|
The Classical Tools of Learning Education in the West, from the Greeks through medieval times and into the modern era, has given pride of place to the study of the seven liberal arts: grammar, dialectic (logic), rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. In the classical model of education, the first three of these made up the Trivium, the elementary level of study in which students acquired the tools of learning—including a sound knowledge of language and the ability to speak and write logically and persuasively. The remaining four liberal arts constituted the Quadrivium, an advanced level in which students applied their skills to the study of the mathematical and physical sciences. We at Trinity have been influenced by Dorothy Sayers’ essay, “The Lost Tools of Learning,” which is both an inspiring tribute to the value of the liberal arts and also a creative proposal for reviving the classical approach to education. This model of learning is quite different from one that focuses on merely learning content. Instead, students learn how to learn for themselves as they apply the tools of learning to the various subjects of the curriculum. Sayers links the three stages of the Trivium to what we know about the development of children. At each stage of the child’s development, learning will take on a character of its own: Pre-Grammar/Grammar (grades K–2 / 3–6) At this stage, elementary school students are eager and adept learners. We capitalize on this desire by giving them many opportunities to memorize, to categorize, and to experience and absorb the rich world of books and things. Thus, teaching methods at Trinity School focus on the “grammar” or fundamental facts and rules of each subject, so that they learn to “play the games” of the different subjects. Logic (grades 7–8) At this stage, middle grade students are naturally curious and argumentative. Their capacity for abstract thinking is beginning to develop, and subjects like algebra and formal logic exercise their mental faculties. In other subjects at this stage, students are encouraged to learn how to ask questions, to discuss ideas, to analyze, to reason well in their various subjects, to debate questions, and to discover how to find answers for themselves. This is the stage in which students begin to think about thinking. Rhetoric (grades 9–10) At this stage, high school students begin to develop their own sense of identity. Thus, teaching methods focus on instructing them how to express what they know and what they are learning with grace and clarity through essay writing, speech, and debate. A special emphasis is placed on understanding the interdisciplinary connections of their subjects: Rhetoric involves not only the mastery of clear and eloquent speech, but also the unifying of all subjects into a whole understanding. In grades 11 and 12, the Quadrivium, students apply the tools of learning acquired in the Trivium to individual subjects and further refine their powers of written and verbal self-expression. Trinity School currently offers grades K–8 (the pre-grammar/grammar and logic stages) and we look forward to offering grades 9–12 (the rhetoric stage and the Quadrivium) in the near future. These stages correspond to the natural development of children as they progress from concrete to abstract thinking. Each stage therefore varies in terms of its learning style, appropriate subject matter and assignments, balance of oral and written work, degree of student independence, and methods of assessment. Yet the Trivium is a unity. The stages are connected: the later stages depend upon the earlier ones, putting the tools of learning acquired earlier to new and expanded uses and thus equipping students to master the other subjects they will encounter in college, in graduate school, and in their vocations. Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill |
||||
| Return to Mission Page | ||||
