Severn Classical Tutorial Classical Education Overview

 Introduction to Classical Education

The term "classical" refers to what is of good form and lasting value.  For centuries and until the early 1900’s, all educational institutions in the western world used this approach.  The classical model of education utilizes a pattern of grammar (the facts), logic (how the facts interrelate), and rhetoric (application and expression) in all subjects. Classical education is a time-honored method of teaching which focuses on equipping students with the art of HOW to learn.

Classical education refers to both the content of the studies and the methodology of the education. 

The content of the classical model is the subject matter. The classical method  disciplines the mind by studying a challenging level of subject material. In the pre-high school years students study classical languages (e.g., Latin), classical literature (e.g., Shakespeare), logic, and so on. Students continue in the high school years to study the great works of literature. Students  focus more on reading the original works rather than textbook summaries of the works. The classical method is language based rather than visual based. Time is spent reading and writing rather than learning from image based tools.

The methodology of the classical model refers to the tools of learning. The classical method is highly systematic, structured and disciplined. The classical model emphasizes grammar, logic, and rhetoric in all subjects. These are considered the stages and tools for learning each academic discipline. These tools for learning are called the trivium and are described in more detail in the next section. The trivium tools for learning are briefly defined for this introduction as follows:

Grammar = fundamental rules of each subject (facts)

Logic = ordered relationship of particulars in each subject. Logic is the art of thinking and arguing correctly (e.g.,  if A then B)

Rhetoric = how grammar and logic of each subject can be used/applied and communicated

The goal in studying a subject in the classical model is not to master the subject and know the content exhaustively, but rather to master the general tools of learning the subject. The mastery of these tools can then be applied to learning the subject throughout the students lifetime. The goal is not to just fill the mind with facts and information. The goal is to equip students to learn on their own. This is a wonderful approach for training the next generation of leaders who can think.

The content and methodology  of classical education can be understood with the analogy of a steam engine. Gregg Strawbridge writes

"Like one of these fine old steam engine trains, the Trivium is the engine, the classical content of the great works are the fuel, and the tracks are God's Word. We consume classical learning, harnessed in the engine of the Trivium, but our rails are straightened but the whole counsel of God" (The Bulletin of the Association of Classical &Christian Schools Sept 2003)

The Trivium

Dorothy Sayers delivered an essay at Oxford University in 1947 that sparked a revival in this classical method of learning. The essay was titled "The Lost Tools of Learning". Here is a paraphrase of some of the problems she observed with the education:

	Education has lost sight of its true objective
	Modern boys and girls are taught more subjects but know less than their predecessors knew in the middle ages
	The average debater is unable to speak to the question
	Leaders bring up too much irrelevant material when working through issues
	Writers do not define terms and do not seem to understand that a term can be used in a different sense and mean something different
	After schooling students forget what they have learned and more tragically do not know how to tackle a new subject for themselves
	Grown men and women cannot distinguish between a book that is sound, scholarly, and properly documented from one that is not

She contrasted a shortfall in educational approach of her day  with the classical approach as follows:

               "Modern education concentrates on subjects, leaving the method of thinking, arguing, and expressing one’s conclusions to be picked up by the scholar as he goes along; mediaeval education concentrated on first forging and learning to handle the tools of learning, using whatever subject came handy as a piece of material on which to doodle until the use of the tool became second nature."

She summarizes her chief concern with education near the end of her essay as follows:

     "We have lost the tools of learning - the axe and the wedge, the hammer and the saw, the chisel and the plane - that were so adaptable to all tasks. Instead of them, we have merely a set of complicated jigs, each of which will do but one task and no more, and in using which eye and hand receive no training, so that no man ever sees the work as a whole or "looks to the end of the work." What use is it to pile task on task and prolong the days of labour, if at the close the chief object is left unattained." 

   She then argues that the education structure is build on sand because it is doing for the pupils the work which the pupils ought to do themselves. She then concludes:

    "For the sole end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain."

