Opening Remarks on 'Liberty & Literacy' from Winston Brady | Liberty & Literacy Forum

Winston Brady offers opening remarks at the 2025 Liberty & Literacy Forum in Wake Forest North Carolina. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin "libertas," and within the word "libertas" is the word "liber," meaning “book." The Romans never separated "liberty" from a sound, content-rich education, and neither should we. 

The ways of grammar, logic, and rhetoric taught students how to think and write, while the quadrivium helped students comprehend truth and study everything from simple shapes to the highest heavens. These arts were called liberal arts because, in reality, they liberate students. They free an individual from ignorance and help that person learn how to think.

As a result, it is a civilization-ending tragedy that American students are increasingly incapable of reading simple books and even completing simple math.

To promote sound, content-rich education, Thales Press hosted the Liberty & Literacy Forum on March 21, 2025. These papers addressed literacy, classical wisdom, and virtue and offer positive steps to advance the cause of freedom and human flourishing in our K-12 schools and across the United States today.