The Objective Standard: Education & Parenting

The Subversive Art of a Classical Education by Michael S. Rose

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:39:28 GMT

New York: Regnery, 2026
312 pp., $32.99

Michael S. Rose’s new book, The Subversive Art of a Classical Education: Reclaiming the Mind in an Age of Speed, Screens, and Skill-Drills, is the most interesting sort of paradox: the sort that would be most beneficial to those least likely to recognize its value. Beautifully written and skillfully argued, the book…

Hannah Frankman: Rebel Educator

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

In one way or another, Hannah Frankman has spent most of her life in the alternative education sphere: She was homeschooled, then worked for the college-alternative bootstrapping program Praxis before starting her own alternative education company, Rebel Educator. What follows is an edited, condensed version of the most recent conversation we had on my …

Schools Foment Shootings by Undermining Self-Esteem

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I don’t recall what exactly he said—I just remember throwing my inch-thick biology book end-over-end at the back of his head. It had been weeks of relentless “your mom” jokes and the like, but what I felt as the book thudded against his skull was not righteousness but helplessness. And that feeling only intensified when he—twice my size—picked me up by …

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren (Review)

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

New York: Touchstone, 1972 (revised edition)
426 pp. $14.99 (Kindle)

We must be more than a nation of functional literates. We must become a nation of truly competent readers, recognizing all that the word “competent” implies. Nothing less will satisfy the needs of the world that is coming. —Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

These words were first wr…

Bad Schools and What to Do about Them, with Andrew Bernstein

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Dr. Andrew Bernstein is not only a friend of mine and a contributing editor of this journal, he’s a college professor with decades of experience and the author of numerous essays and books, most recently Why Johnny Still Can’t Read or Write or Understand Math: And What We Can Do About It. He joined me recently on the Philosophy for Flourishing podcast t…

Public School Pandemonium Teaches a Valuable Lesson

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This article is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education.

On September 29, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) asked President Biden to use the full power of the federal government against parents. Their offense? Disrupting school board meetings to protest mask mandates for their children, and to questio…

Why I Left America’s Failing Universities: An Interview with Carrie-Ann Biondi

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

From the outside looking in, it’s easy to speculate, in general terms, why professors seem to be fleeing higher education in increasing numbers. But it’s not every day one gets to hear from a scholar who spent years building specialized knowledge and expertise—landing tenure and a department chair—only to give it up and walk away.

Carrie-Ann Biondi, a ph…

Why Universities Should Teach Ayn Rand Alongside Karl Marx

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Author’s note: This piece is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education. It is dedicated to the Venezuelan students I recently met, whose schools teach Marxism while their country sinks beneath a tyrant who practices it.

Aside from a few writing manuals, the book assigned in more college classes today than any other is Karl Marx’s

Your New Alternative for Advancing Objectivism

Craig Biddle — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to support an educational organization that advances Ayn Rand’s philosophy, you have a powerful new alternative: Objective Standard Institute (OSI)—which is related to but distinct from TOS.

OSI is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to teaching the rising generation about the importance of philosophy, the principles of Objectivism…

Kyle Steele on VanDamme Academy’s Response to COVID-19

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Kyle Steele is the head of school at VanDamme Academy (VDA), where he also teaches art appreciation and math to second- through eighth-graders. I had a delightful conversation with him about VDA’s unique (and uniquely effective) approach to education, the challenges posed by statist responses to COVID-19, and the future of educational freedom in America.

COVID-19 and the Future of Educational Freedom

Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: TOS does not endorse the author’s views on “unschooling.” For an enlightening exchange on that subject, see Lisa VanDamme’s reply to a letter in the Spring 2008 issue of The Objective Standard.

It is an odd juxtaposition that at a time when families are isolated in their homes, lacking the freedom to go about the ordinary routines of life,…

How Teaching Benefits Teachers

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Education is obviously of enormous value to students of all ages. Often overlooked, however, is the incredible value of teaching to the teacher, specifically the cognitive benefits a teacher gains.

The idea that we achieve better understanding of a concept or subject by teaching it to someone else is not new. The Roman philosopher Seneca (ca. 4 BC–65 AD)…

My Sixth-Grade Socialist Indoctrination

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

In the spring of 2001, my sixth-grade class at Cedarvale Community School took part in a special Canadian government program intended to preserve “Canadian heritage” by interviewing older people and recording their thoughts.

My classmates and I visited a home for the elderly where we asked residents a series of questions and dutifully wrote down their re…

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

New York: Riverhead Books, 2019.

352 pp. $28 (hardcover).

In recent years, many people have embraced specialization as the preferred method for cultivating elite performance in fields such as sports, medicine, music, and robotics. Parents, coaches, and teachers are pushing children at increasingly earlier ages to become specialists through lots of deliber…

TOS-Con Video: “Intellectual Independence: Your Basic Means of Thriving”

Craig Biddle — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TOS-Con 2019 was profoundly enlightening and a whole lot of fun. I learned a great deal from the amazing speakers, enjoyed great conversations with the active-minded attendees, and left feeling exhilarated, rejuvenated, and better equipped to live and love my life.

A big thank-you to everyone who had a hand in making the conference such a success!

In the …

Alt-Education Is Filling a Void that Colleges Can’t

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Is college worth it? Given the fast pace at which information and technology are advancing, the ever-increasing cost of tuition, and the alternatives available on the market today, the choice of whether to attend college may not be as cut and dried as it once was. A Washington Post article reports:

Knowledge may be priceless, but a higher education is cl…

“Little Candle,” Bright Light: The Story of VanDamme Academy

Craig Biddle — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The long-awaited documentary, “A Little Candle,” about Lisa VanDamme’s remarkable school, VanDamme Academy, is now available on YouTube (it’s also posted below).

Here’s what Lisa said about the film upon its release:

As the school's founder, I have often been asked when I am going to start a new school, or a high school, or a franchise. About a decade ago…

Intelligent Disobedience for Children: A Handbook for Parents and Caregivers

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

When you place your child in the care of other adults—day-care providers, teachers, coaches, camp counselors—you trust that he will be safe, but you know you can’t be totally sure. When a supposedly trusted authority figure tells a child to do something wrong, the experience is confusing and potentially dangerous. You prepare your child to not get into …

Marva Collins, Her Method, and Her ‘Philosophy for Living’

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Marva Collins, who would go on to develop her own educational method and empower students in urban Chicago, was born on August 31, 1936 in Alabama. She surmounted one obstacle after another to become one of the world’s most famous educators. Her highly effective, controversial pedagogy was so distinctive that it became known simply as “the Marva Collins…

The Human Flourishing Project Podcast: Incredible Value for ‘Students of Life’

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I’ve been an avid podcast listener for years, and Alex Epstein’s new Human Flourishing Project is the most promising thing I’ve found when it comes to concentrated doses of wide-ranging, real-life benefits.

The word “flourishing,” Epstein notes, comes from the word flower. It refers to a flower that is at its best—in its state of highest possibility. So …