Dear Readers,
To appropriately educate and inform current, former, and future generations, we must ground ourselves in the intellect that formed Western civilization. By building a foundational base of knowledge and establishing itself as a cultural authority, the Western canon provides a framework through which students and citizens alike can engage with, question, and build upon. Before considering branching out to the far east of Asia or the tales of South America, students must be well-established in the traditions and intellect of the West.
Building on a Shared Intellectual Bedrock
Through a deep engagement with the greatest authors of the ancient West, such as Homer, Plato, and Cicero, students are appropriately equipped to analyze any text, literature, or tradition that comes their way. Not only does a common reading list prepare students intellectually, but it also creates a culture-based tradition that all can call upon.
Instead of students’ references being about current TikTok trends or the latest reality television show, they could be of intellect. While modern entertainment has its place, it now occupies too much space in the hearts and minds of those who consume it. Imagine a nation where students could reference The Republic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, or The Odyssey, as well as whatever may be popular on television.
When schools across the country constantly update their reading lists and required curricula, they risk producing educated dilettantes instead of true critical thinkers.
The Role of Intellectual Lineage
Modern curricula often try to mix incompatible worldviews, leaving students confused. What students need is a clear hierarchy of sources, taken from the Western canon. A curriculum anchored in a single intellectual lineage cultivates the analytical rigor that multicultural sampling cannot.
When students trace ideas from Aristotle’s ethics to John Locke’s social contract, they learn to recognize patterns of reasoning, spot assumptions, and discern when an argument deviates from its premises. This progression of thought establishes a hierarchy of sources, not to propagandize, but to provide pillars against which claims can be measured and evaluated. In contrast, a program that introduces Nietzsche, Confucius, and postmodern critics too soon risks leaving learners without a clear point of reference.
Not to say that these authors and their work are not relevant or without merit. But continuity in thought and process promotes the ability for students to build an analytical foundation, with which to accurately and appropriately examine life and the intellect it presents. By first immersing learners in the texts that built the West, educators empower them to question and even challenge those very texts with confidence, because they understand the rules of the debate.
Real World Proof of Canon-First Success
Often, the argument against is that there is no reliable way to prove that a curriculum based in the Western canon provides any more success than other, more modern curricula. While it can be challenging to substantiate the moral and virtuous benefits of a classical curriculum, real-world data support academic success through the Western canon.
One of the largest classical school systems, Great Hearts Academies, boasts 98% of graduates matriculating to college and scoring 200 points above the national mean on the SAT.
St. John’s College, located in Annapolis and Santa Fe, has had an All-Great-Books curriculum since 1937, where every student reads the same Western canon core; sixty-seven percent of graduates complete coursework within 150% of the standard time.
People often discuss the idea that previous generations, dating back hundreds of years, were more intelligent than current ones. The classic tradition was prevalent in education until approximately one hundred years ago, when a decline in nationwide education began to emerge.
A coincidence? Unlikely.
Why Depth Beats Breadth
A canon‑centered curriculum delivers clear, quantifiable advantages over every new educational fad. The constant overhauling of course materials, retraining of teachers, and diluting content consume the time that teachers could be using to improve, and even strain state and local budgets, with little evidence of lasting success.
The dividends of a stable curriculum built around the Western canon accrue steadily. Fixed reading lists, logic and rhetoric modules, and recurring seminar formats lead to more profound student mastery, higher standardized scores, and alumni who can trace their reasoning skills back to shared texts. Schools that prioritize a unified course of study are not resisting progress; they are choosing the most efficient path to cultivating rigorous thinkers.
Genuine openness to different viewpoints starts with a shared foundation in the great books and ideas that shaped the world we live in. By mastering these core texts first, students gain the tools to approach new perspectives with confidence and clarity.
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Thanks for reading!
I appreciate you taking the time to engage with these ideas. I hope this newsletter gave you something to think about.
If you want to go deeper, check out my reading list, where I share the books that have radicalized me.
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