Anchored by the Classic Learning Test

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Bethany Mandel, a conservative American columnist and political and cultural commentator. Bethany shares the extreme hardships she faced growing up. Losing her mom at the age of 16, and then her dad to suicide, Bethany often battled with poverty. She explains that what she had to overcome as a young university student shaped much of her...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Christy Shipe,  Chairman of the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) Board. Christy shares her own homeschool story - which began in 1982. Her father was the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. When Christy was in her junior year of college, she was hired by HSLDA to start a debate league...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Nicole Solas, a stay-at-home mom who was sued by the teacher's union for requesting public school curriculum records.  Nicole highlights that schools are incorporating gender theory, and other racially-charged topics into the curriculum while simultaneously removing the input of parents on what their children are being taught. She d...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Arooba Asim, the co-host and podcast producer of Anchored. She is also the CLT social media manager. Arooba discusses her upbringing in rural Pakistan, her early education, and the foundation her family created for her rooted in traditional and religious values that are lost in the modern world. She explains the stark contrast in the lifestyle she e...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Dr. O. Alan Noble, associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University. Dr. Noble discusses his interest in studying culture as a young student, but how challenging it was to learn to do it in a way that honors God. He talks about the existential dread that many students face in response to cultural pressure to perform in a spe...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Deanna Slamans, an educator and author. Deanna discusses her early childhood of living in poverty, the hardships she faced and overcame in relation to her family's circumstances, the trauma she suffered, and how receiving an education turned her life around. She shares the opportunities attending a school provided for her, and how i...

In this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Dr. Carl Trueman and Lee Wishing from Grove City along with Megan Basham, an entertainment reporter at the Daily Wire. They discuss the recent debate around progressive ideology entering Christian higher education, and specifically on recent incidents surrounding this topic at Grove City College. They discuss the dangers of unchecked racism, anti-ra...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Dr. Tracy Gardner are joined by Matthew Tolbert, the first-ever student to earn a perfect CLT score. They are also joined by Matthew's parents, Phil and Susan Tolbert. Matthew's parents share their story as a homeschooling family, how they made the decision to homeschool, what they love most about it, and how it molded their children. They describe...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Dr. Jonathan Moo, Professor at Whitworth University. Dr. Moo discusses his journey to obtaining his unique combination of graduate degrees in theology and wildlife ecology. He explains why humans have become so far removed from God's creation, and how studying theology helped him identify the values required to appreciate the world...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Robert L. Luddy, a business and educational entrepreneur. Robert discusses his journey to becoming an entrepreneur, founding a charter school, a network of classical private schools, and a new classical college. He speaks on topics such as the rising cost of college tuition, the importance of being efficient while running a business, and the connect...

In this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and special co-host Katie are joined by Dan Koch, the host of the You Have Permission podcast. Dan discusses the reasons behind why it has become increasingly difficult for people to be open-minded, and how Catholicism helped him begin to operate from a viewpoint in which his own thinking could be challenged. The central theme of this episode surrounds having th...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by VP of Sales and Marketing, Soren Schwab. Born and raised in Germany, and then moving to the United States to attend Hillsdale, Soren discusses the radical difference between the education system in both countries. He explains the transactional nature of schooling he received in Germany, and how shocked he was to discover that Hillsdale o...

In this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by president Tim Gibson of King's College. President Gibson discusses his time in the U.S Air Force, and his journey to becoming the seventh president of King's College. He explains the four commitments of King's College and the Christian worldview that the college has adopted. He also discusses the unique opportunities that King's...

On this episode for Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Dr. John Mark Reynolds, the president of The Saint Constantine School in Houston, Texas, and a fellow of the Center For Science and Culture at The Discovery Institute. Dr. Reynolds discusses his family history, his dad becoming the first in his family to go to high school, and then deciding to take Dr. Reynolds and his brother out of pu...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy Tate and Tracy Gardner are joined by Dr. Robert L. Jackson, the Chief Academic Officer for a growing network of classical charter schools known as Great Hearts Academies. Dr. Jackson the journey of how Great Hearts began and what makes it different from public education. He explains that Great Hearts is picking up a great American tradition of education that has...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Dr. Don Sweeting, president of Colorado Christian University. Dr. Sweeting discusses his journey to finding Christ in late high school, and the radical change in motivation and purpose it instilled in him. He explains the disorientation of confidence, and loss of values that many universities face due to cultural backlash. He states that universitie...

On this episode of Anchored, Arooba is joined by David Arndt, a tutor in the integral program of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College. David talks about his experience attending public school, and how at a very early age he knew that there was something fundamentally wrong with the way students were taught. He discusses his mother's interest in classical books, and how it sparked his own...

This episode of Anchored features Dr. Anika Prather's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit on what the Classics mean to her.  Dr. Prather's research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon.  She has served as a teacher, supervisor for student teachers, director of education, and Head of School.  Currently, she teaches in the...

This episode features Elias Moo's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit about his transformation from a typical modern educator to an educator who is "discovering the rich educational patrimony of the west". Elias Moo is the Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Denver. He holds a bachelor's degree in theology and sociology and master's degrees in education...

This episode features Robert George's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit. Robert Peter George is an American legal scholar, political philosopher, and public intellectual who serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He lectures on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties...

This episode features Jessica Wilson's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit.  Jessica Wilson is a professor, author, and speaker. She is also a Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas in the Classical Education and Humanities Graduate Program.

This episode features Spencer Klavan's talk at the 2021 Higher Ed Summit. Spencer Klavan is the assistant editor of The Claremont Review of Books and The American Mind at the Claremont Institute. He has a Ph. D. in Classics and is also the host of the Young Heretics podcast. 

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy is joined by Tracy Gardner, CLT's Chief Operating Officer.  Tracy discusses her love for tests from a young age, her journey to becoming a psychometrician, and how it ultimately led her to CLT. She also shares her relationship with religion, her conversion to Catholicism at the age of 24, and her experience as a Catholic student at the University of Pittsbu...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Hamza Yusuf, president of the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in the United States. Growing up with parents who loved truth and knowledge, Hamza Yusuf describes his childhood as multifaceted. He explains that much of his education occurred outside of school with his father, who studied the humanities and worked as a college...

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Arooba are joined by Oscar Ortiz Duarte, CEO, and Superintendent of Heritage Classical Academy. Oscar discusses his early life growing up in Honduras and describes how different education and schooling was for lower-class individuals. He explains his first encounter with beauty through reading at a young age and how it opened the gateway for truth and knowle...