Seven oh six on Thursday here at fifty five krc DE talk station, Brianton is happy to walking on with the five CARC Morning Show from an amazing institute. It's the Cincinnati Classical Academy and joining me this morning, doctor J. D. Harding's president of the Sincanti Classical Academy. Welcome, doctor, it is a pleasure to have you on the program.
Good to be back, Thanks, Brian.
I always love talking to you and it's really inspiring what you're doing at the Sincant Classical Academy. I will let my listeners know they too can find out for themselves since he with a y, since heclassical dot org. That's where you can learn about the classical education that your children will learn at the Sincant Classical Academy. First off, question, I'm staring at your web page right now. The news
school with a time tested tradition. We're talking about classical education with I've in into some of the detail of what that means, but doctor, it's time tested. The methodology, the the the the the the classical education practices that you teach children that's in Sant Classical Academy are time tested, proven to educate children, period, full stop. I mean it works, why did we move away from it? I mean phonics,
for example, is just a great point. You know, you can learn to read when you use phonics to learn to read, and yet our children are not using phonics, and sadly, so many public schools report that they're you know, the testing other eighth graders reflects that a very small percentage can even read at eighth grade level. So that's just one of many points we can talk about this morning. But why did we move away from what worked?
That's a great question, Brian, and then I can't fully answer it, but it's been it's been progressing in that direction for practically one hundred years now. And there's a great podcast asked out there called Sold a Story that documents through a five part series, how phonics got pushed out of schools beginning like in the nineteen seventies and
really accelerating through the eighties and nineties. There was a big battle in the early two thousands, and yeah, phonics was completely replaced by a method called you know, three queuing and whole language learning, whereby essentially kids are taught just to guess at what words are when they're reading by looking at pictures. I mean, it's just absolutely absurd. I recommend anyone to go ahead and read that. But
you know, thankfully the or listen to it. But thankfully, the state of Ohio last year just passed the law requiring schools to use the traditional approach. So going back to the method that the Hillsdale affiliated classical schools have been using since they started phonics, sentenced diagramming orthography, which is the science of spelling, just teaching them actually to sound out words and understand the structure of the language as it was intended, you know, And.
That we have to have this conversation as bizarre because the time tested, proving strategy or proven teaching methodology of phonics always worked to be replaced by this whole language method which now we know is time tested to not work. I mean, we have to pass laws to put something that common sense should have should have told us that worked in the first place. We need to bring that
back because this currently doesn't work. So anyhow, the idea that the legislative branch, or the that that Columbus had to do I had to do something about that is preposterous. And these decisions are made on a school board level. Correct the curriculum the children consume in public schools, for example, isn't that governed by local school boards primarily or not?
Yep? Mostly, and the state legislature.
Jeez.
Well, anyway, back to Cincinna classical academy, phonics just one of the things. But along the same lines, I know that you teach Latin to the students. That's insane classical as well, and that's a component of reading and understanding.
Absolutely, and that begins in sixth grade. Actually it starts earlier than that, but by teaching them the word roots creak and Latin word roots. But it begins formally in sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade. It's required, and they'll get through three years of Latin by the time, you know, they finished their first year of high school,
which is really exceptional. I mean, there's just so many incredible advantages to learning Latin, but you know, I think the greatest one is that you're you're forced really have an understanding of the structure of the English language to be able to translate it into an inflected language like Latin and translate the Latin back into English. You can't do that unless you really understand grammar and parts of speech.
Well in grammar and sentence structure and actual following English language rules guidelines, isn't even taught anymore. I mean, we're all living in this text society where we abbreviate words, we aren't required to use proper grammar, and no one corrects children for inappropriate grammar usage. I remember being at one of the schools there was an event that was they borrowed one of the local K through twelve schools or one of the middle schools to do this event
over the weekend. So I was looking at art and drawings and work that students had done that was hanging all over the walls, and many of the depictions there are many of the words that were used weren't even grammatically correct, and yet there they hung on the wall. There wasn't an X through with a red marker saying wrong and correcting it. It was just up there for all to observe. And what I was observing is, well, children who don't understand basic tenets of grammar.
Absolutely, it's all over the place.
I agree with you, and you know, so many people have said, well, you don't need to teach spelling anymore.
You don't need to teach.
Grammar because you know, we have technology. We have autocorrect, we have grammarly you know, to to write and correct our sentences and word processing programs. I mean, that's it's just crazy, because you're depriving children of the opportunity to learn how to think and to form good habits of attention, to detail and to and to go through the struggle of writing a good sentence and and and uh, you know, we're turning back to the traditional approach. We don't use
technology in the classroom. We don't use computers. We require, you know, human intelligence to be developed rather than relying on software.
Well, and part of the knowledge and uh that you teach there the idea of logic and reason. And I circled these two words, Socratic dialogue. I loved college because and this back when I was in college, you actually engaged in debates and discussion and the exchange of ideas and the breaking down of ideas. Law school was great for the Socratic method, and I really enjoyed law school for that matter, for that as well. It's just a wonderful teaching mechanisms. The Socratic method.
