Episode 59: American Education: What It Was and Can Be Again

About this episode

Christopher Perrin explores the history and renewal of classical education, emphasizing its importance in forming wisdom and virtue.

Description Recorded at the 2026 Great Hearts National Symposium on February 25, 2026, this edited episode features Christopher Perrin’s keynote speech exploring the history, meaning, and renewal of classical education, asking a foundational question: what exactly are we trying to recover? Drawing from sources as diverse as Augustine, Herodotus, Tocqueville, and C.S. Lewis, he traces the transmission of the liberal arts from ancient Greece and Rome through Christendom and into early America. Along the way, Perrin reflects on the gradual fragmentation of this tradition in the modern era, illustrated through the story of the Adams family and the rise of progressive education. Perrin challenges educators to embrace the humility at the heart of true learning—that the more we know, the more we recognize our ignorance—and to see themselves as perpetual students. The episode also highlights the remarkable resurgence of classical education today, describing it as a reawakening of seeds long buried but now beginning to flourish. Perrin emphasizes that education is not merely a science or technique, but the transmission of a living tradition aimed at forming wisdom, virtue, and love…

People in this episode

Host: Christopher Perrin

Topics covered

• classical education
• history of education
• liberal arts
• progressive education
• renewal of education
• wisdom and virtue

Keywords

• classical education
• liberal arts
• progressive education
• education history
• wisdom
• virtue
• learning
• Great Hearts

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• Episode 61: Hildegard College: Restoring Polymathy and Redemptive Entrepreneurship · May 27, 2026 · 1h 26m
• Episode 60: A Living Tradition: Classical Education Without Nostalgia · April 22, 2026 · 1h 31m
• Episode 58: The Divided Soul and the Prodigal Pattern: Duty, Desire, and the Way Home · March 25, 2026 · 1h 27m
• Episode 57: Remembering Well: Restoring History Through Sympathy, Story, and Place · February 25, 2026 · 1h 15m
• Episode 56: A Nice Definition of Classical Education: The Language, Metaphors, and Meaning Behind “Classical” · February 11, 2026 · 18 min
• Episode 55: From Fragmentation to Fellowship: The Intellectual Renewal Behind Classical Education · January 14, 2026 · 29 min