Sophocles wants us to learn that in the face of suffering, the question of what it means to be human is not being posed to the one who suffers, but to those whose lives are comfortable and pleasant.

If a liberal education claims to introduce students to great works of literature, history, philosophy, and religion that they might not take up on their own, to help prepare them for a lifetime of learned reading, the works of J. R. R. Tolkien certainly merit inclusion.

Reading Tacitus doesn’t just help students understand historical events; it helps them understand the culture of the time through one of its own citizens, speaking across two millennia.

America is increasingly divided. We would do well to hold out the great artistic works of our heritage as one means of forging a greater common ground on which we all can stand. No work in the American canon is more important to that task than Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The Classic Learning Test is shaped by the philosophers, scientists, historians, and poets. Nowhere is this more evident than in our author bank. Though no list could be exhaustive, the authors that form the basis of our test material represent some of the finest thought and artistic expression in our culture.