TRIVIUM (Grammar, Logic, & Rhetoric) - Initial Study Plan from triviumeducation.com

TRIVIUM (Grammar, Logic, & Rhetoric) - Initial Study Plan

Exposure to any of the following listed material, taken in any order, will help a person to reclaim and develop ones innate faculty of reason or, as often referenced here, the Trivium Method of Thought. However, to employ the following recommendations of order and procedure may hasten optimal integration of these processes and methods.

An Outline of Plan
I. Read the immediately following copy of a letter sent to an author of educational works, and the article as addendum.
II.

Read the essay written in 1947 by Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning, at the following web site: www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html

III. See the 19 part video series on "An Underground History of Education" by John Taylor Gatto - which is available on You Tube - to understand how our natural intellectual growth has been psychologically arrested in our schooling systems, and of what the solutions might consist.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=82A5378A59A3E207&search_query=private+boarding+schools+john+taylor+gatto
(Or conduct a You Tube word search: john gatto private boarding schools to begin.)
IV. Follow the directions listed directly below the summary of the book The Trivium by Sister Miriam Joseph.

V. Follow the directions listed directly below the summary of the recorded lecture course Introduction to Logic by Dr. Leonard Peikoff.
VI.

Read the Commentary and the Summary of Rhetoric included as the last article of this Plan.

VII. (Advanced - optional) Read and perform the exercises in Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle by Martin Cothran
(Order from:

www.memoriapress.com/articles/whatrhetoric.html)

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I. Letter & Article
7-21-06 [Written to an author of a book on primary & secondary education]
Dear Ms.,
I found the television interview regarding your book on public schooling both informative and insightful. It motivated my writing this letter.
Being that I have not read your book (an order was just placed) my comments may be of a nature with which you are already familiar. I share your concern and the concern of any thinking person in America regarding the harm being brought to the current generation of students in the public schooling system. This harm is the same which was visited upon their parents and, indeed, every generation of publicly schooled student over the last century in this country. Through spill-over effects, it has done damage to private primary and secondary schooling and, in particular, to university level education.
For if you [the rulers] suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves [outlaws] and then punish them.
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia, Book 1
Would you first break the legs of a lamb and then kick it because it could not stand up thereafter?
We are now witnessing the accumulating negative effects of omitting the three means of learning how to learn which constitute the integrated, Classical Trivium - the first three of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences; the last four constituents are called the Quadrivium. In a Classical Primary and Secondary Education curriculum, the components of the trivium - general grammar, formal (Aristotelian) logic, and classical rhetoric - are presented to students to train them in learning how to learn and, concurrently, in validly thinking systematically. The trivium is presented to methodically gather raw, factual data into a coherent body of knowledge (grammar); then to gain understanding of that body by systematically eliminating all stated contradictions within it (dialectic or logic); and, finally, to wisely express and utilize that valid knowledge and understanding in the objective, real world (rhetoric). Once a student is conversant with this three-fold procedural pattern, he is now capable - and this is one of the great values of the Trivium - of teaching himself, with minimal guidance from an instructor or facilitator, how to learn any established subject such as mathematics, geometry, musical theory, astronomy (the Classical Quadrivium), physics, chemistry, history, philosophy, etc.; or of fully grasping any propositional topic he is motivated upon which to focus - like current socio/political issues, newly developing scientific hypotheses, historical and literary analyses, and so forth. In other words, through the process of learning how to learn, he learns how to critically and creatively think . . . for himself.
That last sentence sums up the process. The first aspect of systematic thinking is to learn the elements of a proposition or subject in order to critically define a problem or an opportunity (this is done in the grammar and logic stages). Once defined, we use our creative thought capacity to solve the problem or find ways to take advantage of the opportunity (the classical rhetorical mode accomplishes this task). This makes a person a first-hand, independent thinker rather than remaining a second-hand, dependent thinker. In not relying on his own organized thoughts, a second-hand thinker (usually one marked by low self-esteem) has his mental content filled by various so called authorities like the mass media and its advertising; professionals and politicians, some of whom may be unscrupulous; officials, both benign and despotic, in schools and in the work place.
They must find it difficult. . .
Those who have taken authority as the truth,
Rather than truth as the authority.
Gerald Massey, Egyptologist
The first-hand mode - the trivium pattern of organization - is in fact the way the human mind would naturally order itself for effective thinking if this process were not aggressively discouraged by various entrenched factions in society - those self-perceived and self-proclaimed guardians of convention. To state the process in its simplest form:
Grammar

answers the question of the Who, What, Where, and the When of a subject.

