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THE
TRIVIUM
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Please
see our Overview documents for a more in-depth
description of the three stages of the trivium.
Grammar
| Logic
| Rhetoric
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Classical
education rests on the concept of the Trivium: grammar,
logic and rhetoric—not as subjects, although these
subjects are studied, but as the structure of every
subject and discipline.
Every
subject we attempt to learn, at any time in our lives,
has its grammar, logic and rhetoric, from reading and
math, to gardening and law, to music and auto mechanics.
Grammar
Grammar is the foundation of a subject. It is the
collection of its parts and the mechanics of how they
work. Without an understanding of the facts, no one
can move forward. In the Grammar stage (K-4/5), students
are exposed to a barrage of data in all subjects. This
is the time in their lives when students readily absorb
data and are able to repeat it/ Sayers calls this stage
the Poll-Parrot stage, where children can repeat back
what the hear. The focus during the Grammar stage is
for students to learn a great deal of information, but
not necessarily to understand its meaning or importance.
Logic
Logic is the organization of parts into a whole
and an understanding of the relationships among the
parts. Students in the Logic stage re-visit the data
they have learned and begin to develop their analytical
skills by connecting together themes, ideas, and causes.
For example, while students in fourth grade may learn
of the US Civil War, students in eighth grade learn
about the precipitating causes, and can connect these
themes to other conflicts like the Restoration, the
French Revolution, and the Spanish Civil War. Sayers
calls this stage the Pert stage because students are
less accepting of authority and seek to define their
own understandings. In the Logic stage, we encourage
this critical bent by honing analytical skills.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the ability to apply the foundational
knowledge and logical understanding of a subject purposefully
and creatively to solve a problem, express an opinion
with clarity or create something new. In the rhetoric
stage, students build upon what they have leant before:
they have a solid foundation of facts (grammar) and
an understanding of how they all fit together and why
(logic). now it is time for a student (young scholar)
to make an argument. Everyone must put forth his/her
answers to the great questions of time, to take part
in what Mortimer Adler called, "The Great Conversation."
Sayers calls this stage the Poetic stage, referring
to the Greek work poeia, meaning to make or to
create. Students must create their own ideas and place
them intellectually and morally within the context of
the ideas which have preceded them.
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