On the surface, Hillsdale College’s goal of providing a network of classical charter schools that revive the American tradition of K-12 education is quite sound.
After all, what right-thinking parent, if they could afford it, wouldn’t want their child to have a rigorous education in the liberal arts and sciences but also instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue?
But, in Tennessee at least, Hillsdale and its officials have a history of saying things to make people question their motives.
In 2022, for instance, Hillsdale President Larry Arn was captured on hidden-camera video at a reception with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee saying education degrees are “easy” and that those who obtain them “don’t have to know anything.”
“The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest college in the country,” he said, among other remarks.