, “our schools have buried the glory and beauty of America’s story under a mountain of misplaced guilt and tendentious ideology.” Does this mean that we ought to look back on our past with unabashed and thoughtless pride?…
This week I’m reporting to you all from Livingston Classical Academy, where I’m watching the BCSI instructional team train new teachers as they prepare to begin the school year. Teachers from two young Hillsdale-affiliated schools are here, and our instructional team is giving them an introduction to the theory and practice of each of the subjects.
It’s a funny thing, being a teacher but not working in a school.…