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Book Recommendation & Discussion - The Liberal Arts Tradition #2 · The Grammar of Classical Education

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hello,
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  SPEAKER_00: welcome to the Grammar of Classical Education,
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  SPEAKER_00: a podcast that covers the foundations as well as the philosophical and theoretical
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  SPEAKER_00: ideas of classical learning in a user-friendly and,
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  SPEAKER_00: may I even say,
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  SPEAKER_00: interesting way.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr. Darlene Gomes from Leading to Wonder, and I'm so glad that you could join me today.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back,
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  SPEAKER_00: as today we begin the second in our series,
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  SPEAKER_00: The Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: just as we get into it a little bit more this week,
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  SPEAKER_00: just to let you know about the authors themselves.
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  SPEAKER_00: They have been teaching together at a classical school in Florida for about 15 years,
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  SPEAKER_00: with Kevin teaching mainly the philosophy,
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  SPEAKER_00: theology,
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  SPEAKER_00: logic,
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  SPEAKER_00: rhetoric classes,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Robbie on the other end teaching the sciences and advanced math classes.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it was interesting to see in their introduction of themselves that they noticed
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  SPEAKER_00: that they needed and it was desirable to have an integration of subjects,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it was difficult to figure out how to do that on a practical level.
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  SPEAKER_00: It should be a view of learning as a whole, but you have teachers with various subjects teaching.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so how do you weave those all together?
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  SPEAKER_00: And their effort to figure out how to do that resulted in this book, The Liberal Arts Tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the preface, they give four things as their foundational elements.
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  SPEAKER_00: One, Christian formation had to be at the core.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's coming from a love of God and a love of others.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they said specifically,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: more than the transference of knowledge,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is the transmission of values,
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  SPEAKER_00: culture, and the proper ordering of loves.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have to see that as the foundational element to the whole liberal arts tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number two,
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  SPEAKER_00: they recognized the importance of music,
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  SPEAKER_00: art,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the physical aspect of learning,
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  SPEAKER_00: not just at the grammar school level,
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  SPEAKER_00: but at all levels.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, that is a change in how standard classical schools do view some of these subjects.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Clark and Jay do adjust this as almost needing a paradigm shift.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number three foundational element is reconnecting language arts with the maths and sciences.
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  SPEAKER_00: As they point out,
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  SPEAKER_00: the focus on language arts has often resulted in math and sciences kind of take a backseat.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is not originally the case for either of those subjects.
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  SPEAKER_00: Math itself was actually an area of study as far back as Plato.
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  SPEAKER_00: So to make that division so extreme between the language arts and that math and
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  SPEAKER_00: science area is actually counterproductive
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  SPEAKER_00: to the language arts tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, number four, they found it important to offer a way to integrate all learning with life.
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  SPEAKER_00: As they said, quote, integrating thought and life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Connecting the way we think and the way we live, not allowing them to be two separate things.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet, as they explain, they're presenting this information.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love their humility, not as innovators, but as, quote, those who have discovered a great lost gem.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, they're really laying the foundation for their entire book in this statement.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's important that we get this as a direct quote to understand their full view.
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  SPEAKER_00: Quote, it is these ideas upon which they're basing the entire work.
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  SPEAKER_00: It respects contemporary academic discourse and yet seeks threads with the
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  SPEAKER_00: discourse that coheres with the traditional Western Christian vision of reality,
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  SPEAKER_00: allowing for a high degree of integration.
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  SPEAKER_00: That was their foundation.
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  SPEAKER_00: But before beginning their actual information,
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  SPEAKER_00: Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain lay out the paradigm of the liberal arts tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, a paradigm is defined as an example or a pattern.
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  SPEAKER_00: Basically, it's a specific way of looking at things.
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  SPEAKER_00: So Clark and Jane are going to lay out their way of looking at the liberal arts tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: First of all, that comes from remembering we have the trivium and the quadrivium.
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  SPEAKER_00: The trivium, grammar, dialectic or logic and rhetoric.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is right here the standard format of most classical schools.
