Latest / Brian Thomas / Empower U - October 23rd - Tour Cincinnati Classical Academy

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Empower U - October 23rd - Tour Cincinnati Classical Academy · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Krs the talk station eight o six fifty five KRSD
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  Speaker 1: Talk station. If you're having a great Friday Eve, stick
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  Speaker 1: around bottom of the art. We're gonna have iHeart media
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  Speaker 1: aviation expert Jay Ratliff. Folks out there and listening audience
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  Speaker 1: have children and grandchildren that are of K through twelve age.
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  Speaker 1: You know you may be disappointed in your school offerings.
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  Speaker 1: You aren't going to be disappointed in the Cincinnati Classical Academy.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me today back from the fifty five KRC Morning Show,
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Jed Hardings, the Westside native. I went to Xavier
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  Speaker 1: High School, went to the University of Notre Dame, got
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  Speaker 1: a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh, and
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  Speaker 1: he served as a medical research officer in the US
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  Speaker 1: Army and left the services rank of major. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your service to our country. And throughout his business
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  Speaker 1: life highly successful, and then he realized, well we have
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  Speaker 1: a massive decline in American education. He is responsible for
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  Speaker 1: founding the Cincinnati Classical Academy back in twenty nineteen. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: back to the morning show, Doctor Hardings. It is a
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  Speaker 1: real pleasure to have you on today.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
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  Speaker 1: Brian is one start a school. This is so you know, folks,
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  Speaker 1: tonight seven pm it's an Empower You America seminar, a
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  Speaker 1: tour of the Sinsint Classical Academy. So you're not logging
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  Speaker 1: in from home and you're not showing up at the
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  Speaker 1: Empower Youth Studios. You're actually going to show up at
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  Speaker 1: the Sin Santa Classical Academy. We'll get the details on
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  Speaker 1: that in a minute, but it's a great concept bringing
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  Speaker 1: the Hillsdale College classical education on a college level to
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  Speaker 1: K through twelve education. So conceptually it's a bulletproof idea
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  Speaker 1: given the needs we have out here in the education world.
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  Speaker 1: But the idea of going out and starting a school,
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  Speaker 1: that'd be like peace of God for me. Doctor Harding's
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  Speaker 1: where does one start? And how are you able to
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  Speaker 1: successfully pull this off?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean it was a labor of love, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: But you know, I was blessed with having a great education,
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  Speaker 2: but there were you know, as you grow up and
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  Speaker 2: you'll learn about the world, I realized how many omissions
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  Speaker 2: there were of sort of essential knowledge from that education.
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  Speaker 2: And when I discovered that Hillsdale curriculum and how rich
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  Speaker 2: it is in its content, how deep it dives the
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  Speaker 2: number of requirements. You know, the course work there. It's
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  Speaker 2: not optional, it's not elective to study you know, great literature.
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  Speaker 2: You have to study it. So you just get filled
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  Speaker 2: with this passion to offer this gift of pure gold
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  Speaker 2: to our next generation and help form human beings who
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  Speaker 2: are going to benefit society for decades to come with
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  Speaker 2: their learning. So it just becomes such a great passion
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  Speaker 2: that we had to do it, and it took about
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  Speaker 2: three years. We started in twenty nineteen on the founding
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  Speaker 2: effort and we didn't open the doors of the school
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  Speaker 2: until three years later. So it's just a matter of
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  Speaker 2: rolling up your sleeves and asking the right questions and
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  Speaker 2: then doing the work to find the answers to how
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  Speaker 2: you can make this work.
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  Speaker 1: And of course along the way, if from the whole,
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  Speaker 1: if you build it, they will come. You build a
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  Speaker 1: better mouse trap, people are going to buy it. You
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  Speaker 1: build a better school structure, the school system, you provide
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  Speaker 1: classical education, people are going to knock down the doors.
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  Speaker 1: Wanted to get in. You always have. You've always had
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  Speaker 1: like a waiting list, and you started out with a
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  Speaker 1: limited numbers. It was like K through four or six.
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  Speaker 1: I can't remember the initials, the initial of the student
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  Speaker 1: body K through six.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, K through six, and we were we had all
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  Speaker 2: feats filled that first year and the growing weight list
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  Speaker 2: that blossomed in nearly five hundred students by the next year.