The problem the Sayers essay pointed out was that despite all the new subjects being taught, modern educational approaches were producing people who were really not educated and could not think very well. The solution she proposed  was to return to the classical approach that worked in the past. She said we need to apply the three subjects of the trivium practiced by the ancient and mediaeval educators.  In her terminology the subjects of the trivium are not really subjects but rather methods of dealing with subjects. Table 1 summarizes the 3 steps or stages of the trivium. Harvey Bluedorn (p. 87) points out that these stages of the trivium originate from scripture. The trivium is a truth from God.  Table 1 shows the parallel biblical terminology for each stage in the trivium.

Table 1. The three steps or stages of the Trivium

 Examples of the trivium as applied to the subjects of Mathematics, English, and History are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2. Examples of the Trivium in 3 different subjects.

* Bluedorn p87

Bluedorn(p88-89) provides a very good analogy of the Trivium to the foundation (knowledge/Grammar), structure (Understanding/Logic), and Use (Rhetoric/Wisdom) of a building such as a Library. He explains how the stages of the trivium build on each other as follows:

"Though Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom can be be studied as separate concepts, these three concepts are not isolated from each other, rather all three grow together and build upon one another (which is why we rarely find them in Scripture in a simple one-tow-three order). Let us look at their relationship.

(1) Knowledge (or Grammar, or the facts) is the foundation.  Without first acquiring Knowledge, we cannot go on to build an Understanding.

Prov 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.
 

(2) After we have laid the foundation of Knowledge, we can begin to build an Understanding (that is, Logic or the theory). But as we build an Understanding, we also create a need and desire for more knowledge.

 Prov 15:14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge
 

(3) After we have the foundation of Knowledge, and the structure of Understanding, we can move on to the practical use of what has been built - the Wisdom (that is, Rhetoric, or the practice). But this creates a need and desire for still more Knowledge and still more Understanding.

Prov 8:12  I, wisdom, dwell with prudence [understanding], And [ I ] find out knowledge and discretion.

Prov 18:15 The heart of the prudent [one with understanding] acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge"

 

Key Characteristics of the Classical Method of Education

The following is a summary of some of the Key characteristics that distinguish the classical method of education from other approaches.

(1) It emphasizes the process of learning rather than the accumulation of massive quantities of information

Teachers feel pressure and are sometimes put under a tyranny to teach more and more information (facts). The classical method resists that pressure and focuses on teaching the process of learning (or tools of learning). The method stresses that a person is better educated if they know how to think, how to reason, how to learn, how to approach new and complex subjects, than if they have just amassed a large amount of data and information. Bluedorn (p 93) writes

    "Educational bureaucrats have reduced education to the synchronized memorization of an entire encyclopedia of knowledge as it comes down an educational conveyor belt. Every child on the assembly line is expected to be in perfect synchronization with the conveyor belt.. But we know that no two children develop at exactly the same rate in exactly the same areas. Some will be ahead of the pace, and others will be behind and both will miss what is on the conveyor belt. ....The problem is not so much the encyclopedia as it is the conveyor belt."

 This one size fits all approach tries to cram in information over a broad range of subjects. The educational goal is perceived to be get the subject information packed in the students mind. By contrast the classically educated student will first be taught how to learn (i.e., how to break a subject into its grammar, logic, rhetoric) and then apply those trivium skills to broad range of subjects. A classically educated person will have more depth in their ability to think at the price of less breadth of data stored in their brain.

(2) It emphasizes the interrelationship of subjects

The trivium is a natural progression from learning facts, to learning how they relate to one another, to learning how to apply them and communicate ideas gleaned from then. Subjects are not studied in pure isolation. Classically educated students are taught to think in analogies. Lessons learned in one subject can be used as parallels in understanding new concepts in another subject. In addition the classically educated student is taught to see how truth's in one subject are related to the truths in other subject. All truth is under the creation of a sovereign God . Therefore all knowledge is truly interrelated. Studying the relationships across subjects helps deepen ones understanding and application of the truths learned. Susan Wise Bauer (p 45) writes

    "Astronomy, for example isn't studied in isolation; it's learned along with the history of scientific discovery, which leads into the church's relationship to science and  from there to the intricacies of medieval church history. The reading of the Odyssey allows the student to consider Greek history, the nature of heroism, the development of the epic, and humankind's understanding of the divine."

The classical approach emphasizes helping students understand how subjects relate to one another.

