Schooling America

Send us Fan Mail Nikhil Jandhyala came to classical education as a public-school kid raised on two faiths—Hinduism American capitalism—and left it a Catholic teacher who now hands the same gift to his own students. Ryan Klopak and Alex Julian trace that transformation with him: the sixth-grade natural-philosophy class where "nature acts for an end" first cracked his world open, the ninth...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Owen Anderson teaches philosophy and religious studies at Arizona State University, where starts every intro philosophy class with "where did your life go so wrong?"  In this conversation, Ryan and Alex trace his journey from a curious teenager in Arizona public schools to a philosophy professor working to recover what education has lost. What's in This Ep...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 2 of his conversation with Ryan and Alex, Andrew Ellison—veteran classical educator and former headmaster—opens with something he couldn't wait to share: a bucket-list Tallis Scholars concert in Dallas that arrived at exactly the right moment. The story becomes a lens for exploring how classical education transforms not just students, but every person in a school buil...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Ellison grew up in the suburbs of Indianapolis with a public school teacher mother who read the Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime and ran summer learning programs at home—and had no idea any of it was "classical." In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, host Alex Julian traces Andrew's path from that curiosity-rich childhood through a soul-killing public junio...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Anthony Sciubba leads one of the largest K–5 classical schools in the Southwest at Great Hearts in the Phoenix Valley. In this conversation, he traces a journey from a public school upbringing in Gilbert, Arizona—where Great Expectations bored him to tears in seventh grade—to a transformative encounter with the great books at Pepperdine, graduate studies at Yale, Oxford, and E...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Toyin Atolagbe shares how her early education in Nigeria, marked by daily hymns, strict discipline, and a focus on shaping both heart and intellect, formed the habits and virtues that guide her work today. She discusses the power of classical education to instill excellence, the crucial role of parents as first educators, and her current work supporting families through Lighth...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 2 of their conversation with Jonathan Mueller, Ryan and Alex pick up where they left off—tracing the circuitous path from Torrey Honors College through Boethius, Plato, and the Phaedo that eventually led Jonathan into classical education.  What's in This Episode: How Jonathan went from Biola/Torrey to dancing Greek waiter before finding his way into classical educatio...

Send us Fan Mail Jonathan Mueller grew up at the intersection of classical homeschooling and community college, encountering Plato in ninth grade and the Tao Te Ching at seventeen—two texts that cracked open the difference between a conception of God and the eternal thing itself. In part one of this two-part conversation, Jonathan traces a winding path through dialectic and doubt, a year of constr...

Send us Fan Mail Betsy Brown McClelland spent over a decade teaching medieval history and humane letters in the Great Hearts network—watching students encounter saints, suffer through Socratic seminars, and walk out of her classroom different people.  In this episode, she traces her own story: from a rich homeschooled childhood into a season of spiritual and intellectual numbness, through a colleg...

Send us Fan Mail Matt Skinner, longtime head of school at Heritage Classical Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, returns for part two of his conversation with Ryan and Alex.  This time, Matt unpacks the four-pillar framework: purpose, people, programs, and place , that guided Heritage from a bold vision to one of the most respected classical high schools in the country. What's in This Episode: Why p...

Send us Fan Mail Matt Skinner spent over two decades leading Christian schools—most notably as the longtime head of school at Heritage Preparatory School in Atlanta, Georgia.  But he didn't start there. He's a Texas-raised athlete, former CPA, and reluctant educator who found his calling at a school board meeting in 1995—having never once set foot in a school as anything other than a stu...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Kathleen O'Toole is the Associate VP for K-12 Education at Hillsdale College. However, she didn't arrive at classical education through a straight line. She grew up attending a good-but-not-classical school, survived a grueling private prep high school, found her footing at Hillsdale Academy, and finally experienced the full power of a classical curriculum at the Uni...

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Send us Fan Mail In this enlightening episode of Schooling America, we are joined by Todd Davis, the co-founder and former CEO of LifeLock, and a longtime board member and parent at Great Hearts Academies. Todd delves into the captivating journey of LifeLock, sharing insights into the audacious advertising campaign that catapulted the company into the national spotlight. Beyond the world of identi...

Send us Fan Mail In this compelling episode of Schooling America, we are honored to host James Felton, a renowned leadership coach and organizational health expert. Known for his transformative work with Fortune 500 companies as well as burgeoning startups, James is a trusted consultant in the methodology of Patrick Lencioni, author of seminal works like "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team"...

Send us Fan Mail The Schooling America podcast covers issues and ideas relevant to leaders in American education. We bring in the brightest minds in administration, philosophy, culture, and beyond to reflect on topics that directly impact schools, organizations, and the children and families they serve. From cultural issues to operations to curriculum and pedagogy, Schooling America seeks to enric...