Logic

answers the Why of a subject.

Rhetoric

provides the How of a subject.

A major reason the "Dame School" or the one-roomed school house of the past - being taught by one instructor and upper classmen - and the home schooling movement now gaining traction was and is successful is that they use(d) the Trivium Method of Education. Success, in this context, is in producing appropriately critical, creative, self-sufficient individuals who become equipped to attract intellectual abundance into their lives as well as that which naturally follows from it - material abundance . If a person has not been exposed to this method, it is difficult to communicate to him the serenity-of-mind and self-assurance (i.e., the spiritual abundance) caused by this competence to appropriately validate one's own thinking as well as the thinking and doctrines of others. No amount of personal counseling or therapy can generate the self-esteem of having the ability to orient one's body and mind in the world through what is his most distinguishing attribute: that of his own rational thinking applied in a systematic manner. The pattern of the Trivium is the foundation of this system which produces an intuitive means to learn new material, not only during periods devoted to formal instruction, but over an entire lifetime. As the study and practice of music allow the hands to intuitively and immediately produce melody on a piano, for instance, so the study and practice of the trivium produces intuitive and immediate critical/creative thought. In being the method to know a subject rather than only to study a subject, it is truly the most fundamental preparation for the leading of a successful life - a gift every child, adolescent, and adult should be presented to elevate him to the dignity of self-determination.
It is stressed, the Trivium forms a habitual pattern-of-mind of how to think effectively, not what to think. As an added bonus, this is a serene pursuit. Because this is a method devoted to the "how" of thinking, it is not controversial. It is in the topics of "what" to think - religion, literature, philosophy, and modern science - where controversy reigns.
The problem is, "General Education" has not been the focus of the contemporary schooling establishment but, rather, social engineering . . . it is a vile and protracted form of mis-education. After adopting the Prussian Education Method (see addendum) in America in the middle to late-19th century, this fault in educating our nation, from the perspective of the general citizenry, was compounded by applying the dangerous tenets of the Pragmatic Philosophy devised by William James and John Dewey (I recommend an internet word search on each of italicized terms in this paragraph). The "party line" is that children need to be surrounded by their peers in order to socialize properly in preparing them for life. Socialization is a natural process to people, it need not be taught to them; or, more to the point, programmed in them. Children need to be around family, neighbors, and a few close, genuine friends when younger; and participants in church, social, civic, and charitable organizations in adolescence. Friends and organizations just described have their time and place in a young persons' life - they are not all-consuming intrusions as modern primary and secondary schooling establishments try to make themselves.
There are self-serving, domineering social entities which perceive a gain from having general populations presented with only the protocols of a field of study and to have withheld the rationale of that field of study. The knowledge of the rationale of subjects for understanding, and the protocols for the expression or application of those subjects comprises what is addressed in a "General Education". The "rationale" provides the all important understanding as to why a subject or proposition is integrated and self-intelligible by presenting the entire thought process (the validated arguments) behind the rationale's conclusions. The "protocol" is a set of instructions spawned by that consolidated understanding (of the rationale) with which to manifest an expressed outcome. By presenting only protocols, outcome-based education (which is, in reality, mind control or "programming") is the openly stated goal of public schooling, not general, understanding-based education. Our country is populated by the products of this policy of having "only" protocols presented and committed to memory. These "products" are designed to be obedient soldiers, pliable employees, imprudent consumers of goods and services, and otherwise uncritical servants of established corporate and statist interests.
In not being trained to think critically and creatively, students are programmed in reading and thinking only to the level of abiding to instructions (e.g., reading a procedural manual or slavishly following edicts from "on high" issued by so called authorities). Unfortunately, this is a mind numbing action which becomes insidiously habituated. To be under the rule of task masters; to be dictated as to what to think by others or via the media; to labor under the illusion of being a well informed individual; to become a stillborn adult, a life long adolescent - these are the results of our century old institution. The ideal of self-determination is trampled mercilessly and in its place grows self-alienation. In being aggressively indoctrinated not to think . . . that is, in being programmed against our very nature, is it any wonder most of us live in a constant state of low-level fear and are anxiously disoriented in an ocean of chaos without the ability to judge as to what are appropriate and beneficial goods and values? Man cannot long live or maintain health without his primary means of survival; the exercise of his rational thought.
"What luck for rulers that men do not think"
Adolph Hitler
If one is trained in the use of the Trivium Method, not only can he learn topics on his own; deduce particular rationale from particular protocols (and, of course, the inverse); but also develop intellectual and value judgment of a high order. Through the efficient attainment of knowledge and understanding, one's intellectual capacities are awakened. He will be comfortable at all levels of intellect - lower, higher, and subtle. He can look at the world, or anything else, with clarity and discernment. Then he can act accordingly and with assurance. Said simply, he can thrive in the living of life. One of several tests to show if an individual is reaching this awakened state of education is when he can thoroughly and critically entertain various ideas without necessarily embracing them (i.e., he comes into possession of a truly open mind: he frees himself from his own opinions and prejudices). The nature of some other tests are quite surprising (those will be discussed elsewhere).
Again, as I have not read your book, I suspect you have articulated the current cultural problems regarding the topic of learning and all of its effects. Because of the universality of its application, the Trivium, as it has for the last six millennia (at minimum), provides its adherents effectiveness in responding to most questions and situations encountered in life. The following are some web sites you might find useful in exploring these concepts:

