Kepler’s Great Tradition of Classical Education is a simple way for any adult learner to join the Republic of Letters and engage in the Great Conversation of the Western Tradition.
Whether you are an adult learner who wants the Classical Christian Education your children are receiving at Kepler, or a post-high school student who wants to pursue a liberal arts education without paying egregious tuition costs at a modern college or university, or an educator seeking a Certification in Classical Christian Education, this course of study may be for you.
Adult Learning
The Great Tradition of Classical Education is one of the entry points for adult learners at Kepler, including the introductory course of study for Christian educators who intend to pursue Kepler's Teacher Certification.
When we speak of the Great Tradition of Classical Education, we are speaking of the Republic of Letters or The Great Conversation.
The Republic of Letters is the intellectual communities of thinkers and writers that have existed in nearly every culture and time period who by their engagement with great ideas through the written word formed a kind of metaphysical Republic. These intellectual communities went by various names throughout history (e.g., Belle Lettres, etc.), but all shared the same commitment to liberal learning and the life of the mind.
When we speak of The Great Conversation, we are harkening back to the writings of Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. What they meant by this term was the truth that there have been many great books written in the western world reflecting all academic disciplines that are arguably the standard of thinking about these disciplines.
Chesterton called these writers from the past, The Democracy of the Dead. By this, he meant something like the Republic of Letters. The Great Conversation is a call to engage in the conversation with these intellectual giants as they converse with one another about the perennial human questions.
A Course of Study for Adult Learners
Kepler's Introduction to the Great Tradition of Classical Education is a flexible course of liberal arts study for adult learners and gap-year students that can be taken advantage of as separate and distinct courses for personal enrichment. OR, a person can combine preceptorials with micro-courses to work toward Kepler's Teacher Certification.
Preceptorials and micro-courses both emphasize independent reading, discussion in small groups, and individual conferences with the professor.
Each preceptorial consists of two live, online sessions for 1.5 hours. The reading(s) must be done in advance. Mini-lectures will also be shared in advance of the live sessions and an online quiz will also be given as part of the final assessment. (Three hours of CEU will be granted at the completion of each quiz.)
Each micro-course consists of one live, online session for 1.5 hours. The short reading(s) must be completed in advance of the live session. No quiz is given as part of the final assessment. (CEUs will only be granted in conjunction with preceptorials for those pursuing Kepler's Teacher Certification.)
Preceptorials
$60 each (FREE Readings available for those marked with *)
Offerings for the 2024 Academic Year
Micro-courses
$30 each with FREE READINGS provided via PDF format
Offerings for the 2023-2025 Academic Years
| Month/Year | Date/Time | Title |
|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Friday 1/13/23 6:00-7:30 ET | John Erskine’s The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent |
| February 2023 | Friday 2/24/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Cicero’s On Old Age |
| March 2023 | Friday 3/17/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s The Goods of the Mind |
| April 2023 | Friday 4/21/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
| May 2023 | Friday 5/19/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Robert Hutchins’s, Liberal Education |
| June 2023 | Friday 6/30/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Dorothy Sayers’, The Lost Tools of Learning |
| August 2023 | Friday 8/18/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Michael Faraday’s The Chemical History of a Candle |
| September 2023 | Friday 9/15/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s The 12 Paideia Principles |
| October 2023 | Friday 10/20/23 6:00-7:30 ET | T. S. Eliot’s Tradition and the Individual Talent |
| November 2023 | Friday 11/17/23 6:00-7:30 ET | Lancelot Hogben’s Mathematics, the Mirror of Civilization |
| January 2024 | Friday 1/19/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Zoran Zivkovic’s The Library |
| February 2024 | Friday 2/23/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s “With the Mind’s Ear” |
| March 2024 | Friday 3/22/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Cicero’s On Friendship |
| April 2024 | Friday 4/19/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy |
| May 2024 | Friday 5/17/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Jacques Barzun’s What is a Classic & What Use the Classics |
| June 2024 | Friday 6/21/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s Paideia Problems and Possibilities |
| August 2024 | Friday 8/23/24 6:00-7:30 ET | C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters |
| September 2024 | Friday 9/27/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Andrew Russell Forsyth’s, Mathematics, in Life and Thought |
| October 2024 | Friday 10/18/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ |
| November 2024 | Friday 11/15/24 6:00-7:30 ET | Seneca’ On the Shortness of Life |
| January 2025 | Friday 1/17/25 6:00-7:30 ET | G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy |
| February 2025 | Friday 2/21/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Virginia Woolf’s, How Should One Read a Book? |
| March 2025 | Friday 3/21/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Robert Hutchins’s, The Education of Adults |
| April 2025 | Friday 4/18/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Daniel Defoe’s, Excerpts from Robinson Crusoe |
| May 2025 | Friday 5/16/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s Teaching, Learning, and Their Counterfeits |
| June 2025 | Friday 6/20/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Matthew Arnold’s, The Study of Poetry |
| August 2025 | Friday 8/22/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Plutarch’s, Of Bashfulness |
| September 2025 | Friday 9/19/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Molière’s The Misanthrope |
| October 2025 | Friday 10/17/25 6:00-7:30 ET | William James’s On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings |
| November 2025 | Friday 11/14/25 6:00-7:30 ET | Francis Bacon’s The Sphinx |
| January 2026 | Friday 1/23/26 6:00-7:30 ET | Mortimer Adler’s The Three Columns Revisited |
Questions about the Introduction to The Great Tradition of Classical Education can be directed to Dr. Robert Woods at robert.woods@kepler.education or Kepler's Academic Advisor at joffre@kepler.education.
Kepler Teachers seeking a higher percentage of tuition compensation may receive the terminal-degreed percentage after they complete all four preceptorials and 10 micro courses successfully, which will entitle the teacher to a certificate of the “Great Tradition of Education.” (This is NOT the same as a Kepler Teacher Certification but is the initial step toward full certification.) Learn more about Kepler's Teacher Certification Program.