In the Spring 2008 issue of The Intercollegiate Review: A Journal of Scholarship & Opinion, an article by Peter J. Leithart, entitled “The New Classical Schooling,” refers specifically to The American Academy (p. 7). In the milieu of classical schooling, Leithart quotes the status quo: “At the Veritas School in Lancaster, students take Latin for six years before switching to Greek for two years, but Headmaster Ty Fischer admits that his students do not yet learn the languages as well as they should. Veritas initially taught Latin with the real aim of achieving ‘English mastery,’ but Fischer says they are now ‘moving in the direction of mastering Latin.’ … From his vantage point at CiRCE, Andrew Kern points to some language success stories, including [T]he American Academy in Philadelphia and St. Peter’s in Dallas. Yet he laments that many classical schools have ‘concluded that “classical” means three stages and a lot of books.’ Few schools ‘see mastery as the goal.’ Instead classical schools [often] teach Latin to help with English grammar, to raise SAT scores, or to increase vocabulary….”

Leithart adds that “What draws people to classical Christian schools is the children [and the teachers] they see who are different—more articulate, more respectful, and more intelligent.”

The entire article is available online at the Intercollegiate Study Institute’s web journal, “First Principles“

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