National Review, the prominent conservative outlet founded in 1955 by William F. Buckley Jr., just published a feature on the school-choice movement in Florida, which includes a lengthy profile of Chesterton Academy.
Read Article >> “Florida’s Expanded School Choice Defies Doomsday Predictions as Tens of Thousands of Students Enroll”
Here’s an excerpt:
The elimination of income limits on the Florida’s choice scholarships has allowed schools like Chesterton Academy of Orlando to expand. The school, a classical high school grounded in the Catholic faith, was founded in Central Florida last year. Tuition is $8,500 per year, low for a private school. It is part of a network of Chesterton schools in the U.S. and Canada.
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Vogt said Chesterton doesn’t follow the typical public-school factory model where students sit in desks in rows and a teacher lectures in the front of the room. Instead, Chesterton students often sit at tables arranged in a circle, and they learn through dialogue and discussion that teachers lead. There’s an emphasis on philosophy, theology, and fine arts.
“All students learn to paint and to draw and to sing and to speak well, to think, to argue,” he said.
[. . . ]
The surge of students attending schools like Chesterton should encourage traditional public schools to up their game, because if the public schools are underwhelming, parents now have other options, Vogt said.