What is a Traditional American Education?
A Traditional Education for Modern Times

[1] Dr. Terrance Moore, A Classical Education for Modern Times
A Traditional Education Through the Eyes of the Nation’s Founders
If we aspire to follow the Nation’s Founders, then we must study the classics as they did. We must also study the Nation’s Founders themselves: the actions they took and texts they wrote in the midst of the challenges of their day. Studying the manner in which they won their freedom and built an exceptional nation out of nothing, against the most powerful nation of their time, can help us today as we encounter modern threats to liberty. We inherited this incredible gift of liberty, and we have a great responsibility to educate our students and prepare them to carry on this responsibility.
As we study the Nation’s Founders, we can promote a uniquely American character with a “can-do” attitude. Through studying these character traits and virtues, our students will come to understand the importance of their responsibilities and actions. We as educators can use this knowledge to help solidify how to be good citizens and teach that our actions in liberty, as insignificant as they may seem, do in fact make a real difference!
We have seen a difference in the lives of some of our students already from teaching about our Nation’s Founders and true events in history. Our students are hungry for knowledge, and they are having real conversations with their parents and other adults outside of school. Parents are learning with their children and it is changing families.
Classical education without the Nation’s Founders might lead to a glass-half-full view of the world, but when immersed in the lives of the Nation’s Founders, we develop the necessary courage, perseverance and moral authority to face threats to our liberty! Our Nation’s Founders were exceedingly brave. They promoted ideas that have the power to change the world and doing so added to their own struggles. Our Nation’s Founders were not only interested in a good education for our citizens but they were also interested in ensuring a more perfect union, securing blessings of liberty, establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility and providing for the common defense

Library of Congress c. 1911
Recommended Reading
- “A Classical Education for Modern Times” by Terrence O. Moore
- “Common Core, Common Sense” by Daniel Coupland
- “Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong” by William Kilpatrick
- “The Story Killers” by Terrence O. Moore
- “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass
- “Life and Time of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass
- “The Columbian Orator” by David W. Blight (Editor)