Florida is looking to become the first state to add a classical exam option alongside the ACT and SAT to university admissions. On Aug. 30, the Florida Board of Governors will vote on accepting the Classic Learning Test (CLT) scores for admissions. The CLT was designed in 2015 as an alternative to previous college entrance tests, specifically focusing on classical literature, humanities, and morality. Currently, the test scores are accepted by over 200 universities. The test is divided into three sections: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and grammar and writing.
The CLT stems from a more general classical education model. The revival of such classical education was reimagined and championed by Hillsdale College, which has K–12 member schools across the country. (READ MORE: Five Quick Things: The Liars Who Lie, Lie, Lie)
CLT favors studying figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Aristotle, and C.S. Lewis over progressive academics and crackpots of the 20th century.
Those who favor the program praise it for emphasizing the 4,000-year history of Western civilization that has brought America to this point. The program focuses on the Judeo-Christian values that have developed the Western notions of liberalism, individualism, and capitalism. In other words, CLT and classical schools are committed to teaching the enduring principles of our civilization.
Meanwhile, leftist critics resort to a complex and intelligent argument against such programs: whiteness.
Per the Tampa Bay Times, the curriculum focuses “on Western civilization that assumes that the tradition and historical legacy of white Europe and America is the most important thing students should be studying.”
The inherent racism of the Left is astonishing. In one sentence, it dismisses the civilization devised and spread across the world — equality before the law, democracy/republicanism, capitalism, religious liberty, abolition of slavery, and much more — as inherently “white.” The logical conclusion of this mode of thinking is that minorities are excluded from partaking in such a culture or curriculum. If this wasn’t the logical conclusion, why would anyone feel the need to bring it up in the first place? Of course, one of the most extraordinary progressions in Western civilization was recognizing that the values of Europe and America were indeed universal and that all people should be able to partake in them.
Not for the Left, however, which sees the attempt to return to classical education as a form of white supremacy.
Indeed, Axios labeled classical education something “largely pioneered by Hillsdale College.” It is as though the educational standard of the past thousand years of Western civilization, which included biblical, Greek, and Roman readings, merely ceases to exist once Republicans attempt to institute change. Classical education was at the forefront of academia for many years until very recently, and to treat it otherwise is a rewriting of history.
Perhaps Western education should be prioritized in American schools because American values, culture, and history are overwhelmingly derived from Western civilization. American children do not need to learn as much about the Xia Dynasty (though fascinating in its own right) as they do about Rome or Greece.
The progressive Left doesn’t want such education to be taught in schools because it despises those traditions and history. Classical education, however, has nothing to do with focusing on “white” Europe but everything to do with destroying and erasing the culture that stands between the progressive Left and its desires.
Brayden Dean is a rising senior at the University of Georgia. He studies international relations and political science with a minor in law, jurisprudence, and state. A member of The American Spectator’s intern class of 2023, Brayden enjoys sipping a hot cup of coffee while reading a book.
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