Art Department Chair Meg Salazar and High School Principal Robert Robinson of Liberty Common Charter School join us to tell the story of Festival of Ideas—a decade-long experiment in classical community-building that has become one of the most vibrant regional events in the movement. They share how the festival began, how it has evolved, and why cultivating a culture of leisure, wonder, and cross-disciplinary learning matters for classical schools today.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How the Festival grew from in-house PD to a regional classical symposium
📖 Why public, content-rich events strengthen school culture and parent confidence
📖 How Liberty’s festival is inspiring other classical schools across the country

LINKS:
➡️ Liberty Common Charter School: https://libertycommon.org
➡️ Festival of Ideas: https://libertycommon.org/festivalofi...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

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For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Policy analysts and educators Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Merino Doan join us to discuss their new book Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books)—an eye-opening look at the decline of liberal education in America’s most prestigious universities. Together they uncover what’s gone wrong with general education, what’s missing from modern curricula, and why the recovery of real learning still matters.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How the Ivy League abandoned the core curriculum and the study of Western civilization
📖 What their research uncovered in hundreds of “slacker courses” at top universities
📖 The historical shift from classical to elective education—and how Emerson and Eliot helped pave the way
📖 Why Columbia remains the lone Ivy preserving a true core curriculum
📖 How reform might begin—through trustees, states, and new classical colleges

LINKS:
➡️ Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books): https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/...
➡️ National Association of Scholars: https://www.nas.org

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Writers and editors Timothy Lawrence and Timothy House join us from FilmFisher—a community of classically minded Christian film critics dedicated to bringing the Great Tradition into conversation with modern cinema. Together they discuss the site’s origins, its recent relaunch, and the enduring need for thoughtful film criticism in an age of algorithms and crowd-sourced reviews.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How FilmFisher emerged from the classical education movement through Christopher Perrin and Joshua Gibbs
📖 Why film criticism matters—and how it can once again become humane, literary, and formative
📖 What sets great criticism apart from “thumbs up/thumbs down” crowd scores
📖 How to watch films more attentively by learning the language of images and perspective

LINKS:
➡️ FilmFisher: https://filmfisher.com
➡️ FilmFisher Substack: https://filmfisher.substack.com
➡️ Jedi Archives (Timothy Lawrence’s Star Wars lectures): https://explicatingstarwars.substack....

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior