As the late former President Ronald Reagan once said, "Our schools hold the future of America in their hands. They will decide whether that future is enlightened, free, and informed, or shrouded in the darkness of ignorance."
The COVID pandemic exposed how many schools were focused on divisive ideologies like so-called diversity, equity and inclusion rather than teaching timeless academics and critical thinking skills. The Alabama Virtual Classical Academy, a new tuition-free online school launching in partnership with Sylacauga City Schools, is working to bring about change by offering a proper classical education for the next generation.
Ron Packard, founder and CEO of ACCEL Schools, recently joined "1819 News: The Podcast," hosted by 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson, to discuss the new virtual academy and explain the benefits of a classical education.
"In Alabama, we're super excited about the Alabama Virtual Classical Academy, one, because it will be free to everybody. Two, anybody in the state can choose it. And we don't shy away from teaching virtues," Packard said. "[T]he essence of a functioning society and democracy is you don't shy away from virtue. We also don't shy away from the great readings."
Packard said a classical education teaches students not what to think, but how, by taking a liberal arts approach in studying classic literature, founding documents and philosophy on top of other subjects.
"Let's say you were a blacksmith, you would learn your trade and you would do nothing different for your next 50 years of your life, right? Children today are going to have to relearn their skills maybe 10 times in a lifetime, right? So that love of learning and how to learn, it's more important than it was even 10 years ago… If a child knows how to learn and loves to learn, that child is going to be successful."
Packard also praised Alabama school choice efforts, which not only allow more students to choose to learn through his virtual academy but will help improve the overall level of education in the state through competition.
"Without competition, no organization, no business is ever going to be as good as they could be," he said. "I always tell people I'm not aware of a single instance in the history of mankind where competition has ever done anything but give the consumer a better product at a better price. Education is no different. "So having choices for parents is going to make all of us better."
Dawson emphasized the importance of educating the next generation and how the future of America hangs in the balance.
"I'm just going to state plainly. I believe that classical education is the cornerstone on which the generational war that we're fighting is going to be fought," Dawson said. "We can sit and laterally talk about policy and tax rates and this and that. But if we're not preparing the next generation with a real education and creating character and virtue in them, we're just going to continually be fighting a lateral fight with no end, perpetually forever. But this is a real move to make a generational, long-lasting impact. And we're in a generational fight."
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