by Brian Meyer

Created on: April 21, 2008

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is the fairest school of them all?"

"Why my child, the fairest school of them all is the school that carries the child in their times of woe", the mirror replied. The school that nurtures, inspires, and leads the child to heights unimagined in the vast imagination of the child the mirror goes on.

What is such a school you ask?

Is it a yet unrealized school with broadband connected computer devices on every desk? Scientifically designed nutritious meals offered to students for free, three times a day in the cafeteria perhaps? A custom, personalized crafted study program for each individual student, as advocated by the late US Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.

Hell no!

The best school of them all is eons old. The best school of them all is the classical school structure pioneered by the Greeks of yore.

The British Empire was built by men and women with such schooling. Indeed, the forefathers of the United States were beneficiaries of the classical English school structure. The foundation for the intellectual pursuits of the forefathers was built in the colonial American school structure.

Without the foundation established by the classical English school system, the timeless works of the American forefathers would not exist.

Such works as The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, The Federalist Papers, and the voluminous library of powerful letters those early Americans left for future civilizations.

There have been those who state the greatest legacy left to her former colonies by the former British Empire is liberal democracy. May I politely disagree? The greatest legacy left by the former British Empire to her democracies is a history of classical schools.

Until the 1960s the United States had the honored distinction of providing the best schooling to her young, her future leaders. Today, many schools in the United States better resemble minimum security prisons than inspirational centers of learning.

What, if any, was the seminal event for the rapid and disgraceful destruction of what for 200 years was the world's best learning system? The answer is Sputnik. The beginning of the space race signifies the end of classical schooling in the US.

Before Sputnik there were advocates of federal intervention in the schools in the US. However, before Sputnik, they never before had a vehicle to ride for federal intervention in what were local administered schools. No less a federal interventionist than

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