On October 27th, Dr. James Kurth gave a lecture entitled What are We Fightin’ For? Western Civilization in the 21st Century for the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.  From the FPRI website:

James Kurth is the Claude Smith Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College, where he teaches defense policy, foreign policy, and international politics. Professor Kurth is the author of numerous articles and editor of two volumes in the fields of defense policy, foreign policy, international politics, and European politics. His recent publications have focused upon the interrelations between the global economy, cultural conflicts, foreign policy, and military strategy. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (New York) and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London).

This was the inaugural Robert Carr Lecture on Western Civilization, made possible by a grant from FPRI trustee Robert E. Carr.

This is an excellent lecture by an accomplished scholar who is a friend of TAA.  Dr. Kurth emphasizes the importance of teaching the rich history and values of western civilization to our children, and laments that mainstream education has largely abandoned it.  Several members of the TAA community were in attendance, including Mrs. Lee Anthony, head of school.  During the lecture, Dr. Kurth twice singled out TAA as an example of the kind of education our society must promote if we hope to defend western civilization.  TAA is both thrilled and humbled to receive the endorsement of a scholar of Dr. Kurth’s stature.

FPRI has made graciously the entire lecture available in streaming video format from its website.  If you have Windows Media Player installed, you can watch it below.  Dr. Kurth mentions TAA and Mrs. Anthony twice, once at the 56 minute mark, and once at the 1:11 mark.

embedded by Embedded Video

On Friday November 14th, students from the American Academy were the guests of a kind benefactor at a Kimmel Center concert in Philadelphia.  Before the performance, Mr. Tom Anderson prepared the children for the performance of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Grosse Fugue, and Missa Solemnis.  After the performance, our students were invited backstage to meet the conductor and performers.  Praise God for this wonderful opportunity, and thanks also to Mr. Anderson and to our very thoughtful benefactor!

Congratulations to our students whose works were selected for publication in this year’s Creative Communication Celebrating What Is Important to Me essay contest: Sam Anthony; Lukas, Danny, and Josh Carroll; Maggie and Molly Harnish; Jacqui and Nathania Hofstetter; Samantha and Noelle Ludlum; Tad and Baret Lyon; Nathan Master; David Matej; Rachel Meell and Stephanie Meell; Eleanor and Samuel Miller; Laura, Sarah, and David Null; Ace Robinson; and Elena Sutton.  Well done!

In addition:

• Students in grades K-12 are busy working on their poetry for the upcoming Creative Communications poetry contest.
• Grades 5-8 are writing for the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest, on the topic “The Ideals of the Gettysburg Address.”
• Noelle Ludlum will represent TAA in the 27th annual essay contest, sponsored by Penn State University.

Thanks to Dr. Traver, Mrs. Null, and Mrs. Chagan for all of their hard work helping our students find their muse!