There’s a quiet revolution happening in American education—and it’s not coming from bureaucrats, test-makers, or political operatives. It’s coming from educators, scholars, school leaders, and families rediscovering something old that feels suddenly new: classical education.

At a time when schools across the country are wrestling with declining literacy, cultural division, and AI’s rapid rise, the Great Hearts Institute for Classical Education is stepping forward with a bold message: the answers we need might already exist in the timeless ideas that shaped the American experiment.

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren sat down with Dr. Carol McNamara, director of the Great Hearts Institute, to discuss the upcoming National Symposium for Classical Education—a gathering so ambitious that Sam jokingly called it “fascinating to nerds like us.”

Truth is, it’s fascinating to anyone who cares about the future of American schooling.

A “Big Tent” for Classical Thinkers

Dr. McNamara describes the symposium as a “big tent conference,” a rare space where:

  • Classical educators

  • School leaders

  • Curriculum developers

  • Historians

  • Policy thinkers

  • And leaders in the education reform movement

all come together to learn from one another.

This year’s event is huge:

✅ 90 speakers
✅ 60+ sessions
✅ K-12 workshops
✅ Keynotes from national thought leaders

And the theme of the conference is as ambitious as its scale:

Classical Education and the American Experiment: The Declaration of Independence

A fitting theme as America approaches the semi-quincentennial—250 years since 1776.

As Chuck Warren puts it:

“There is no America without the classical education of our founders.”

Dr. McNamara agrees—and this year’s keynote lineup drives that point home.

Keynote Voices: From the Founders to the Classroom

Chris Perrin — The Revivalist

Chris Perrin, one of the most influential leaders in the modern classical education revival, will explore how the founders’ educational background inspired the philosophical foundations of American liberty.

Sam Stone calls Perrin “brilliant”—and anyone familiar with his work would agree.

Jeff Rosen — The Constitutional Lens

Jeff Rosen, President & CEO of the National Constitution Center, will delve into how classical ideas shaped the founding generation and the creation of the Declaration of Independence.

As McNamara notes, at the time of the founding:

“Education was classical education.”

From Cicero to Locke, from Athens to Philadelphia—the intellectual lineage is unmistakable.

Doug Lemov — The Practitioner

Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion, brings a practitioner’s perspective, especially on:

  • The science of reading

  • Effective teaching methods

  • How classical schools are improving literacy

Lemov’s research has been central to reviving structured reading instruction after decades of failed approaches.

Where the Conversation Is Headed Next

Beyond the headliners, the symposium tackles the most pressing issues in education today, including:

  • AI in the classroom

  • Civics education and national identity

  • The relationship between virtue, literacy, and citizenship

  • Hands-on pedagogy for K–5 and 6–12 classrooms

  • How classical education can unify communities in a polarized time

It is not a nostalgia conference.
It is a blueprint conference.

This is where educators go to ask—and answer—the question:

How do we prepare young people for a world we can’t yet predict?

And the answer, increasingly, is rooted in enduring truths.

Why This Matters Now

In an era where education is dominated by rapid technological change, politicized school boards, and nationwide literacy crises, the classical movement offers a different path—one focused on cultivating:

  • Wisdom

  • Virtue

  • Literacy

  • Citizenship

  • Human flourishing

Dr. McNamara and her team believe this isn’t just a trend.
It’s a renaissance.

And judging by the scale and energy of the National Symposium for Classical Education, they aren’t alone.

Transcript

Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. We’re continuing on now with Carol McNamara. Dr. McNamara is the director of the Great Hearts Institute for Classical Education. Before we went to the break, Dr. McNamara, you brought up a national symposium that you have coming up that sounds kind of fascinating to nerds like us. So tell us more about it.

Carol McNamara: Well, it’s a perfect conference for nerds like all of us. We invite, it’s called the Great Hearts, it’s the Great Hearts National Symposium for Classical Education. And as I was saying, it’s a big tent conference where we invite classical educators, school leaders, thought leaders in the classical and education realm to join us.

First, we have about 90 speakers, over 60 sessions. And those sessions are keynote speakers. We have Jeff Rosen this year from the. Our theme, I should tell you what our theme is. We’ve jumped on the wagon of the semi-quincentennial. it’s the classical education and the American experiment, the Declaration of Independence.

**Chuck Warren: **Which we don’t have without that classical education. There is no America without that classical education of our faith.

**Carol McNamara: **And that’s the theme of Chris Perrin’s keynote address, is the, he’s one of the leaders in the revival of classical education.

Sam Stone: He’s brilliant. His work is fantastic.

**Carol McNamara: **Yeah, we love Chris and we’re so excited he’s coming. We have Jeff Rosen to address how Jeff Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. And he’s going to talk about how classical education and classical ideas influence the founders. That was at the time of the founding education was classical education. And then we have Doug Lamov, who is a specialist in he’s written the book Teach Like a Champion.

And investigated this whole revival of using the true science of reading to teach students to read. And the rest of symposium is talks, panel discussions about subjects like AI in education and classical education and the relationship between civics and classical education. And then also the rest of the conference are really hands-on workshops, K-5, 6-12, K-12.

Listen to the full episode of Breaking Battlegrounds anywhere you stream your podcasts!