K-12 education isn’t the end of most students’ educational journey. College, or 13th grade as I like to call, it looms in the distance. Most of our CCE graduates head off to a wide range of college experiences from distinctly classical Christian colleges to state run universities and everything in between. My guest today looked around at the current range of options and was determined to do something different: something classical and yet entrepreneurial.  Not only will you want to hear about his new Hildegard College but his analysis of the current college landscape is helpful to any of us in the K-12 space regardless if we are inquiring educators or parents with students trying to make the big college decision.

Dr. Matthew Smith is Founding President at Hildegard College, where he teaches classic texts in literature, philosophy, theology, geometry, and science.

“What I love about discussing great texts around a common table is that every meeting is unrepeatable. Even more than  subject knowledge, I hope that my students will build memories of coming together in trust, friendship, and relentless curiosity to explore questions they couldn’t or wouldn’t ask on their own.”

His favorite books to teach are the tragedies of Sophocles, Augustine’s Confessions, Shakespeare’s comedies, Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, and The Book of Psalms.

Smith is author and editor of several books, including Performance and Religion in Early Modern England and Face to Face in Shakespearean Drama. Read more about his work at www.matthewjsmith.net.