There are three massive problems with this opinion piece, currently being reposted by the U. S. Department of Education.

No, four massive problems.

No, more than that. Among the problems...I’ll just list the first four.

1) The assertion that “the classical education industry would exceed a $10 billion valuation by 2035” is presented as justification for paying attention to the model of classical education. Excuse me as I gag over the phrase “classical education industry.” Any real teacher can tell you that “industry,” when introduced into the educational enterprise, is an immediate red flag for any actual useful scheme of education.

2) Classical education builds academic skills. Nowhere in Mr. Gibbs’ “definition” of classical education does he address the need to teach mathematics, grammar, critical reading skills, essay structure. Yes, I get that he’s not outlining a whole curricula here, but his “definition” is laser-focused on “the books, music, paintings, and beliefs that have been handed down as cultural heirlooms across the centuries” and the need to “respect and love…cultural inheritance.” And he seems entirely focused on classical education as a way to build virtue. (See my next point.) Of course virtue should be a product of a good education, but “spiritual labor”, particularly “spiritual labor” that primarily has to do with appreciating our eighteenth century ancestors, is not actually the focus of classical education. Classical education teaches students to THINK. This point seems to be missing.3

) On the subject of virtue, Mr. Gibbs seems unaware of at least two of the four cardinal virtues ACTUALLY taught by Aquinas: those would be temperance, prudence (practical wisdom, the ability to discern the proper course of action in a complicated and ambiguous situation), courage (fortitude), and justice (acting with righteousness towards others, particularly those who are less powerful and privileged than ourselves). Those virtues, by the way, are not primarily developed by emulating “great men and women who have embodied them in the past,” because our ancestors were bound by their own assumptions and cultural limitations. Those virtues are transcendent and, in the Christian tradition, embodied by Christ. See Plato and the Gospel according to John.

4) This was just reposted by THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (or what’s left of it). Mr. Gibb’s “Classical Teaching Institute” resides at the Ambrose School, which is a private Christian school accredited by the Association of Classical Christian Schools (cue Doug Wilson), with the motto “Take Every Thought Captive to Christ.”

I’m not sure how many times I have to repeat “I am a Christian” when I post this sort of criticism, so please take it as asserted. I have no problem with Christianity. I have a MASSIVE problem with the DoE, which has the responsibility (theoretically) to provide educational opportunities to every child in this country, exalting a particular kind of Christian education—that would be Reformed and Protestant—as a model for all of those children.

That is not the purpose of the DoE.If the DoE now posts a link to an opinion piece by a teacher at Gold Och Academy or Scheck Hillel Community School or the Hindu American Temple School or Fordham Preparatory School or Loyala Academy or Stanford Live, I’ll consider withdrawing this objection.

I could go on. But let the games begin.