(3) It examines subjects chronologically and systematically

In the younger years the classical student learns facts and bits of knowledge. He then memorizes facts, He draws and copy facts, He recites facts, He sings facts,  He repeats back to his teacher the facts he heard and read.  The student then systematically builds on this and learns to organize and categorize the facts. The student then learns to see how the facts are related. The student then learn how to think through arguments. The classical student then learns to develop their own ideas and how to express their own ideas. They next learn how to apply and use what they are learning. It is a very systematic building of one lesson on top of the other.  In addition the systematic approach means the classical student does not randomly jump around topic to topic, or time period to time period. Instead the students studies are designed to build on one another and relate to one another. They study history chronologically to see a progressive development. They systematically study next event in time to see the relationships to the time periods they just studied. A key element of the classical method is that while they are studying a particular period of history they are also reading in their English class literature from the same period they are studying in history. For example, if they are studying the middle ages in history class they would be reading Shakespeare and Beowolf in literature class rather than  Patrick Henry's give me liberty of give me death speech before the continental congress. This way they see the interrelationships. They are taught to think and see connections. Susan Wise Bauer writes (p. 47)  "Much modern education is so eclectic that the student has little opportunity to make connections between past events and the flood of current information."   She then quotes classical schoolmaster David Hicks who wrote "The beauty of the classical curriculum is that it dwells on one problem, one author, or one epoch long enough to allow even the youngest student a chance to exercise his mind in a scholarly way: to make connections and to trace developments, lines of reasoning, patterns of action, recurring symbolisms, plots, and motifs." (Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education p.133)

(4) It emphasizes reading great works of literature (Great Books) rather than textbook summaries

The classically educated child will grow up reading great works that have endured through the ages. Examples of excellent writing are put before the students in both the early and latter years of development. In the early years students imitate the writing through oral narration (repeat back what was read to them), written narration. Students do exercises where they start with good writing, summarize it in their own words, dress it up and so on. In latter years they read it, analyze it, and discuss the ideas in it. They evaluate it and and use as a springboard for formulating and expressing their own original ideas. This is in contrast to some modern approaches that read only textbook summaries (not original works) and answer textbook questions.  For example in studying history classical student would read the original works of literature of that period which contain colorful stories that give a flavor of the period. The lessons learned are also more relevant and exciting than reading textbooks that summarize streams of facts that are hard to visualize in the real historical context and tend to be dry and therefore make it harder to remember after the lesson is over.  The reading of great books is sometimes described as bringing students into the "great conversation" of great minds down through the ages. Conversing both with adults and great minds via books helps the student better internalize the great ideas.

(5) It emphasizes writing

The classical method involves a fair amount of writing in almost all subjects. Writing is a critical skill. In the grammar stage the students copy sentences and paragraphs from good writers. Then they move on to dictation (write short sentences you dictate). They learn to construct sentences, do dress ups to existing writing, They learn to do outlines, write short papers, write long papers.  They write reports for English, History, Science and so on. In the high school years the students write thesis statements and write intensive research papers. Students learn to research. Students learn more if they are required to write about they are taught. Writing is a skill that helps crystallize understanding, thinking. It is part of the self education process to internalize what they are learning. The process of writing is a discipline that brings with it a deeper understanding of the issue addressed. Some educational approach settle for minimal writing in many classes. Instead the student will answering textbook questions or fill in the blanks. This is in contrast to to the classical approach which places a strong emphasis on learning to write well constructed papers for every subject.

(6) It focuses on language skills and emphasizes learning Classic Languages such as Latin and Greek

Knowledge is primarily transmitted through language. It is transmitted through speaking, listening, writing, reading. While one can learn from images such as pictures, videos, TV and so on the classical approach focuses on the language skills rather than the visual skills. Considerably more time is spent listening, reading, writing than on watching. The importance of this is discussed in several books. Susan Wise Bauer explains why language skills are so important when she writes

     " Language learning and image learning require very different habits of thought. Language requires the mind to work harder; in reading, the brain is forced to translate a symbol (words on the page) into a concept. Images, such as those on videos and television, allow the mind to be passive. In front of a video screen, the brain can "sit back" and relax; faced with the written page, the mind is required to roll its sleeves up and get to work.

