Classical Education Surge: A New Era for Schools

Classical education is experiencing a resurgence, with advocates hoping to expand its reach from private religious and charter schools to struggling public schools.

“During COVID, parents saw what their kids were learning, and there was general disappointment with the level of learning that was happening,” Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom, told The Epoch Times. “The public education model has had a monopoly [on learning], but it’s mediocre definitionally. They’re serving the middle students. They are trying to reach that average student that doesn’t exist.”

Standard U.S. public education is referred to as the traditional model, even though classical learning, also known as liberal arts education, predates the era of neighborhood schools, local district, and state education departments by centuries, according to the Association of Classical Christian Schools.

Classical education can be traced to the ancient Greeks and is rooted in Christianity and Western teachings. It promotes moral development and emphasizes older literature such as Aristotle and Shakespeare instead of contemporary texts. Under the classical education model, three pillars of learning — grammar, logic, and rhetoric — are applied holistically to all subjects with the goal of obtaining wisdom, not just understanding.

In contrast, traditional public education settings compartmentalize subjects, with students engaging in syllabus-led courses and project-based activities, aiming to develop foundational skills through the accumulation of facts and information.

In the past four years alone, 250 classical schools collectively serving nearly 14,000 students have opened, according to the Heritage Foundation. A fifth of them are in Florida. More than 677,000 children in grades K–12 were enrolled in classical education programs last year, as noted in a 2024 market analysis report by Arcadia Education. This includes students in 1,024 evangelical Christian schools, 308 Catholic schools, and 219 public charter schools.

Between 2017 and 2023, homeschooling under classical education instruction increased by 51 percent, followed by 7 percent in private religious schools and 4 percent in public schools, according to the report.

–Metro Voice and the Epoch Times News Service