Mr. Banks and I wanted to choose a name for our new endeavor that reflected our complete vision and summed up what we believe about education. We immediately knew we wanted “Humane Letters” for several reasons. First, humane letters is a Renaissance term for the humanities, and it conveys our love of tradition and approach to teaching these subjects that is deeply rooted in the old ways. Second, the humane letters was a term associated with an educational reform movement in the Renaissance (literae humaniores). And third, we love the use of the word “humane” for its connotation. This is an education for the whole person, a fully human way of learning.

In the same way, we landed on the term “House.” Driving back from our honeymoon, MORE...