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Developing Classical Thinkers is a classical podcast for classical thinkers, created and supported by the teachers at Thales Academy, a classical school in Raleigh, North Carolina. A Thales Press podcast.
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13 MAG 2025 · In American history, tariffs have been one of the most controversial and divisive economic issues. Today, tariffs are back in the news as President Trump has levied massive import fees on various goods coming into the United States from around the world--but what is a tariff? How are these fees calculated? And who is really benefiting from these fees coming into America's ports?
We are honored to welcome Dr. Roberto Salinas León to Developing Classical Thinkers to talk about tariffs, the disruption they cause, and the value that free trade brings to consumers.
Roberto Salinas León is President of the Mexico Business Forum, where he works on assorted projects of policy analysis, media, investment advisory, and economic consultancy. He is currently the Director of the Center for Latin America of Atlas Network. He holds a B.A. in Political Economy, History and Philosophy from Hillsdale College, Michigan; and an M.A. and Ph. D. in Philosophy, Purdue University, Indiana. Dr. León serves as a debate fellow for the Calvin Coolidge Foundation.
6 MAG 2025 · A Socratic seminar is not a lecture where the teacher imparts information to students, nor is it some sort of a debate. Instead, it is a meaningful dialogue with teachers and students and the authors of the great ideas they are examining together. Join veteran educators Chelsea Wagenaar, Chris and Kellie Scripter, and Winston Brady and hear their best practices for leading engaging, rigorous, and joyful seminars for students.
Dr. Chelsea Wagenaar received a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Texas. She teaches Literature and Trivium.
Chris Scripter received a B.A. in History and Religion from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in European History at the State University of New York. Mr. Scripter teaches History. Chris Scripter received a B.A. in History and Religion from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in European History at the State University of New York. Mr. Scripter teaches History.
Kellie Scripter received a B.A. in History and French from the University of Rochester and an M.A. in American History from Binghamton University. She teaches History and Humane Letters.
Interested in teaching at Thales Academy? Check out: https://www.thalesacademy.org/contact/careers
22 APR 2025 · In this episode, Winston Brady and Marc Fusco discuss the joys of teaching middle school and studying astronomy.
Mr. Fusco currently teaches Junior High History and Trivium at Thales Academy Raleigh, where he shares his love of classical education, literature, and history with his students, and he also is an Assistant Varsity Soccer Coach at Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS. He enjoys playing music, playing soccer, building rockets, studying history, and learning.
After graduate school, Mr. Fusco worked as a Management Consultant and business owner 15+ years, and most recently, worked at NASA for 10 years before coming to Thales Academy. In the episode, Winston asks Marc about star nurseries, spiral arms, and galactic clusters, among many other topics.
Mr. Fusco received a B.A. and an M.A. in Medieval and Renaissance Literature and History from Arizona State University, an M.S. in Space Science from the University of North Dakota, attended Cambridge University in the UK, and was a doctoral fellow in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He teaches History at Thales Academy Raleigh and is an Assistant Varsity Soccer Coach at Thales Academy Rolesville JH/HS.
17 APR 2025 · At the root of classical education is a noble challenge championed by master teachers throughout the Western heritage: teaching is the process of soul-craft—by which educators cultivate virtue within other human beings so that they might live good lives.
This challenge inherently elevates the role of teachers beyond mere transmitters of knowledge to shapers of innate potential— people with the power and influence to build up or undermine the lives and willpower of students.
In this presentation, Mr. Palmer explored the tragic landscape of contemporary American education, explicated the nuances of soul-craft in theory and practice, and revealed why this kind of soul-craft possesses ultimate significance for human flourishing.
Zach Palmer received a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction: History from Liberty University. Mr. Palmer teaches American History, Western Civilization, and Civics.
16 APR 2025 · What is the telos of education? In a free society, is it desirable or practical to attempt to design a single system of schooling that is ideal for everyone? Can schools hold a neutral position regarding morality and values, or is education a fundamentally ethical enterprise that inevitably adopts a new moral framework when an old one is removed?
In this presentation, Patrick Halbrook considered these questions in a historical framework as they have been applied to American education in the twenty-first century.
Patrick Halbrook is a teacher, graphic designer, and writer—as well as a passionate advocate for classical Christian education. Over the years he has written for various publications including The Imaginative Conservative, FORMA Journal, The Classical Difference, and Cary Christian School’s blog, The Forum. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal and Biblical Studies from Florida College and a Masters of Art in History from North Carolina State University.