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  SPEAKER_00: It matches with Dorothy Sayre's Lost Tools of Learning.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's the trivium.
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  SPEAKER_00: We also had the quadrivium,
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  SPEAKER_00: which,
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  SPEAKER_00: by the way,
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  SPEAKER_00: trivium and quadrivium in their original languages translate to three paths,
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  SPEAKER_00: trivium,
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  SPEAKER_00: quadrivium,
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  SPEAKER_00: the four paths.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the quadrivium is arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: the major difference about these terms in their original use and our interpretation
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  SPEAKER_00: of them today is we see them as levels or subjects.
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  SPEAKER_00: Originally,
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  SPEAKER_00: they were seen as the way to form what Clark and Jane called,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: the intellectual virtues necessary for acquiring true wisdom.
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  SPEAKER_00: So originally,
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  SPEAKER_00: it was seen as all seven of the liberal arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: the trivium and quadrivium together,
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  SPEAKER_00: formed intellectual or helped to form intellectual virtue.
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  SPEAKER_00: They go on to state their thesis is these seven liberal arts were never intended to
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  SPEAKER_00: be the sole curriculum for training young scholars,
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  SPEAKER_00: while the trivium and quadrivium address intellectual virtue and.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing in there about moral virtue.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we talked about that difference between what was the Greek
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  SPEAKER_00: philosophy of learning and how it did change as it went toward the medieval
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  SPEAKER_00: philosophy of learning.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is important because we must understand that our students really are made up
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  SPEAKER_00: of body,
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  SPEAKER_00: heart,
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  SPEAKER_00: and mind,
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  SPEAKER_00: all three,
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  SPEAKER_00: and that these are formed
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  SPEAKER_00: through gymnastics,
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  SPEAKER_00: which,
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  SPEAKER_00: by the way,
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  SPEAKER_00: deeper than the word gym that you may be thinking,
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  SPEAKER_00: but there'll be more on that later.
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  SPEAKER_00: So they're formed by gymnastics.
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  SPEAKER_00: They're formed by music, again, deeper than choir instrumental training that you might think of.
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  SPEAKER_00: and the language arts.
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  SPEAKER_00: So with the understanding that they're body,
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  SPEAKER_00: heart,
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  SPEAKER_00: and mind,
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  SPEAKER_00: and that they're formed through gymnastics,
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  SPEAKER_00: music,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the language arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: we have to realize then it focuses through an understanding that it is all guided
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  SPEAKER_00: by piety.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, iety is another one of those terms.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at it a little bit later.
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  SPEAKER_00: It has a certain connotative meaning with it that may not be its actual denotative or dictionary meaning.
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  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna look at that a little bit later too.
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  SPEAKER_00: But understand that all of the intellectual virtues
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  SPEAKER_00: are not completely training the students without the understanding of the moral
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  SPEAKER_00: virtues and how that works through with piety.
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  SPEAKER_00: With that understanding, we have to see that they must be made to fit everything around them
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  SPEAKER_00: into the Christian philosophy that is governed by a theology that is formed from scripture,
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  SPEAKER_00: and as Clark and Jane describe it,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: handed down through the church and historic Christianity.
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  SPEAKER_00: More about that when we talk a little bit more in detail about piety and theology.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now this leads them to the acronym that's going to run through the entire book, and that is PGMAPT.
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  SPEAKER_00: P-G-M-A-P-T.
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  SPEAKER_00: piety, gymnastics, music, the liberal arts, that's the A, philosophy, and theology.
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  SPEAKER_00: Bringing it all together, it's formed their definition of what is Christian classical education.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here's what they say specifically,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: grounded in piety,
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  SPEAKER_00: Christian classical education is the transmission of the culture of the church
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  SPEAKER_00: through a faculty of friends who love the truth and
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  SPEAKER_00: by cultivating virtue in the students in body,
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  SPEAKER_00: heart,
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  SPEAKER_00: and mind,
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  SPEAKER_00: and nurturing their love for wisdom and their faithful service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now I have to pause here and put a little caveat.
