Letter from the Editor by Martin Cothran

“You would think it would be easy to write true sentences about education. But, in fact, it sometimes seems that true sentences about education are very hard to come by.”

One True Sentence

by Martin Cothran

In Ernest Hemingway's book A Moveable Feast, he gives the best advice I have ever read on dealing with writer's block. He tells you to sit down, take up a pen, and write one true sentence. That's it. Just one true sentence. For example, I had writer's block as I sat down to write this article. I have written probably hundreds of articles like this one, articles taking one truth about classical education and expounding on it for about seven hundred words, but I couldn't think of anything to write about now. So I wrote a sentence that was true, and I was off to the races. You would think it would be easy to write true sentences about education. But, in fact, it sometimes seems that true sentences about education are very hard to come by. Much of what is written about education could accurately be called "cant"—not the contraction of "can" and "not," but "disingenuous speech," the repetition of trite opinions or sentiments, the insincere use of pious words. The rhetoric on education is filled with it. Take graduation speeches, for example. I have attended quite a number of graduation addresses and I have a hard time remembering any that really said much worth saying about the education the student listeners presumably received. It is in these speeches and in other chatter from the educational establishment that we hear a blizzard of slogans and catchphrases that betray a lot of enthusiasm but very little substance. We hear talk about "child-centered learning," but education is not the development of a child. Rather, it is the formation of an adult. Before 2000 rolled around we heard talk about "building a bridge to the twenty-first century," when, as it pertains to education, we would have gotten better results building a bridge to the nineteenth. And "no child left behind"? Do we really believe any program or practice will do that?

Likewise, all the education prattle about "research." Research in general—even in the hard sciences—can be unreliable and misleading, as Richard Harris points out in his book Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions. But in education the research is especially terrible. In a meta-study done by two researchers from Duke University and the University of Connecticut, they found that only 0.13 percent of education research has been replicated (a basic measurement of competent research). What if we abandoned the cant and the bad research about education? What if we just wrote one true sentence about education? What would it be?

What if we said: Education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through the study of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, in order to develop fully formed human beings.

Hemingway doesn't tell us to end with one true sentence. But there it is.

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CLASSICAL CORE CURRICULUM

4 Curriculum Packages and Supplements 18 Read-Aloud Programs 46 Curriculum Map Yearly Outlook

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70 Primary Enrichment & Character Building 72 Alphabet, Numbers, & Coloring 74 Phonics & Reading 75 Spelling 78 New American Cursive 79 Penmanship

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34 Classical Composition, IEW, & English Grammar 80 Literature 88 Poetry

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43 Geography 44 American Studies & Modern European History

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63 Science & Nature 73 Arithmetic & Math

Late Summer 2022

60 The Vision of the Soul by James Matthew Wilson 68 Mapping the Imagination by Dr. Carol Reynolds 76 Give Them a Door by Cheryl Swope 86 Befriending Books by Leta Sundet 90 Sacrificial Friendship in Charlotte's Web by Leigh Lowe

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50 Christian Studies 54 D'Aulaires' Greek Myths & Famous Men Series 56 Dorothy Mills' Histories & Classical Studies Supplements 58 Classical Literature

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22 Prima Latina & Latina Christiana 25 Latin Forms Series 26 Latin Supplements 28 Upper School Latin & AP Latin 30 Greek 31 French

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66 Professor Carol: Discovering Music, Exploring America's Musical Heritage, & Early Sacred Music 67 Art Posters, Art Cards, Creating Art, & Music Appreciation 70 Primary Enrichment

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36 Classical Education Resources 19 Memoria Press Online Academy

Henle Latin Third Year (p. 28) Manner of the Week Flashcards (p. 70) American History Outline (p. 44)

Traditional Spelling III (p. 75) First Start Reading Storybooks (p. 74) Manuscript Practice Sheets (p. 74) Kindergarten Phonics Supplemental Workbook (p. 74) Henle Latin First Year Instructional Videos (p. 28) The Adventures of Odysseus & The Tale of Troy (p. 58) NLE: Intermediate Reading Comprehension (p. 26)

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