Classical education rests on the division of students into three major stages of cognitive development, each of which is guided by one of the three divisions of the classical curriculum used by the ancient Greeks and later dubbed the trivium by medieval scholars. [1] As Dorothy Sayers famously noted, each of these three trivium subjects—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—naturally match with stages of childhood cognitive development such that the teaching tools in each stage align with the learning strategies best suited to each developmental stage. [2] Christian classical education in the present day involves three major stages of learning through which students progress during their school years, the grammar stage, the logic stage, and the rhetoric stage. Each of these stages points students to truth, goodness, and beauty in a developmentally appropriate way.
In brief, the grammar stage (grades K-6 at GCT) recognizes that students in this stage are at a time of life when they delight in repetition and memorization. The Grammar stage, therefore, focuses on helping students learn and commit to memory the foundational tools, facts, stories, and information that will be useful to them as they mature into a deeper understanding of the Christian worldview. At Granite Classical, grammar stage students are exposed to a wealth of information: stories from the Bible, children’s literature, and history; the basics of grammar and vocabulary in English and Latin; and preliminary knowledge of the many facets of God’s creation in science. This information is reinforced through the repetition of memory songs, chants, and drills so that these young minds absorb as much foundational knowledge as possible in these early years. This information becomes what classical education expert Susan Wise Bauer calls the “basic building blocks” of the rest of the child’s education. [3]
In this stage, we emphasize truth through memorization of indisputable facts and principles; we emphasize goodness through behavioral expectations based on the commandments and the fruit of the spirit; we emphasize beauty through an insistence on order and neatness both personally (uniforms, washing hands, etc.) and in the classroom (orderly conduct, neat handwriting, etc.)
The logic stage (grades 7-9 at GCT) helps students begin to think critically at a time when they are naturally beginning to question what they learn and to think abstractly. It is our goal that students see the truth in scripture and align their own worldview with God’s word. Developing these critical thinking skills requires that students approach material independently and then discuss what they have discovered with peers and mature godly tutors. Logic stage classes at Granite Classical therefore implement the key tools of self-directed learning and dialogue. Logic stage students closely read the Bible and selections from the Western canon of literature; they read primary sources in history, drawing conclusions about a particular time and place from the documents of the culture itself; they learn to develop rational arguments through the study of logic; they learn to express those arguments coherently in written and oral forms; and they start creating hypotheses and experimenting in science. The logic stage at Granite Classical marks the beginning of students coming into their own as learners and thinkers.
In this stage, we emphasize truth through the use of the known to lead us to what is unknown and through the recognition that all truth is God’s truth; we emphasize goodness by dwelling on God’s providential ordering of the universe and by seeking to understand our place in it; we emphasize beauty by extolling that which is aesthetically pleasing and by seeking to imitate it.
Finally, the rhetoric stage (grades 10-12 at GCT) teaches students to build on these Grammar and Logic foundations by responding to what they learn through eloquent, analytical self-expression at a time when they naturally wish to do so. The ultimate goal of this stage is for students to masterfully express their Christian worldview. At this point, students will realize that the first two stages of classical education are really the first two steps in learning. In approaching a new set of information, the student must identify and memorize the foundational parts, or grammar, of that field; then the student must make rational connections between the foundational information and draw analytical conclusions. The final step in the learning process is to respond to those conclusions, allowing the entire process to inform the student’s worldview. In the Rhetoric stage, then, Granite students continue to read biblical and Western texts with an analytical eye, and they continue to delve into historical primary source texts and draw rational conclusions about the Western heritage. But rhetoric students are taught to go further in that they are required to express their own worldviews in relation to this material with eloquence and rhetorical skill. Students take on the study of rhetoric itself and apply it in written and oral forms to all fields of study. The Rhetoric stage at Granite culminates in a capstone project in which the student demonstrates that he or she has mastered all three stages of the learning cycle by diving into independent research in a field of interest and crafting a senior thesis.
In this stage, we emphasize truth through worldview discussions which seek to understand the universal principles which govern our thinking in all subjects; we emphasize goodness through assessment of the ideas of great thinkers of the past in light of a biblical worldview; we emphasize beauty by attempting to achieve the principles of aesthetics in our own work.
At Granite Classical Tutorials, we believe that the classical method of education is the most effective means of preparing our young people to encounter the post-modern world. Our program strives to develop students who have not only learned a wealth of material, but who have learned how to learn as well. Our graduates are therefore critical thinkers who can rationalize and winsomely express their Christian worldview and who thrive in whatever field they choose to pursue after their classical education.
[1] Christopher Perrin, An Introduction to Classical Education.
[2] Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning
[3] Susan Wise Bauer, “What is Classical Education?”