"The Christian and Western traditions offer a refreshing alternative to the feminist thesis," writes Scott Yenor in The American Conservative.

The classical Christian education (CCE) movement promises to provide a counterweight to the moral and intellectual decay in America’s public education system. Grounded in great books, CCE poses the greatest questions of human destiny to its students and provides them Christian answers. It seeks to cultivate in students a love of Christian virtues and an appreciation for the ancient virtues, not only through these books but also through an ordered educational environment.

Of course, the reigning American ethos both inspires and threatens CCE’s counter-cultural mission. Students are in schools for thousands of hours from kindergarten through graduation, but they are in the American culture for longer and the schools are in America, too. Between our mass culture, friends, churches, and parents, at least as many CCE students go with the American flow as live a counter-cultural life.

Most within the CCE movement are broadly conservative, but there is a real debate about what conservative means. Many parents and educators see CCE schools as Tolkien-like shires away from American problems. CCE schools are orderly, rigorous, old-fashioned, and mostly void of woke nonsense. They pursue excellence the better to prepare children for elite college admission and perhaps entry into America’s ruling class.

Others in the movement are cultural warriors, who seek an education set against the current American regime. They want their children to recognize regime lies and avoid the compromises with those lies that too often plague the American church. They emphasize faith and family, wanting their boys to become men able to lead a family, and wanting their daughters to prioritize motherhood…

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