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  SPEAKER_00: Every time I say that definition, you will probably hear me pause just a little bit.
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  SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
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  SPEAKER_00: About four years ago, our headmaster had the whole faculty memorize that definition.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you know how we always say that when you put things to songs,
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  SPEAKER_00: chants,
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  SPEAKER_00: and jingles,
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  SPEAKER_00: it makes it easier for our students to learn?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm here to tell you,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you put it to a song,
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  SPEAKER_00: chant,
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  SPEAKER_00: or jingle,
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  SPEAKER_00: it will also be easier for you to learn.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so just to get it out of my system,
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  SPEAKER_00: I have to tell you what is going on in my head every time I say that definition.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like this, grounded in piety, Christian classical education transmits the
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  SPEAKER_00: The culture of the church through a faculty of friends who love the truth, who love the truth.
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  SPEAKER_00: By cultivating virtue in the students,
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  SPEAKER_00: embody heart and mind and nurturing their love for wisdom and their faithful
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  SPEAKER_00: service of the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: And a side note, you do not even have to be a great singer to put things into songs, chants, and jingles.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is the definition for Christian classical education that we will be
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  SPEAKER_00: unpacking along with the PG Mapped acronym.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as we dig into this,
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope you are going to start to see the full view of classical education when it
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  SPEAKER_00: is put through the framework of Christian piety and how that works in especially
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  SPEAKER_00: grammar school classrooms and the integration of all subjects.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's wrap up today by looking at really where we're going with our podcast over
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  SPEAKER_00: the next couple of weeks.
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  SPEAKER_00: At this point,
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  SPEAKER_00: we're going to begin using the liberal arts tradition by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain
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  SPEAKER_00: as more of a springboard to the topics that we're going to look at together.
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  SPEAKER_00: While we covered all of the introductory material,
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  SPEAKER_00: I cannot recommend to you enough that you pick up a copy of the book and read it.
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  SPEAKER_00: While it does have some weighty sections that you may find you have to read over a
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  SPEAKER_00: couple of times,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is an amazing description of their vision of the liberal arts tradition and how
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  SPEAKER_00: it fits into Christian classical education today.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because of copyright and fair use issues,
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  SPEAKER_00: our podcast discussion will follow their format of the PG Mapped,
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  SPEAKER_00: piety,
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  SPEAKER_00: gymnastics,
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  SPEAKER_00: music,
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  SPEAKER_00: arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: liberal arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: philosophy,
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  SPEAKER_00: theology.
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  SPEAKER_00: But rather than going step by step through their book, we'll be looking at their ideas
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  SPEAKER_00: in light of general research and practical applications that can be made in your
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  SPEAKER_00: classroom or with your own children if you're homeschooling.
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  SPEAKER_00: Again,
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  SPEAKER_00: while they don't claim to be innovators,
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  SPEAKER_00: they have done an amazingly effective job of taking what seems to be an old method
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  SPEAKER_00: and making it very usable
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  SPEAKER_00: and very workable and very classical for shaping our students body, mind and heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: So whether you are all in with classical ed,
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  SPEAKER_00: or you're just kind of curious,
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  SPEAKER_00: or even you just want to be a better teacher,
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll stick around and join us for this next podcast.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: To get the latest episode,
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: as well as a fun little teacher's newsletter,
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  SPEAKER_00: complete with a couple of classroom freebies,
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  SPEAKER_00: please sign up for the Leading to Wonder newsletter.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can subscribe to the podcast directly on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about me and Leading to Wonder, you can visit my website at leadingtowonder.com.
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  SPEAKER_00: No spaces.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally,
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  SPEAKER_00: to reach out to me directly with questions or comments or even for information
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  SPEAKER_00: regarding in-house or virtual teacher training workshops.
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  SPEAKER_00: feel free to email me at Darlene at leading to wonder.com.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have an amazing week.
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  SPEAKER_00: And remember, as E.B.
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  SPEAKER_00: White said, always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.