Two-week Intensive - 1776: The Ancient and Modern Roots of the American Mind

Summer 2026

This course has concluded. Visit our current catalog for upcoming offerings.

Course Description

Yes, but... what can you actually DO with a Classics degree? One answer: you can found the freest, mightiest, most successful republic in the history of the world! If we translate what the American Founders studied in college into contemporary categories, we would term them Classics majors. Jefferson late in life famously wrote in a letter that he did not deserve too much credit for the Declaration because he was simply expressing the common sentiment of the American mind at that time and that there was nothing in there you could not find in Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, [Algernon] Sidney, etc. In this class we will read and discuss in English influential excerpts of these four authors (and more) and culminate in three days of close reading of each of the Declaration of Independence's three parts, but ending on Friday, July 3rd with the Gettysburg Address and Frederick Douglass' What is the 4th of July to the Slave?. Come join the adventure of this intellectual ancestry search in time for America's 250th birthday!

Details

Semester: Summer 2026
Time: 6:00 PM ET
Duration: 60 minutes per session
Level: Various — Open to anyone.
Subject: Classics-Courses-In-English
Textbook: Instructor will provide materials.

Tuition

$1,000 per course

Availability

5 spots remaining out of 5

Cancellation Policy

Telepaideia tuition is non-refundable. However, if you need to cancel your enrollment or withdraw from your class, you may be eligible for a 50% credit to be used toward a future Telepaideia course. In order to be eligible for this credit, you must notify info@paideiainstitute.org of your withdrawal before the second class meeting has taken place.

Instructor

David Ring

David Ring teaches Latin and Ancient Greek as living languages by using an eclectic mix of methods, ranging from the insights of Renaissance Humanist pedagogy (especially the advice of Erasmus) to the Direct or Nature method to (first and foremost) Teaching with Comprehensible Input. Be it a discussion in Latin or Greek about a beautiful painting, or personal life conversation, or solving riddles, or paraphrasing poets into simpler prose, or storyboarding Lucian's True Stories -- David and his students aim to get lost in the joy of what they are doing, such that they forget they are speaking Latin or Ancient Greek. He believes that the purpose of liberal education is to help young people grow in self-knowledge -- both individual and cultural --, to help them form sharp intellects, wise judgment, and greatness of soul. He believes this is best done via direct encounters with the greatest minds and greatest stories of the last 3,000 years.