Bona Verba

See what’s happening at Cincinnati Classical Academy

Dispensing with the War on Grammar

Bona Verba from the Headmaster Perhaps you’ve noticed: instant messaging and social media have not been kind to grammar. Adolescents—and even many adults, yes?—mangle language with carefree abandon, reducing expression to a series of half-formed thoughts, emojis, and abbreviations. The result? A world where clarity dissolves, and the precision of

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A.I. in Education Is Not Inevitable

Bona Verba from the Headmaster The push for Artificial Intelligence in K–12 education has been framed as a technological inevitability driven by market forces and the allure of increased efficiency. Advocates argue that AI will streamline lesson planning, individualize learning, and enhance student engagement, making the traditional classroom obsolete. Yet,

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Seven Essential Books for Understanding Classical Education

Bona Verba from the Headmaster Classical education, with its deep roots in Western civilization, remains one of the most compelling and time-honored approaches to learning. For those seeking a roadmap into the intellectual and pedagogical traditions of Cincinnati Classical Academy, these seven books provide essential insight. Each work, in its

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Why I Lead a Classical School

Bona Verba from the Headmaster The following is a brief speech I delivered at The Art of Teaching: Reading and Writing conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, sponsored by Hillsdale College’s Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence. I’d like to begin with the premise that to lead a classical school in the 21st

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The Moral Landscape of Stories

Bona Verba from the Headmaster It is the sheer magnitude of words and the long-proclaimed drama that makes the epic so enduring, but what of the moral infrastructure upon which these stories are propped? Each line, each image, each hard-forged maxim serves as a blueprint for how to measure one’s

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What Is Wisdom? A Classical Education’s Timeless Reply

Bona Verba from the Headmaster At Cincinnati Classical Academy, we reject the notion that schooling should be reduced to the mere accumulation of marketable skills or the passive absorption of information. Instead, we affirm that the highest aim of education is the formation of the intellect and character in pursuit

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The Classical Edge in a Digital World

Bona Verba from the Headmaster It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that a classical education, rooted in Latin, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, and the great books, could be the ideal preparation for careers in technology, including computer science and “coding.” Yet at Cincinnati Classical Academy, our integrated liberal arts foundation offers

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The Sentinel Eagle: Iconography of Vigilance and Guardianship

Bona Verba from the Headmaster High atop plinths of weathered granite or stoic marble, sentinel eagles perch with an unyielding gaze. Their eyes, gleaming when the sun hits just so, seem to see through the mists of time itself, standing watch over the thresholds of our most sacred and strategic

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What Is Beauty? A Meditation on the Transcendental Trifecta

Bona Verba from the Headmaster Dostoevsky’s proclamation that “beauty will save the world” hangs in the air like a half-formed chord, a symphonic fragment waiting for resolution. What is this beauty that wields such salvific power? Is it a physical form, a Platonic ideal, or a whisper from eternity encoded

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The Power of Language

Bona Verba from the Headmaster Language shapes our thoughts, influences our behavior, and defines our relationships. At Cincinnati Classical Academy, we recognize that this powerful tool carries both tremendous potential and significant responsibility. As an institution committed to equality and human dignity, we strive to foster an environment where communication

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