Michael Bileca

Did you doubt we’d do it? Plane #2 of students is Portland bound! #Marchmadness #highpointuniversity #collegehoops #gohpu

High Point G Chase Johnston, who hit the game-winner in their upset win over Wisconsin, wears jersey #99 to represent The Parable of the Lost Sheep where Jesus leaves the 99 to find the 1 👏

Students who took notes by hand scored ~28% higher on conceptual questions than laptop note-takers. Writing forces your brain to process and compress ideas instead of copying them.

In the new issue of @Commentary I review James Traub's "The Cradle of Citizenship." The erosion of civic education, I argue, is not merely a failure of curriculum or pedagogy, but a failure of purpose: we have largely stopped believing that forming citizens is what public education is for. commentary.org/articles/rober…

Still more evidence that EdTech harmed American education: Across states, the year that the state imposed mandates requiring computers/tablets, that's the year that test scores stopped rising and in most cases started falling. From Jared Cooney Horvath thedigitaldelusion.substack.com/p/when-correla…

Scruton's introduction to his 2009 BBC documentary Why Beauty Matters t.co/hixVDWObcW. "At any time between 1750 and 1930, if you asked educated people to describe the aim of poetry, art or music, they would have replied 'beauty'. And, if you had asked for the point of that, you would have learned that beauty is a value, as important as truth and goodness. Then, in the 20th century, beauty stopped being important. Art increasingly aimed to disturb and to break moral taboos. It was not beauty, but originality, however achieved, and at whatever moral cost, that won the prizes. Not only has art made a cult of ugliness. Architecture too has become soulless and sterile. And it is not just our physical surroundings that have become ugly. Our language, our music, and our manners are increasingly raucous, self-centred, and offensive, as though beauty and good taste have no real place in our lives. One word is written large on all these ugly things, and that word is 'me': my profits, my desires, my pleasures. And art has nothing to say in response to this, except 'Yeah, go for it!' I think we are losing beauty, and there is a danger that with it we will lose the meaning of life."

The more time students spend on screens, the less they learn. Ed tech does not belong in schools (until it is thoroughly tested & proven to help). Excerpt from Jared Cooney Horvath's excellent new book, The Digital Delusion, in @TheFP thefp.com/p/we-gave-stud…

Brave New World: the republic of distraction open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau…

Please join our family in supporting our True North schools this Give Miami Day. Early Giving has started! True North Fundraising Page mtyc.co/rlfm7f #givemiamiday2025 via @miamifoundation

"When people stop being able to read — to make sense of the meaning of text on a page — they also lose the ability to make sense of the world. At stake here is nothing less than the fate of humanity, given the intimate connection between the written word and civilisation itself."

With the Eye of the Tiger and the heart of True North, we're stepping up this #GiveMiamiDay. Let's show Miami what determination looks like by creating individual fundraisers and sharing it with your friends and family.

Phone bans in schools motivate kids to read. When a Kentucky district eliminated phones, students checked out 2.3x as many books from the library. At one school, twice as many students borrowed books in the first month as all of last year. Without smartphones, kids get smarter.

“Creativity is more important than knowledge!” Would you like your surgeon or pilot to feel that way? The whole purpose of education is knowledge acquisition.

I cannot get enough of the research on classroom seating arrangements It's just a prime example of how progressive, "student-centered" education promises much but ultimately fails When desks move from groups to rows, on task behavior DOUBLED Conversely, rates of disrupted TRIPLED when desks were placed in groups

“The source of tolerance is the recognition that none of us have the absolute truth. There can be no tolerance without humility.” — Milton Friedman

Earlier this week, at the Board of Trustees meeting, we proudly welcomed Diego Hernandez as our new Student Representative. Diego, a 17-year-old, Political Science major, American Dream Scholar recipient, and Former SGA President, Homestead Campus We also recognized Shiba Gayle for her outstanding service as the outgoing representative. Shiba recently earned her A.S. in Nursing and will take the NCLEX this summer before continuing her studies with us this fall. Congratulations to Diego, and thank you, Shiba, for your exceptional leadership!

Brain rot is real, hitting adults too. Two recent articles show that.... 1) When our phones got smart, we got dumber: ft.com/content/a8016c… 2) When people are randomly assigned to make their smartphones dumb, they get smarter #506527390" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/arti…

Earlier today, @FIUPresident Jeanette Nuñez welcomed @usedgov @EDSecMcMahon to Miami at @TrueNorthSchool along with other educational leaders including @MDCollege @mdcpresident @mbileca @MDCPS @MonicaColucciFL #FIUSTEMEducation #IMPACTMATTERS

At my second stop in Florida today, I got to learn more about classical education from some truly joyful students and teachers today at True North Classical Academy in Miami. I enjoyed learning more from state and local leaders about the importance of education freedom!

A wonderful evening celebrating 10 years of @TrueNorthSchool’s commitment to excellence through classical education with @mbileca. A decade of shaping young minds through wisdom and virtue, with many more years of inspiring learning ahead!