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Classical Education

 

        The classical model of education is based on the trivium (Latin for ‘three ways’), in which students learn three interrelated skills: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. This model corresponds to a child’s natural developmental stages of learning:

  • Grammar: In this stage (K-4) children are imaginative and creative. Their innate joy for learning language, songs, chants, and poetry drives the teaching methods used in grammar classrooms.

 

  • Logic: The logic stage (5-8) capitalizes on a child’s desire to question and debate. The logic classroom engages the process of learning to argue well and to evaluate and critique arguments effectively.

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  • Rhetoric: The persuasion stage (9-12) pulls all three stages together. Students learn the art of persuasion both in writing and speech. 

Growing and Measuring

     In each stage, all three elements of the trivium are present; greater emphasis is placed on either grammar, logic, or rhetoric in the corresponding developmental stages. Classical education places an importance on the interconnection of all knowledge. 

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​     As Christopher Perrin explains, "The chief goal of classical education is to master the tools of grammar, logic, and rhetoric - for in mastering the tools, the subject (any subject) is soon mastered as well. Students have been taught how to learn."

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    At WCA, classical education means classrooms filled with songs (a great way to memorize), curiosity, and a commitment to pursue what is true, good, and beautiful. The beauty of the classical approach is students don’t learn a particular set of information, but rather how to learn. You can discover more about our guiding principles here.

Want to Learn More About Classical Education? 
If you would like to learn more about classical education, here are some suggested books to help you get started. 

  • Classical Thee Classical Me by Rebekah Merkel

  • Show Them Jesus by Jack Klumpenhower

  • Excused Absence by Douglas Wilson

  • Battle for the American Mind By Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin

  • The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory

  • The Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain

  • Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham

  • Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen

  • Generations by Jean M. Twenge

  • Wisdom and Eloquence by Littlejohn and Charles Evans

  • Common Arts Education by Chris Hall

  • Simply Classical by Cheryl Swope

  • Live not by Lies by Rod Dreher

  • The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

  • Making Schools Beautiful: Restoring the Harmony of Place by John Skillen

  • Coming Apart by Charles Murray

  • Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David V. Hicks

  • The Paideia Program by Mortimer Adler

  • Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

  • On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James Schall

  • Something They Will Not Forget by Joshua Gibbs

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