# Combating the 8th Grade Melt Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393/combating-the-8th-grade-melt Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393/combating-the-8th-grade-melt.md Podcast: [Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393) Published: 2026-08-17T04:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://omny.fm/shows/hillsdale-college-classical-education-podcast/combatting-the-8th-grade-melt Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0c7e618e-d306-498b-89ea-af55014957fe/d46d2119-8cf0-401c-be15-af5c00359b45/50668d71-80fc-4aed-a06c-b4a20116895c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=9f00e49b-3c48-475e-8a84-af5c00359b61 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393/episodes/combating-the-8th-grade-melt Duration seconds: 1435 ## Resource Aaron Schepps, upper school principal at Atlanta Classical Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, joins host Scot Bertram to discuss the problem of students leaving classical schools after 8th grade, why the "8th grade melt" exists, and how teachers can guide the conversation to encourage students to continue their classical education. Learn more:  https://k12.hillsdale.edu/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393/episodes/combating-the-8th-grade-melt/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/hillsdale-college-k-12-classical-education-podcast-18393/combating-the-8th-grade-melt.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.