Clare Basil recently shared some thoughtful observations about the growth of K–12 classical schools, schools that take “a unifying approach to intellectual and moral formation by developing the integrity of mind and heart”—a quote Basil borrows from the Institute for Classical Education’s (ICE) publication Virtue. Her observations are encouraging to anyone interested in boosting the quality and variety of school choices in the United States. It is especially heartening to those of us who have labored long and hard—both professionally and personally—to ensure that our children get a real liberal arts education: one that is not just knowledge-rich, but that also seeks to nurture students’ moral and civic virtue. She lauds the ICE’s ambitious goal of bringing 50,000 more students into classical schools by 2025, then posits three closely related challenges to continued growth, which she terms “definition” (must all classical schools enact the same precise mission and objectives?), “consistency” (must classical schools share the same protocols for evaluating success?), and “data” (must we gather more and better empirical data about the efficacy of classical schools?).

Her essay prompted me to consider her challenges carefully and to suggest one of my own. I’ve split my response into two parts. The first will address Basil’s first challenge to continued growth, “definition,” and the second, which will be published next week, will cover the other two, “consistency” and “data.”