A good classical education involves learning the classic languages. Dorothy Sayers writes

    " I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this, not because Latin is traditional and mediaeval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labour and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent. It is the key to the vocabulary and structure of all the Romance languages and to the structure of all the Teutonic languages, as well as to the technical vocabulary of all the sciences and to the literature of the entire Mediterranean civilization, together with all its historical documents."

Harvey Bluedorn (p 30) points out that the reason to read the classic books and learn the classic languages is to learn to read, think, and speak. He writes

    " We do not want to learn language and logic and elocution so that we can really read Homer and Virgil, and really think like Aristotle and Seneca, and really speak like Demosthenes and Cicero. We want to learn language, logic, and elocution, so we can really read, and think, and speak - period ! We want to acquire these useful tools but we do not want to use these tools the same way in which the ancient Greeks and Romans used them. They used these tools to serve everything except the true and living God. We want to use these tools to serve nothing but the true and living God ".

It is very interesting to see how important the study of languages and the trivium was considered during the original formulation of universities in this country.  Harvey Bluedorn writes (p. 92)

    "In 1643, the first college entrance requirements in this country were established by Harvard College as follows:

       " When any scholar is able to understand Tully, or such like classical author extermpre, and make and speak true Latin in verse and prose,... and decline perfectly the Paradigms of Nouns and Verbs in the Greek tongue, let him then and not before be capable of admission into the college."

Few Harvard graduates today cound have entered the Harvard freshman class back then. Students often entered Harvard around age 16, and graduated around age 18 or 19. These were their College Graduation Requirements:

      First Year:        Logic, Physics, Disputes, Greek, Hebrew, Rhetoric

      Second Year:  Ethics, Politics, Disputes, Greek, Hebrew, Rhetoric

      Third Year:      Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Nature of Plants, History, Greek, Composition, Hebrew, Rhetoric.

They required no Latin. The were to have mastered Latin before college. Many of the college textbooks were written in Latin."

(7) It emphasizes learning to debate in the latter years of High School

Classically educated students are encouraged to join debate clubs in their latter years of high school. Debate clubs are a great tool to develop the Rhetoric skills.

"How to" study using the Classical method during the High School Years

This web page below this point is under construction (work in progress)

The following sections briefly describe how to study key subject areas during the high school Rhetoric years using the classical method.

How to Study Science using the Classical Model

The following is summary of thoughts from the  "The Well Trained Mind" p.512-518 (see weblinks for more info)

When studying science the student is not merely learning abstract scientific principles. The student instead is learning to see how scientific principles fit into the "great conversation" the student is having with the great books of the classical curriculum. Below is brief description on how to study science following the classical method.

(1)     Study of Principles and laws of science (standard science)

–         Read science text, write 2 page composition summarizing the info, make sketches of diagrams

–     Do experiments in the text and record results

–     (read text following principles of Adler and Van Doren’s How to Read a Book)

(2)     Source Readings (research science source readings)

-          read 3 to 4 original works of science each year (rather than fill in workbooks and answer questions)

-          write book report/evaluation using Writing Strands

-          (purpose is to give historical perspective to the study of science)

 (3)     Writing Papers (Joining the Great Conversation)

-          write 1 paper per year tracing the history and development of some new technology or knowledge

-          consider questions outlined in Neil Postman’s “The End of Education” such as “what are advantages and disadvantages of the technology, what part of life does the technology exalt/ignore, what technology is being squeezed out, what expressions does this technology favor. Self consciously ask what the implications of the discovery might be, how does it relate to and impact history, what does this theory say about my existence, what does this principle imply about human beings & their place in the universe. See how principles fit within History and the world

-          Allow 4 to 6 weeks do in the spring

How to Study History and the Great Books using the Classical Model

To be supplied (work in progress)

How to study Grammar and Writing

To be supplied (work in progress)

How to study Math

To be supplied (work in progress)

How to study Languages

To be supplied (work in progress)

References:

• "Teaching the Trivium" by Harvy Bluedorn

• "The Lost Tools of Learning" by Dorothy Sayers

• "The Well Trained Mind" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer