Episode 43: The Battle for America with David Goodwin

David shares his perspective on the current state of education in the United States, explains the concept of "paideia" and how traditional schools have lost the Western Christian Paideia, and considers why classical education has been gaining so much recent attention nationwide.

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Episode 43: David Goodwin

Summary

Where did the public school system go wrong? In this episode, Robert discusses the miseducation of America with David Goodwin. David is the president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS), the managing director of The Classical Difference magazine, cofounder and former headmaster of The Ambrose School, and, most recently, coproducer, along with Pete Hegseth of Fox News, of the six-part docuseries The Miseducation of America. Together, David and Pete also authored the recent #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation. In this conversation, David shares his perspective on the current state of education in the United States, explains the concept of “paideia” and how traditional schools have lost the Western Christian Paideia, and considers why classical education has been gaining so much recent attention nationwide. Later in the episode, Robert discusses the potential changes to Title IX, and Will theorizes on why Bitcoin’s value has skyrocketed.

Quote

“Paideia is the center of education . . . . Paideia, simply defined, represents the deeply seated affections, thinking, viewpoint, and virtues embedded in children at a young age—or, more simply, the rearing, molding, and education of a child.”

David Goodwin

Topics

  • Intro to David Goodwin [0:50]
  • David’s definition of truth [1:51]
  • Behind the title The Miseducation of America [3:18]
  • Schools today vs. schools in the colonial era [4:14]
  • What does “paideia” mean? [6:39]
  • Traditional schools losing the Western Christian Paideia [9:30]
  • How can America reclaim what we’ve lost in education? [12:20]
  • Why classical education is now resonating with so many people; David’s book rising to a New York Times bestseller and season one of the documentary to the most downloaded show on Fox Nation [16:10]
  • How David “grew into” the classical education movement [20:53]
  • Transitional schools: schools turning toward classical education [23:56]
  • Authors, speakers, and resources David has found helpful in understanding where modern education is headed [25:55]
  • How the Association of Classical Christian Schools serves schools; how God has worked through ACCS [29:25]
  • Why facing the challenges of scaling is a good thing for classical, Christian schools and programs [35:09]
  • Connecting modern events with Scripture at The Classical Christian Times [37:00]
  • David’s new book: a how-to guide on classical, Christian education [39:35]
  • Farewell to David [41:46]
  • “Current Events Discussion”: Title IX [42:46]
  • Ad: Trail Life USA [47:07]
  • “Classical Crypto”: Why is Bitcoin up? [48:23]
  • Outro [53:28]

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