This episode originally aired in May of 2023. During this season heading into a Presidential election - and all of the political news and discussions that permeate such a season - we believe this is a timely conversation to release as part of our summer hiatus time.

Are you weary of the way that politics has seemed to seep into every corner of our lives, including in the education of even our youngest children? Ty Fischer and Veritas Dean of Students and humanities teacher Graham Dennis talk about the valuing a “pre-political” education, and what that looks like as we seek to cultivate a generation who can discuss an array of difficult topics with confidence, respect, and clarity.

The discussion dives all the way back to the Ancient origins of the word politics and meanders into the modern era, helping us to discern how we can raise today's youth to be free thinking citizens who can rise above the mud slinging of today's political ideas.

Books referenced in this episode include:

• ⁠Dorothy Sayers - The Mind of the Maker⁠

• ⁠Plato - The Republic⁠

• ⁠The Writings of Justin Martyr⁠

• ⁠Russel Kirk - Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered⁠

• ⁠Josef Pieper - Leisure: The Basis of Culture

This episode originally aired in Season 2 of Cultivate in February of 2023. During the summer months, between our seasons of new episodes, we'll be re-releasing one Season 2 episode each month.

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David Bahnsen - portfolio manager, author, television commentator, and host of the Dividend Cafe podcast - joins our host Ty Fischer to talk about how we can and should view economics in light of God's plan and glory, and why work is something we should lead our children toward embracing as they live their lives as image bearers of a creative, productive God. The son of the late theologian Greg Bahnsen, David approaches the topic of economics from a unique and biblical perspective that will help you understand today's issues with a new, godly mindset.

Find more about David at the links below:

⁠Bahnsen.com⁠

⁠The Dividend Cafe Podcast⁠

⁠The Bahnsen Group Investment Firm and Financial Planners⁠

⁠There's No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths (David's most recent book)

Determined truth seekers and bold truth speakers.

If you would agree that those are the types of people we want our kids' generation to grow into, then you must listen to this podcast.

As our final episode of Season 3, we're bringing our audience back to an exceptionally memorable conversation we had with renowned public intellectual and legal scholar Dr. Robert P. George in Season 2 of Cultivate. In fact, it was this conversation that spurred on the theme of "courage" for Season 3.

Dr. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, where he also founded and serves as the Director of the ⁠James Madison Program for American Ideals and Institutions.⁠ He was the commencement speaker at Veritas Academy's 2022 graduation ceremony, where he addressed the audience with a talk on Faith, Truth, and Courage. As a prominent scholar and professor whose deeply-held, faith-rooted views often run contrary to many of his peers and contemporaries in higher education, Dr. George has plenty of experience in practicing what he calls his students to do - that is, be determined truth seekers and bold truth speakers.

Whether you listened to this episode the first time it aired in April 2023, or you'd like to hear it again, we hope you enjoy the wisdom from this well-known, well-spoken thought leader, as he talks with Veritas Head of School Ty Fischer about what is needed in our society and in the coming generations if we want to see "this great experiment in morally ordered liberty and constitutional government long endure."

The culture is coming for us, as Christians who follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And if you're training up your children to do likewise, the culture is coming for them, too.

Prepare them. Prepare them to not only stand for what they believe in, but to disagree well with others without destroying relationships. To argue the point and not the person. To not let inevitable conflict breed anger and cynicism in their hearts. And to rely on Christ and His body to wage warfare against the principalities that come against them.

Theologian Doug Wilson, Pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, ID and one of the founders of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, joins his longtime friend Ty Fischer to talk about how he has dealt with his share of controversy, and what principles Christian parents and educators can apply to equip our children to handle conflict with grace, wisdom, and truth.

"You talked about WHAT at your Christian school?!"

At first glance, that may be a question many would ask us at Veritas, at least when it comes to a program designed for our Rhetoric students called the Strawbridge Discussion Series.

You may not expect a school like ours to host speakers who advocate for things like gender fluidity, critical race theory, deconstruction of the Christian faith, and so on.

But we know that your children, once they leave the confines of your home, church, and this Christian school - whether in a summer job, college, or their career in the great wide world - will encounter people who espouse these ideas and more. And this program, as a key part of a classical Christian education, helps to prepare them for those important conversations now.

Named after our dear friend, pastor, and theologian Dr. Gregg Strawbridge who passed away in 2022, the mission of the Strawbridge Discussion Series is to expose students to worldview perspectives in direct opposition to those embraced by Veritas Academy. Our goal is to do so in a unique and authentic manner, allowing individuals who hold to such views to come and speak at the school.

Students will not only learn about these perspectives, but also witness a gracious manner of public discourse, in the same manner that Gregg Strawbridge so aptly modeled in his lifetime.

Hear from Head of School Ty Fischer, Dean of Students Graham Dennis, and Dean of Humane Letters Bruce Etter more on our heart behind this program, what it looks like to teach students to engage in respectful and gracious discourse, and how parents can help prepare your children to encounter different worldviews with wisdom, grace, and truth.

In this episode, two seniors from last year's (2023) graduating class reflect on the process of our Rhetoric School capstone course, Senior Thesis. Students John Spead and Meg Coughlan are joined by our upper school Writing and Senior Thesis teacher Ms. Caroline Nixon as they talk with Head of School Ty Fischer about the rewards and challenges of this rigorous course, which culminates the classical Christian education process.

At first glance, many who begin exploring classical Christian education may assume that its proclivity for the humanities - the Great Books, history, philosophy, etc. - leads to weaker science and mathematics disciplines.

Hear from Rhonda Forbes, Veritas Dean of Math and Science, and Bill Lauris, beloved Veritas upper school science teacher, on why that assumption is in fact a gross misconception!

In this episode, we examine not only our culture's fascination with STEM, but the importance it plays in any student's education. Listen to hear how, specifically, a classical Christian education uniquely prepares students to thrive in STEM fields, thanks to the distinctive tenets which lead to critical thinking, problem solving, and an integrated view of subjects.

We'll touch on topics like:

• Advanced Placement courses and tests
• Using secular science and math textbooks
• A classical Christian view of STEM
• and more!

You'll not only get to know a couple of our STEM teachers a little better through this conversation, but you will appreciate and understand how a classical Christian school can offer one of the best platforms for students to develop a love and skillset in math and science.

Reading recommendations mentioned in this episode:

• Bavinck: A Critical Biography
• The Journal of Chemical Education
• Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

Dr. Weiling He, whose family was part of the Veritas Academy school community last year while she was on sabbatical from her position as a professor of architecture at Texas A & M, describes her family's experience living in China during the cultural revolution from 1966-1976.

In her conversation with our host and Head of School Mr. Ty Fischer, she offers not only harrowing stories from her parents' and grandparents' lives through her home country's upheaval, but also a word of caution to us in America. Her story and observations cause us to consider the markings of cultural revolution that are popping up in the Western world today, and the importance of keeping healthy debate and discourse alive in our schools, media, and culture.

View her PowerPoint with photos and quotes from Lawrence Liu's memoir Under The Scorching Sun (referenced in the podcast) here:

Weiling He Cultural Revolution PowerPoint