15 APR 2025 · The current education system in the United States is increasingly misaligned with the needs of many Americans. This paper explores the shortcomings of our “federalist” approach to education, emphasizing how federal overreach and bureaucratic stagnation have hindered progress and outcomes.
While federal involvement was intended to promote equity and accountability, it has often devolved into inflexible mandates and uniform policies that erode local autonomy and fail to address the unique needs of communities. These dynamics not only limit the ability of families to govern themselves but also weaken the cultivation of moral character, which is vital for personal and societal growth.
Ray Nothstine is a Future of Freedom Fellow and senior editor and writer for State Policy Network, where he primarily helps to shepherd the American Habits publication. He previously worked as opinion editor at Carolina Journal and as a Second Amendment research fellow at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nothstine graduated with a Master of Divinity (M.Div) degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He also holds a B.A. in political science from The University of Mississippi in Oxford. He currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and three sons.
10 APR 2025 · In this presentation, Robert Luddy walked through Thales Academy’s mission—to offer the highest quality education at the lowest possible price—and the real, practical steps that educational entrepreneurs can take to establish similar schools and educational institutions.
Robert "Bob" Luddy is the Founder and Chairman of Thales Academy, Thales College, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy, and is the Founder and President of CaptiveAire Systems, North America's leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation equipment and a quickly growing manufacturer of commercial and industrial HVAC systems.
9 APR 2025 · If values like respecting proper parental authority and discretion, promoting awareness and admiration for American and Western culture, preparing students for constructive and knowledgeable citizenship, and conveying an accurate sense of American history in world context, once again became priorities, as there were in the past, what would K-12 education look like?
In this presentation, Professor Amy Wax examined the debate on education to go beyond advocacy for school choice and how expanded school choice policies can produce desirable substantive reforms in K-12 educational practice.
Professor Wax addressed these issues in her keynote address at the Liberty & Literacy Forum.
Amy Wax’s work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy as well as the relationship of the family, the workplace, and labor markets. By bringing to bear her training in biomedical sciences and appellate practice as well as her interest in economic analysis, Wax has developed a uniquely insightful approach to problems in her areas of expertise. Wax has published widely in law journals, addressing liberal theory and welfare work requirements as well as the economics of federal disability laws. Current works in progress include articles on same-sex marriage, disparate impact theory and group demographics, rational choice and family structure, and the law and neuroscience of deprivation.
Her most recent book is "Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century" (Hoover Institution Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). Wax has received the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course and the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. As an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wax argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court.
8 APR 2025 · Winston Brady offers opening remarks at the 2025 Liberty & Literacy Forum in Wake Forest North Carolina. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin "libertas," and within the word "libertas" is the word "liber," meaning “book." The Romans never separated "liberty" from a sound, content-rich education, and neither should we.
The ways of grammar, logic, and rhetoric taught students how to think and write, while the quadrivium helped students comprehend truth and study everything from simple shapes to the highest heavens. These arts were called liberal arts because, in reality, they liberate students. They free an individual from ignorance and help that person learn how to think.
As a result, it is a civilization-ending tragedy that American students are increasingly incapable of reading simple books and even completing simple math.
To promote sound, content-rich education, Thales Press hosted the Liberty & Literacy Forum on March 21, 2025. These papers addressed literacy, classical wisdom, and virtue and offer positive steps to advance the cause of freedom and human flourishing in our K-12 schools and across the United States today.
7 APR 2025 · Kim Tully serves as the lead for the Luddy Industrial and Vocational Arts program and the Luddy Institute of Technology at Thales Academy. These programs guide students through the fundamental skills and topics and through rigorous hands-on activities and experiments, all of which are explained in detail and with photos throughout the books Kim Tully and her team have designed.
In this episode, Kim Tully and Winston Brady talk about these courses, the skills students will learn, and the goals they have for the program: a well-educated student capable of working with electronics and power tools as they are intellectually curious and virtuous.
Developing Classical Thinkers is a classical podcast for classical thinkers, created and supported by the teachers at Thales Academy, a classical school in Raleigh, North Carolina. A Thales Press podcast.
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| Autore | Thales Press |
| Organizzazione | Developing Classical Thinkers |
| Categorie | Istruzione |
| Sito | www.spreaker.com |
| thalespress@thalesacademy.org |
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