Classical Education: The Art of Learning

Guest post by Kim Nielsen

Although classical education now seems novel to those of us raised with progressive education, it actually is an enduring form of education first used by the Greeks and Romans, developed through centuries, training many of the great thinkers throughout history. It was not until the modern period, that educators started shifting away from a classical to a "progressive" model. Yet even now, there are still elements (broken stones) of classical education throughout our current educational system. For those of us interested in recovering classical education, it is a matter of returning home, a matter of, as Doug Wilson puts it, "repairing the ruins".

Dorothy Sayer in her now famous article, The Lost Tools of Learning, states

that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils 'subjects,' we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning. She goes on to say, "...modern education concentrates on teaching 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 [the period that systematized and defined classical 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.

This is what classical education is all about, teaching the art of learning. So while there must be 'subjects' of some kind (one learns the theory of grammar while learning a specific language), the purpose is not just to transmit a certain pool of knowledge but to train the mind to use the very tools of thought and learning. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric, also know as the Trivium or "three roads" are the central disciplines (master tools) used in classical education to enable one to study any other subject. Dr. Perrin writes in An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents,

Of course in order to learn the use of these master tools (grammar, logic and rhetoric), is is necessary to apply them to some piece of wood, to some subject--and so actual subjects must be studied (English, Latin, History, etc.). But note that the chief goal was to master the tools--for in mastering the tools, the subject (any subject) would soon be mastered as well. We encounter a paradox: classical educators favor tools over content and therefore help students to master more content than ever. They have taught their students how to learn.

So tomorrow as we continue our look into classical education, we will delve further into these master tools, the Trivium.