There is a pony around here somewhere.
There have been many negative developments in K-12 education in the last decade. We have seen widespread weak and dropping math and reading proficiency scores, and in far too many places, a drift toward ideological indoctrination. Taken together, they constitute the most significant setback for our children since I left as President Reagan’s Education Secretary 35 years ago.
But that is not what this column is about.
President Reagan was an eternal optimist. So am I—it is a wonderfully infectious thing. There is a pony somewhere in that pile, as my old boss used to say, and there is now too. In my mind, that pony—a reason for real optimism—is the resurgence of parent awareness of what is going on in our schools, and the very closely related phenomenon of the resurgence of classical, character, and virtues-based education.
We all want schools that effectively teach kids fundamental academics and do so in a manner that reinforces almost universal basic core virtues: perseverance, courage, compassion, etc. We also want to infuse in every element of education the idea that parents are our every child’s first and most important teachers—not a nuisance to be managed.
In Texas, where options like this are springing up—often as charter schools—parents are busting down the doors to get in. And the new educational freedom program championed by Governor Abbott and passed by the Legislature in Senate Bill 2 will spur more traditional and classical options.
While some people might ask why one would take on a new project at my age, this moment is too important—and frankly too exciting—to sit on the sidelines. While I may be older than most and have changed over the years, the ideas and virtues that classical, character, and honest historical education are based on have remained unchanged for centuries— and will remain unchanged for centuries more, or at least as long as we can preserve this last best hope of earth. (If you or your child do not know where that phrase comes from, shame on your school.)
So, I have accepted the challenge to help advance classical and virtue centric education in part by accepting the role of Founding Provost of a series of new classical schools, including a newly launched school in Texas. And I encourage everyone else—in retirement or not—to embrace this moment and movement and do what they can to advance it.
While the foundations of classical education are ancient, there are new and groundbreaking developments in the effort. Historically, a student’s participation in this traditional type of education required not only the desire, but the family had to be both economically able to afford it and fortunate enough to live close to a school committed to that approach.
Texas’s charter school law and Senate Bill 2 will go a long way toward solving the economic barriers.
But that is only one barrier. No matter how robust the state’s portfolio of educational options is, there will always be many families that do not live close enough to a classical, traditional, and character-based school to attend.
Like all unsolvable problems, they remain unsolvable—until they are solved. Today, there is absolutely no reason every Texas student cannot have access to a school built around character, virtue, classical methods and curriculum, and full and honest teaching of history. Why? Because this type of education can be offered to all through online means via Texas’s open enrollment charter law. Socratic dialogue can take place between teachers and students far removed physically from one another, yet as close in intellectual and moral pursuit as sitting together in a circle.
Yes, we are awash in horrible news about what has happened to the quality and character of our schools. However, for those who care to see, we are also awash in hope. If parents across the nation and in Texas were shrugging and saying, “it is what it is,” then the time for despair might be here. If the state’s courageous elected officials weren’t pursuing real educational freedom and addressing problems of indoctrination, maybe we would need to accept decline as our destined path.
That is decidedly not the case. Texas parents are demanding better—and acting to seize it wherever offered. Leaders are responding, as is the proper order of events in this great nation. So, the real point is not only that there is hope—there is a pony—but you can be part of this great movement that quite literally could save this shining city on a hill.
Dr. William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education and Founding Provost of a series of classical charter schools across the nation, including Founders Classical Academy Online in Texas.