Classical charter school coming to CDA

Editor's note: Work is under way to open a new classical charter school in Coeur d'Alene in autumn 2022. This article was written by the man who's leading the way for the new school.

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”

—Winston Churchill

As many parents across the nation look over their children’s shoulder and try to figure out what they are learning “virtually” as we continue to muddle through the COVID lockdown (and thereby try to figure out what they were learning before COVID), they are considering other options. One of those options that has been increasing with a steady drumbeat over the past two decades is this relic known as classical education.

“What is a classical education?” many might ask. “It sounds old. And why would we do anything old in the age of Chromebooks and Google-docs and Zoom?"

The most classical way of answering that question is to do a little research on the word classical itself. Originally derived from the Roman classicum, the trumpet that called men to arms — and later implying the highest class of warriors — the words classic, the classics, and classical all refer to having “a high standard” and “lasting significance,” whether of music, great literature, or even cars.

The classics or a classic always means the highest, the permanent, the standard by which all others are measured, in short, the best. Even today’s popular speech echoes this ideal, as in “Dude, that’s a classic.”

When applied to education, what would this idea of the best actually mean?

The older way of viewing and conducting education — which is to say the cultivation of the young mind and soul — was quite different than it is today. In schools of old, teachers drew upon the highest examples of human achievement to direct and discipline the young intellect and to strengthen the moral sense of every child.

The great English school inspector and poet Matthew Arnold, in a book with the telling title Culture and Anarchy, captured the spirit of traditional learning and culture by insisting that all people should read and study “the best that has been thought and said.” Arnold had literature and philosophy chiefly in mind.

I would take the liberty to add history and science and other disciplines into the mix by adapting Arnold’s famous phrase. Students should be immersed in the best that has been thought, said, done, and discovered. Not surprisingly, this great human story is what children naturally long for, and they can easily grow bored with anything less.

The fundamental axiom of classical education is that children’s minds are most fully developed when they are formed by the best in all spheres of human thought and action: the best language, the best stories, the best and most formative moments in history, the best mathematical reasoning, the best scientific discoveries, the best and most inspiring works of art and music. Why should we waste children’s time with second-rate, watered-down lessons or fumbling with gimmicky projects when we could capture children’s imaginations with the best stories and lessons from the first moments of their schooling?

During World War II, when Winston Churchill visited the White House, we are told, he was asked what sort of wine he would like with dinner. He had a straightforward answer: “My tastes are simple. I am easily satisfied with the very best.”

Why should we want anything less for our children? [Of course, that leads us to the question, “What is the best?” Stay tuned.]

Dr. Terrence O. Moore is a noted teacher, school reformer and author who will be the founding principal of Kootenai Classical Academy, a classical charter school. Growing up in Texas, he earned a B.A. in history from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Edinburgh. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1990-1993.

Simply the Best

By Terrence O. Moore

This place called a classical school

Teaches simply the best

For whose deep-seated need

Every human soul will attest:

From the fables of Æsop

To the plays of Shakespeare,

From the jingles of Mother Goose

To the mighty words of King Lear.

We learn to revere the laws

The Founding Fathers to us gave,

And the men who’ve defended those laws

Even to their graves.

We admire the art of Michelangelo

And the music of Mozart,

Both of whose beauty

Speaks straight to every heart.

The basics we do not find boring—

We revel in them, too.

For readin’, writin’, and ’rithmetic,

We need not a hickory stick

But books—yes, books—

And more than a few.

With Jane Austen we learn to hate

The Wickhams of the world,

And cheer when Mr. Darcy

Doesn’t blow it with the best girl.

But Elizabeth is sharp

As we teach our students to be—

Students of human nature—

Who know there’s much, much more to see.

That’s why reading the classics

Once begun will never end.

So the Classical School is here

To make sure it does begin!