In today’s episode Andrew Pudewa and Julie Walker interview Dr. Robert Jackson. Dr. Jackson is the Executive Director of Great Hearts Institute. Founded in Phoenix twenty years ago, Great Hearts now boasts forty academies spread across Arizona and Texas. In the near future, the organization will be expanding into Louisiana as well as Florida. Listen to the episode to learn how the Great Hearts Academies function as free charter schools and about their upcoming National Symposium for Classical Education, where Andrew will be presenting.
Great Hearts Academies are dedicated to Mortimer Adler’s assertion: “The best education for the best is the best education for all.” According to Dr. Jackson, the Great Hearts Academies focus on the tradition of liberal arts education that includes the arts, the sciences, and the entire sweep of areas that constitute human knowledge pertinent to the mental capacities of the human child. This covers basic literacy and numeracy throughout the formal education years and eventually includes other content areas, such as foreign languages.
To hear Dr. Jackson describe the academies and the philosophy undergirding them more fully, be sure to listen to the episode. Early bird registration is open now for the National Symposium for Classical Education in Phoenix, Arizona, which will be held February 22‒24, 2023.