Yep, absolutely and uh, you know you mentioned rhetoric and logic. These are required courses and you know in a in a classical curriculum, so these are not optional or elective. But you know this is core stuff that every you know, well furnished educated mind needs to have the skills to execute well.
In the other area that children seem to be suffering these days, and the numbers prove it out, mathematics. And I know you have a very strong emphasis at the Sincin Classical Academy on the better way, the classical way to teach mathematic mathematics. Tell my listeners about that.
Yeah, well that that follows the Singapore Math curriculum is what we use.
Uh.
You know, the country of Singapore, you know, was number one in the world for I don't know a decade straight in mathematics instruction. So uh, Hillsdale College uh uh took up their approach and use uses that curriculum.
Uh.
And yeah, I mean our our our math and science. Some people look at you know, classical liberal education uh and think, well, it's all literature and reading, but in fact our our science and math scores are are off the charts as well. In fact, in fact, our schools.
Just just this past year and it's in its second year, was one of the only I think there are maybe two schools in the state of Ohio recognized that the State Science Fair by the Ohio Academy of Science, and when we were one of them, which was really pretty gratifying.
Yeah, in just two years, doctor, I mean, and this irks me, you know, you you pointed the Singapore mathemathod it has worked so wonderful for the country that yes, it's a worthy endeavor to look into it and find out why they're so great at math. Maybe we might want to adopt that approach. Welcome to the right way to do things. It's like critical analysis of the of the education landscape. Much like you teach critical analysis to
your students at the classical academy. Maybe more educators should be involved in critical analysis of what's working and what's not and adopt what's working, like the methodology. It's since a classical academy, which got you the state recognition in just two years, gollly Chacter pretty.
Unbelievable, it really is. Yeah. And then in the first year last year, you know, we were we were rated the number one charter school in the state of Ohio for early literacy, that's two hundred and fifty charter schools. We finished number one in the state, and actually we were if you consider all the public schools in southwest Ohio across like ten counties, all the later Cincinnati area, of all the public schools, whether charter or district, we were number four in early literacy.
That was in our first year.
So even when you're talking about, you know, some of the great public schools that we have in Indian Hill and Wyoming or Madeira number four, and our test results
this year have been even better. So I mean, we're just off to a lightning start, and the demand for the school and its growth has just been a really pretty exceptional We've got we're going to be full kindergarten through eighth grade this year with seven hundred and fifty kids and north of four hundred students on the wait list to get in.
See you anticipated where I was going. If you build it, and you build it better, they will come and they will stand in line and get on a wait list to go. This is what I think is the biggest concern for the public schools. They don't want free choice and they don't want school choice for the students. They don't want to have to compete with a Sincinni classical academy because they can't. I mean, that's really what this
boils down to. And you know what, doctor Harding's my point being, ultimately they could compete if they adopted these teaching methodologies. That's so heartbreaking.
Absolutely I agree.
So what is the battle?
You know a lot of people try to get on the.
School boards and change things. But you know, my brother was the president of the Maryland State School Board a while ago, and he fought that battle for ten years and he can get nowhere. The interests are just so entrenched.
The interests which are not the interests of the students and interest in teaching students and educating students, but.
They're the interest of the adults and of the educators and of the publishing companies.
Which you're absolutely right.
Publishing companies can teach the can print classical education materials, they wouldn't be out of a job. I mean, this is just crazy, and it's not in their interest because they're demonstrably failing the country and the student I mean, your school is an illustration of it. You got people standing around the block trying to apply and get in. You know, it doesn't benefit them. Their failure hurts them as well because people want to flee that learning environment
because it's not one. That's what creates the demand for educational choice. My child is in a failing school. They're not learning anything. I want a better choice. Their failure has facilitated your success.
I agree, but they're not held accountable because they have monopolies on you know, publicly funded education, and they fight like heck to maintain those monopolies.
So well, doctor Harding's, I want to congratulate you for the amazing successes since I Classical Academy has had in just the two short years it's been around. Now they are currently is K through eight. Of course of the school year is filled seven hundred and fifty. Are you currently taking applications for the twenty four twenty five school year or have you already got a waitlist on that one?
No, that opens up.
That will open up in December December through story next year, and next year we'll be adding a ninth grade class and then we'll keep going until until we have our first graduating class in about five four years from now. So we do have exciting news on the campus front. You know, we went through quite a saga trying to find a permanent location where we could locate, you know, all K through twelveth grade, thirteen hundred students.
Right, and we've decided to have two campuses.
We're going to be purchasing our currently leased campus and reading for K through four and we're going to be purchasing and developing a nine acre property, the former Bellcan building in Blue ash that's going to be home to grades five through twelve. So and we're going to be moving in there next summer. So we're really excited now to know where we're going to be for the next several decades.
Amazing, amazing results, great news, fantastic, it's good for everybody. UH find out about it online. Good since yclassical dot com, you'll find them right there. Since I'm sorry dot org, since he with the y Classical dot org. Doctor Harding's congratulations on the success. Thank you for what you're doing on behalf of the young people actually getting educations in this classical environment. And I wish you all the success of the world as you rapidly expand because of your success.
Thanks so much, Brian, My pleasure.
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