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  Speaker 2: And what was impressive to me was was how we
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  Speaker 2: had ninety nine percent student retention from that very first
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  Speaker 2: year to the to the next year. And that's been
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  Speaker 2: sustained through these years. So we still have a long waitlist,
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  Speaker 2: but have now grown to K through nine with nearly
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  Speaker 2: a thousand students, and that first ninth grade class, that
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  Speaker 2: first high school class, will we'll go on to tenth
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  Speaker 2: and eleven and twelfth grade until we have our first
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  Speaker 2: graduates in twenty twenty nine, which we're looking forward to.
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  Speaker 1: I can't only imagine how excited you are about that now.
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  Speaker 1: You obviously, with the growth in size and the growth
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  Speaker 1: of student body, you had to expand the space. And
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  Speaker 1: that's why you're showing folks tonight on this empower you
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  Speaker 1: some and are the new Summit Park campus. Let my
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  Speaker 1: listeners know all about that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's been one of the toughest lists in
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  Speaker 2: the founding was fine in the space and we spend
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  Speaker 2: years searching and finally closed on a property last fall,
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  Speaker 2: and it spent the last year. Last time we talked,
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  Speaker 2: we were knee deep in construction out there in Blue
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  Speaker 2: ash for the middle and upper school campus. But I'm
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  Speaker 2: happy to report that we're on the other side of
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  Speaker 2: that now and we finished construction. We opened the school
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  Speaker 2: there on time. We had a beautiful grand opening celebration
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  Speaker 2: with over three thousand people coming through the doors the
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  Speaker 2: first the week before school started. But for anyone who
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  Speaker 2: didn't didn't make it that day, tonight, we're having an event,
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  Speaker 2: a free tour of the school through our new campus.
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  Speaker 2: It's free, just have to register and empower you America
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  Speaker 2: dot org and anyone's welcome to come out and learn
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  Speaker 2: about Cincinnati Academy Classical Academy, and see what we've built,
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  Speaker 2: learn about our educational philosophy, and uh see what it's
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  Speaker 2: sort of back to the future, you know, old school
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  Speaker 2: education in a very modern building. So we welcome everyone
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  Speaker 2: to come out.
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  Speaker 1: I just I'm kind of curious about how you go
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  Speaker 1: about hiring the teachers, the educators. I suspect that given
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  Speaker 1: you're doing classical education, there are a bunch of teachers
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  Speaker 1: out there who embrace that concept and would want nothing
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  Speaker 1: more than to work in an environment like the SINCE
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  Speaker 1: at Classical Academy. Have you ever had any problem of
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  Speaker 1: hiring and retaining teachers.
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  Speaker 2: We have not. We've had we've had exceptional teacher retention
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  Speaker 2: and we've been able to fill all those because there's
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  Speaker 2: a phrase for it that our headmaster uses. He calls
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  Speaker 2: them refugee teachers. It turns out there are lots of
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  Speaker 2: teachers who've been wanting to be able to do this
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  Speaker 2: kind of thing for their whole careers, and they are
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  Speaker 2: refugees from the educational system in general, and they find
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  Speaker 2: it home with us, and they're very glad to be
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  Speaker 2: empowered to do their jobs and lead and teach in
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  Speaker 2: the classroom.
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  Speaker 1: And I suppose concepts like woke ideology and DEI mandates
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  Speaker 1: and Dick Todds, that's not part of SINCE a Classical Academy.
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  Speaker 2: It is not.
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  Speaker 1: That's why it's a refuse for all those disappointed teachers.
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  Speaker 1: There's freedom escape the since a Classical Academy and enjoy
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing being a teacher. I've always commented on
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  Speaker 1: one of the greatest things that I enjoyed about particularly
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  Speaker 1: law school, but it did exist in the K through
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  Speaker 1: twelve education with a certain degree is the Socratic method,
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  Speaker 1: the engage in the question and answers back and forth
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  Speaker 1: with whoever's teaching a class. Do you have that kind
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  Speaker 1: of concept at the Sincant Classical Academy?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? And you know it starts gradually in the in
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  Speaker 2: the sort of the middle school, but it really starts
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  Speaker 2: to bloss and as you get into the high school levels. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's it's throughout the school. Is the main method of
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  Speaker 2: instruction outstanding.
