Reclaiming Classic Education — From Theory to Action

The article is a product of the project titled Conservative Case in Education, supported by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium Learning Institute.

We gathered in Warsaw in June at a critical juncture. Across Europe and America, our education systems—once the bedrock of cultural transmission and intellectual excellence—are in crisis. Declining standards, the erosion of discipline, and the loss of cultural authority threaten not only our schools but the very future of our civilizations. Meanwhile, global competitors, particularly in East Asia, outperform us in foundational knowledge and rigour.

This is not merely an educational crisis; it is a social crisis. It reflects a deeper malaise: the abandonment of tradition, the medicalization of social problems, and a growing anti-elitism that undermines teachers and trivializes excellence. But let me be clear: this is not a time for despair. It is a time for action.

The Crisis in Four Problem Areas 

First, let us diagnose the disease: 

1. Declining Standards: Curricula have been dumbed down, grade inflation is rampant, and mastery of core knowledge is no longer expected. We have confused accessibility with mediocrity.
2. Loss of Cultural Authority: Teachers, once respected as experts, are now undermined by a culture that dismisses expertise as elitism. The classroom has become a battleground of ideologies rather than a sanctuary of learning.
3. Decline of Discipline: Social problems are individualized, even glorified, while discipline is dismissed as oppression. Structure and accountability are replaced with therapeutic excuses.
4. Global Competition: Employers increasingly look to high-standard systems abroad because our credentials no longer guarantee competence.

These are symptoms of a civilization that has lost faith in its own foundations.

Conservatives in the Storm

When I look around at conservative education, I see distinct types and attitudes. The first type, which characterizes America and part of Western Europe, is the Noah’s Ark builder. They want to save the families and students who deserve it from destruction, and leave the rest to the Flood. The second type is the lone hero. School founders who are successful and recognized in their small world are heroes who resist the decline of Western civilization. They have very limited power or influence in their broader social environment. There are also the organized conservatives with national and even continental influence. From time to time, they come to power, govern and deal with short-term damage. Our Polish friends just elected a conservative president yesterday, and this has restored the political balance in this country. But I fear that this will not be enough to deal with the crisis in education. Finally, a democratic rise to power by conservatives is possible and desirable, provided they are able to create medium-term political stability. The conservative educational transition I have outlined here requires public policies within 2–3 election cycles.

‘When I look around at conservative education, I see distinct types and attitudes’

Core Principles of Renewal

As conservatives, we see the way forward rests on timeless principles:

• Knowledge Matters: Facts are not the enemy of critical thinking—they are its prerequisite. A mind without content is a mind that cannot think.
• Discipline Fosters Freedom: True freedom emerges from structure. Discipline is not tyranny; it is the scaffolding for deep learning and character.
• Teachers as Experts, Parents as Partners: We must restore the authority of teachers as subject-matter experts and empower parents as allies, not adversaries.
• Excellence is Inclusive: High standards are not elitist; they are the only path to equity. Every child deserves the dignity of challenge.

Policies to Turn the Tide

Theory alone is insufficient. Sporadic initiatives and heroic school experiments won’t turn the tide. Here is our action plan:

1. Curriculum Reform: Replace fragmented, skills-based learning with knowledge-rich, mastery-based curricula. Let us teach ‘what’ to think before ‘how’ to think.
2. Teacher Training: Recruit and retain subject experts with competitive salaries. A profession without prestige will never attract the best minds.
3. School Flexibility: make more space for manoeuvre for school directors—but demand accountability for results.
4. Parental Engagement: Launch campaigns and tools to help parents reclaim their role as educators. The family is the first classroom.
5. Employer/University Alignment: Partner with industries and universities to ensure credentials reflect real competence. Apprenticeships, not just degrees.
6. Cultural Renewal: Celebrate intellectual achievement. Let us make scholarship aspirational again.

And let us not forget the youth. Initiatives like the MCC’s Decathlon Model prove that young people thrive when challenged with rigour and purpose.

A Call to Action

Where are we now? At a crossroads. One path leads to continued decline—a future where our children are outmatched, our culture is diluted, and our heritage is forgotten. The other path demands courage: to restore, to reclaim, to act.

This is not a task for governments alone. It is a mission for all of us—teachers, parents, employers, and intellectuals. Let us work together to rebuild an education system worthy of our past and capable of securing our future. 

This is a written version of a lecture delivered by Dr János Setényi at the joint conference of Mathias Corvinus Collegium Learning Institute and Ordo Iuris in Warsaw on 2 June 2025.

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Related articles:

A Philosopher Priest’s Thoughts on Education — The Social Theory of Pál Kecskés

A Life of Service — The Educational and Ethnographic Legacy of Sándor Karácsony

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