ABOUT
Who We Are
Our Mission
American Classical believes the timeless and rigorous model of classical education should be available to all students who desire it. Our schools train students in virtue, resulting in high academic achievement and the sound moral formation required for responsible citizenship. Utilizing classical methods, rooted in our Western and American heritage, our curriculum inspires joy and wonder to cultivate a habit of life-long learning.
Our Vision
The goal of a young person’s education should be to train the mind and prepare the heart to make the best life possible for one’s self and others. We train our students to become self-governing thinkers and doers.
Our students will be adaptable, innovative, and creative in a changing world, but also understand that there are timeless principles worth preserving—principles that are good and true.We want to shape young people who are thoughtful, kind, and empathetic, but also decisive and proactive. We want our students to be moral, courageous, and faithful to their principles. Our graduates will enter the world as wise, virtuous, confident, and productive citizens, well positioned to lead happy lives and contribute to their communities.
Parents see their children grow in character and academic achievement, bringing joy to their homes and communities. Teachers engage students through dialog and a content-rich curriculum, fulfilling them in their vocations. Students develop dutiful habits of learning and moral formation, realizing their greatest potential through education.
ACE Leadership
Patrick B. Whalen
Chief Executive Officer
American Classical Education Foundation
C. David Corbin, Ph.D.
Chief of Strategy & Implementation
American Classical Education Foundation
Rich Haglund
General Counsel
American Classical Education Foundation
Our Approach to Classical Education
American Classical approaches education as a partnership between parents and teachers for the sake of the students:
- Parents see their children grow in knowledge and virtue, bringing joy to their homes and communities.
- Talented teachers engage students through dialogue and a content-rich curriculum.
- Students develop lifelong habits of learning and sound moral formation, realizing their greatest potential through an education for the mind and the heart.
In a classical school, teachers lead students toward moral and intellectual virtue by means of a rich and robust course of study in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.
Classical education is an education for its own sake.
Classical education teaches us to love learning first, and someone who loves to learn will do well academically.
Classical education is an education in the liberal arts.
By studying the liberal arts, we learn to read, write, think, and speak, and to understand our place in the world.
Classical education is well-rounded, not specialized.
Students in a classical school are given foundational knowledge that will serve them well no matter what they decide to do as adults.
Classical education is an education for both the mind and the heart.
Classical education must teach students why information—such as history timelines, multiplication tables, and the parts of a cell—matters and how to use it. More than that, we must work with parents to shape the moral imaginations of our students and teach them how to live well by practicing the virtues.
Classical education is the education the American founders received.
The well-rounded education of America’s founders equipped them to make important decisions in difficult circumstances, to understand the consequences of their actions over the long term, and to build through reason and speech a government that rests on eternal truths about human nature.
An American Classical Education
American Classical believes the timeless and rigorous model of classical education should be available to all students who desire it. Our schools train students in virtue, resulting in high academic achievement and the sound moral formation required for responsible citizenship.