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  Speaker 1: Now, can you explain to me and my listeners? Of course,
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  Speaker 1: this concept of citadel life, the house system as you
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  Speaker 1: refer to as since classical Academy, what's that all about?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Well, it serves multiple purposes, but it kind
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  Speaker 2: of organizes the culture within the student body. I mean
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  Speaker 2: we sort of have a breakdown in community in society today, right, yes,
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  Speaker 2: and people lost, right, especially in the digital world. Well,
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  Speaker 2: this is kind of one answer to that. Although it's
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  Speaker 2: a system that's quite ancient, going back hundreds of years, schools,
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  Speaker 2: great schools have used it. But it organizes the students
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  Speaker 2: into four houses where and it's and it goes across
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  Speaker 2: grade levels down to uh grade grade seven on up.
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  Speaker 2: And uh, they they work together, they mentor each other. Uh.
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  Speaker 2: The older students model good behavior and virtue for the
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  Speaker 2: younger students, and the younger students, you know, learned from
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  Speaker 2: from the older students. So uh. And it's they compete
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  Speaker 2: with each other and cooperate on various various areas of
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  Speaker 2: service of academic achievement, athletic achievement, and various other kind
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  Speaker 2: of cultural things that they do at the at the school.
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  Speaker 1: Civics and morality and character, these are all part of
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  Speaker 1: the curriculum at since classical academy, and those concepts just
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  Speaker 1: disappeared in public education.
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  Speaker 2: Sir. It's it's the aim of our school is to
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  Speaker 2: cultivate moral character and civic virtue. I mean, those are
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  Speaker 2: the aims of the educational enterprise. It's to form the
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  Speaker 2: whole person. It's to form the habits of excellence concerning mind, body,
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  Speaker 2: and soul.
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  Speaker 1: I just wish that this concept was embraced by all
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  Speaker 1: public education because some of the hardest to reach children
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  Speaker 1: out there are the ones that really are in desperate
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  Speaker 1: need of civic virtue and moral character. They're clearly not
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  Speaker 1: getting it at home. And I can only imagine the
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  Speaker 1: weight that any given educator might have with a classroom
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  Speaker 1: full of thirty five kids who lack moral character and
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  Speaker 1: civic virtue. How do you transform that group? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's at the root of the problem. If
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  Speaker 1: you have a broken home or of the nuclear families disappeared,
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  Speaker 1: you need resources. The kid needs to have proper guidance,
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  Speaker 1: not going to get it from a public education. I
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  Speaker 1: wish your school was available literally across this entire country
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  Speaker 1: of ours, doctor Yeah, and and and.
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  Speaker 2: Brian, the the the public teachers unions. They came after
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  Speaker 2: us and attacked us because we write about morality on
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  Speaker 2: our on our website and our materials and our were
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  Speaker 2: teaching in our classrooms. They object to the very nature
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  Speaker 2: of that. The only way that they know how to
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  Speaker 2: care for in their minds, because it's such a foreign
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  Speaker 2: concept to them, is to come out and call as
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  Speaker 2: Christian nationalists, or to accuse us of being a religious
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  Speaker 2: school masquerading, you know, you know, taking taking dollars from
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  Speaker 2: the public treasury. It's nonsense. Uh More, moral character and
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  Speaker 2: morality and what is the good and what is beautiful
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  Speaker 2: has been around. Uh. He had lots of cultures and
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  Speaker 2: for a long time before Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, uh, Socrates played prior to the Greek civilizations. Of
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  Speaker 1: course you have u you know the religious times and
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  Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of years ago, morality and character were
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  Speaker 1: always discussed. But as I'm looking at the Cincinnati Classical
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  Speaker 1: Academy page, which is for my listeners who are interested,
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  Speaker 1: since you with hy Classical dot org, I don't see
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  Speaker 1: anything in here about Christianity, sir.
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  Speaker 2: No. And we teach all the major religions. We want
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  Speaker 2: all of our students to be culturally literate and informed
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  Speaker 2: about the world cultures and the world religions.
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  Speaker 1: Because they exist as a factual matter. You got to
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  Speaker 1: go live in a world with multiple religions. It's good
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  Speaker 1: to get a concept and understand them within and underneath
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  Speaker 1: the umbrella of moral character and civic virtue. So glad
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  Speaker 1: about this. So the tour is tonight at seven. It
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  Speaker 1: begins at seven pm. But they do need a registered
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  Speaker 1: empower you America dot org. Correct, doctor, that's correct? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Is this going to be one tour beginning at seven
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  Speaker 1: and going through the space or what if people show
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  Speaker 1: up late? Is that possible? I guess I want to
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  Speaker 1: get the lowdown on the logistics, Sir, you should.
