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 In
the 1940's the British author, Dorothy Sayers, wrote an essay titled
The Lost Tools of Learning.
In it she not only calls for a return to the application of the
seven liberal arts of ancient education, the first three being the
“Trivium” - grammar, logic, rhetoric, she also
combines three stages of children’s development to the Trivium.
Specifically, she matches what she calls the “Poll-parrot” stage
with grammar, “Pert” with logic, and “Poetic” with
rhetoric (see The Lost Tools Chart).
At Logos, the founding board members were intrigued with this idea
of applying a classical education in a Christian context. Doug
Wilson, a founding board member explained the classical method
further in his book,
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.
Logos School has been committed to implementing this form of
education since the school’s inception.
An excerpt from Doug Wilson’s book ,
“Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning”
“The structure of our curriculum is traditional with a strong
emphasis on “the basics.” We understand the basics to be subjects
such as mathematics, history, and language studies. Not only are
these subjects covered, they are covered in a particular way. For
example, in history class the students will not only read their
text, they will also read from primary sources. Grammar, logic, and
rhetoric will be emphasized in all subjects. By grammar, we mean the
fundamental rules of each subject (again, we do not limit grammar to
language studies), as well as the basic data that exhibit those
rules. In English, a singular noun does not take a plural verb. In
logic, A does not equal not A. In history, time is linear, not
cyclic. Each subject has its own grammar, which we require the
students to learn. This enables the student to learn the subject
from the inside out.
The logic of each subject refers to the ordered relationship of that
subject’s particulars (grammar). What is the relationship between
the Reformation and the colonization of America? What is the
relationship between the subject and the object of a sentence? As
the students learn the underlying rules or principles of a subject
(grammar) along with how the particulars of that subject relate to
one another (logic), they are learning to think. They are not simply
memorizing fragmented pieces of knowledge.
The last emphasis is rhetoric. We want our students to be able to
express clearly everything they learn. An essay in history must be
written as clearly as if it were an English paper. An oral
presentation in science should be as coherent as possible. It is not
enough that the history or science be correct. It must also be
expressed well.”
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