Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Classical Education: The Trivium

Guest post by Kim Nielsen


Today we will continue our discussion of classical education, more specifically the Trivium. The Trivium is the master tools through which a child is taught the art of learning. Latin for "three roads", the trivium is a three-phase model that also corresponds to the strengths of a child's natural development.
Grammar/Poll-parrot Stage (K-5/6th grade): Students focus on fundamental information, grammar and vocabulary. Memorization by means of singing and chanting comes naturally and when combined with direct instruction, reading and discussion, this stage provides the "pegs" to be further developed in the later stages.
Logic/Dialectic/Pert Stage (6th-9th grade): Students start to critically analyze and interpret the facts that were memorized during the grammar phase. Means of reasoning, debate and discussion fuel the dedicated study of logic during this developmental stage where students naturally ask "how", "why", and love to argue and debate.
Rhetoric/Poetic Stage (10th-12th grade): Students are taught to communicate clearly, eloquently, and persuasively. It comes at a time when they are interested in creative thinking and expression and are equipped to enter the "Great Conversation" by reading and responding to original classical works.
Dr. Christopher Perrin in An Introduction to Classical Education sums up the Trivium well,
I hope you will find it refreshing to discover that the method of classical education is simple yet profound, like so many great ideas from the wheel to the umbrella. Its basic philosophy is to teach children in the ways they naturally want to be taught, despite not always knowing it. Put another way, classical educators teach children what they want to know when they want to know it. When children are astonished with the human tongue, we teach them language and grammar. When children are ready to challenge every assumption, we teach them logic. When students are yearning to express themselves with passion, we teach them rhetoric...To be clear then, the words grammar, logic, and rhetoric have a range of meaning. These words can refer to self-contained subjects or they can refer to a method or art ("tools") of learning all subjects. Finally, they can be used to describe three developmental stages through which children progress.

With these "master tools" students are equipped for a life of loving to learn. Perrin uses the proverb: give a man a fish and he eats a meal; teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime. He writes, "We teach students how to fish, only they are fishing for knowledge and feeding their minds. The pole, the line, the hook are grammar, logic, and rhetoric, always with them in their tackle box as they seek for wisdom, and eventually teach others.

5 comments:

Phil said...

Classical educators who love the trivium seem not to know what to do with the quadrivium. They nevertheless jam it in with their trivium studies, but it still doesn't fit.

Something is wrong with this view of education.

Anonymous said...

How is music education handled in a classical education setting?

As a music teacher with a strong interest in classical education I am very intrigued by this.

Are there any books or web sites that address this aspect?

Mahendra said...

yeah there is too many website.

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Sulakhe's said...

The concept is good about the Trivium but as there are so many technologies rolling around the world, I feel Classical education with Educational Video Conferencing can be more beneficial for the children which can improve their mindset.

knielsen said...

Thanks for the comments. The quadrivium is the "follow up" to the trivium, completely what is known as the 7 liberal arts. From my understanding (yes there is still much to learn), the quadrivium was started during the late high school and university years. In the middle ages, all were educated by the trivium (again not only subjects but a way of learning applied to all subjects), only some went on to complete the trivium (liberal arts subjects to which the tools of the trivium were also applied). Most of the articles and books I referenced in the posts, discuss the quadrivium as well.

Music is one of the subjects of the trivium, along with geometry, astronomy, and arithmetic. To the educators of the middle ages, "music" was a broader subject than seen today and very important. Most classical educators of today incorporate music education into the curriculum to one degree or another.

As I said, there is much more to be said and discussed with classical education, not appropriate in a blog setting. No educational system is perfect, but I do love the premise of being trained to learn and that it needs to continue for a lifetime.