Christian Kopff

The Classical Tradition in Antebellum America

The classical curriculum remained the educational gold standard in nineteenth-century America. In fact, its influence grew, as women’s academies with a classical curriculum were founded all over the expanding nation... The Golden Age of the Classics in America: Greece, Rome, and...

Whit Stillman’s “Barcelona” & 1980s America

Director Whit Stillman understands that America is dominated by a culture that was imported from Europe and is expressed in European tongues and nourished and maintained by contact with Europe... “Amerika, du hast es besser!” Goethe...

What is the Vocation of the Language Teacher?

At first glance, there would seem to be much work awaiting the teacher and scholar of language in the twenty-first century. The powers that be are obsessed with the industrial pollution of water, land, and air. The case...

The Classics and the Traditional Liberal Arts Curriculum

Christian Kopff Before I started writing this essay, I went to University of Colorado library and took out one of the best books in English on education, Albert Jay Nock’s Theory...

Inspired by Liberty & Virtue: The Education of the Founders of the American Republic (video)

"Inspired by Liberty & Virtue: The Education of the Founders of the American Republic" was the keynote address given to the Free Enterprise Institute's Founders' Day Breakfast, November 2011. A slightly revised text version of this address can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpBq9uYmeJQ  Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

Classical Greek Philosophy and American Democratic Thought

Dr. E. Christian Kopff on "Classical Greek Philosophy and American Democratic Thought." We hope you will join us in The Imaginative Conservative community. The Imaginative Conservativeis an on-line journal for those who seek the True, the Good and the Beautiful. We address culture, liberal learning, politics, political economy, literature, the arts and the American...

Greek to Us: The Death of Classical Education and Its Consequences

In 1999 the A&E cable network broadcast a list of “The 100 Most Influential People of the Past 1000 Years,” selected by a “Blue Ribbon Panel.” Some of the names on the bottom half of the list were...

Inspired by Liberty & Virtue: The Classical Education of the Founders

The classical education of the American Founders was “Inspired by Liberty and Virtue.” Winston Elliott suggested the title for this essay and it is a good one. The curriculum that educated so many of the Founding generation was...