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  Speaker 2: Probably aim to show up at seven o'clock. Uh, maybe
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  Speaker 2: get there a little early, register before six forty five,
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  Speaker 2: and we plan on one tour, but we'll make adjustments.
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  Speaker 2: We'll have contingency plans in case, in case there's some
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  Speaker 2: stragglers or more people. But yeah, we'll go through all
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  Speaker 2: the major spaces and from symposium room to how we
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  Speaker 2: furnish the school to the reviewing the virtue posters that
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  Speaker 2: are on the wall. So we'll talk about the Citadel
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  Speaker 2: Light House system, and see the library and see the
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  Speaker 2: new construction. We're building thirty thousand square feet of a
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  Speaker 2: gymnasium and a music wing and lots of other stuff
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  Speaker 2: as well, So we'll get to see all of it
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  Speaker 2: and see how it implements physically our educational philosophy.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there's somebody right now out there going, wait
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  Speaker 1: a second, my kids have to go there, or my
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  Speaker 1: grandchildren need to register. When is registration? How does that
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  Speaker 1: go about? I mean, when is it open and for
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  Speaker 1: what grades? There's got to be some sort of limitations
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  Speaker 1: on that, doctor.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, enrollment usually begins at the end of the year
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  Speaker 2: December perhaps, and we always accept all applications from kindergarten
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  Speaker 2: through up through tenth grade this coming year. So go
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  Speaker 2: to Sincy Classical dot org and it takes about five
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  Speaker 2: minutes to apply and if there's more, if there's more applications,
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  Speaker 2: then we have seats available. Then it goes to a
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  Speaker 2: lottery system. There's no aptitude tests, there's no financial means
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  Speaker 2: tests because we're tuition free. So if you're lucky enough
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  Speaker 2: to win the lottery, you get a seat.
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  Speaker 1: And this your academy draws people from all over the region.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there are some people who go through some
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  Speaker 1: significant lengths and difficult challenges getting their children to school
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  Speaker 1: every day, but they fight that battle and they win
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  Speaker 1: that battle and they make it there every day because
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  Speaker 1: of the draw of the education. I mean, you're literally
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  Speaker 1: with people from all over the Tri state area. Are
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  Speaker 1: do you? We are?
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  Speaker 2: And incredibly those numbers continue to grow. I got corrected
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  Speaker 2: recently that we're not drawing from sixty zip codes, but
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  Speaker 2: we're drawing from seventy one zip codes now and over
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  Speaker 2: forty different home school districts. I didn't know there's forty
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  Speaker 2: school districts in Greater Cincinnati, But the answer is there
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  Speaker 2: aren't because this goes This includes up to six different counties.
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  Speaker 2: I can't even name all the six. That's amazing, but
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  Speaker 2: that's yeah. People are feel pretty fortunate when they get in,
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  Speaker 2: and they're willing to make sacrifices and prioritize it in
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  Speaker 2: their lives. I mean, and it makes sense. It's their
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  Speaker 2: children's formation. It's who you're entrusting these beautiful souls that
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  Speaker 2: you created, who you're entrusting them to.
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  Speaker 1: I've said in a million times, doctor, the second greatest
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  Speaker 1: gift if my parents ever gave me, after the gift
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  Speaker 1: of life, was the gift of education. They insisted on it,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm thankful for it and I've benefited from it.
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  Speaker 1: And boy, what a great opportunity to do just that
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  Speaker 1: by getting your children in the Sin Sant Classical Academy.
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  Speaker 1: It starts tonight. Do the tour. It's seven pm. Go
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  Speaker 1: to empower you America dot org. Make sure you register
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  Speaker 1: and make sure you they're on time. Doctor Hardings, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for the work you've been doing over these years.
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  Speaker 1: And I can't I thank you enough, and I certainly
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  Speaker 1: know the families of the children you educate are truly
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  Speaker 1: appreciative of it. And we'll look forward to having you
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  Speaker 1: back on the show again real soon. Doctor, thanks so
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  Speaker 1: much my pleasure A say twenty one right now if
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  Speaker 1: you have cares to Thetalxtation