www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html [This is an especially cogent essay written in 1947.]

www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/moore/03/trivium.html

Of course, a word search of "trivium", "trivium schools", and "liberal arts" would be helpful.
I wish you all the best to you in your speaking career, and I hope these might be seeds for furthering the cause of Thought should you decide to research and write about them.
Warmest personal regards, / Gene Odening

P.S.

The following is an excerpt from another letter which may better clarify The Seven Liberal Arts & Sciences. Liberal is used here not in the modern, but in the classical sense: it is literally - liberating or setting individual minds free from ignorance through the understanding of reality. As regards contemporary society, this understanding would liberate us from task masters of all sorts - despots in schools and in the workplace; unscrupulous professionals; and self-serving propagandists in government, media, and advertising - by giving us the freedom to competently explore reality for ourselves.

The Trivium

: [1] General Grammar,[2] Formal Logic, [3] Classical Rhetoric

The Quadrivium

: [4] Arithmetic,[5] Geometry,[6] Music, and [7] Astronomy.

The Trivium (which pertains to Mind)- the elementary three.
[1] GRAMMAR (discovering and ordering facts of reality comprises basic, systematic Knowledge)- not only the rules developed and applied to the ordering of word/concepts for verbal expression and communication, but our first contact with conscious order as such. This is the initial, self-conscious technique used in properly (discursively or sequentially) organizing a body of knowledge from raw, factual data for the purpose of gaining understanding (through logic) and; thus, also organizing the individual human mind. It is the foundation upon which all other "methods of organization and order" are built. Special grammar properly relates words to other words within a specified language like English, Russian, or Latin. General grammar relates words to objective reality in any language and applies to all subjects as the first set of building blocks to integrated or fully mindful, objective knowledge. A body of knowledge which has been gathered and arranged under the rules of general grammar can now be subjected to logic for full understanding, which, emphatically, is a separate intellectual procedure.
[2] LOGIC (developing the faculty of reason in establishing valid [i.e., non-contradictory] relationships among facts yields basic, systematic Understanding) -

it is a guide for thinking correctly; thinking without contradiction. More concisely, it is the art of non-contradictory identification. The work of logic is proof. Proof consists of establishing the truth and validity of a concept or proposition in correspondence with objective, factual reality by following a self-consistent chain of higher-level thought back down to foundational, primary concepts or axioms (i.e., Existence, Consciousness, and Causality). It is a means of keeping us in touch and grounded to objective reality in our search for valid knowledge and understanding. Logic brings the rhythm of the subjective thoughts of the mind, and the subsequent actions of the body, into harmony with the rhythm of the objective universe.

This is the intended tone of the entire letter: to amicably synchronize individual mental processes, and their attendant actions, with the processes of our surrounding natural, factual existence over the period of a lifetime.
[3] RHETORIC (applying knowledge and understanding expressively comprises Wisdom or, in other words, it is systematically useable knowledge and understanding)-

to explore and find the proper choice of methods for cogently expressing the conclusions of grammar and logic on a subject in writing and/or oral argumentation (oratory). The annunciation of those conclusions is called a statement of rationale, the set of instructions deduced from the rationale for the purpose of application (of those conclusions) in the real world is called a statement of protocols.

1] Discovering and arranging Knowledge (a body of knowledge) under generalgrammar; 2] fully Understanding that Knowledge under formal logic; and 3] Wisely expressing and using that Knowledge and Understanding under classical rhetoric, are three distinctly different but inter-related disciplines which yield, when applied as an integrated unit - - Truth.

The Quadrivium (which pertains to Matter & Quantity)- the advanced four.
[4] MATHEMATICS- number in itself, which is a pure abstraction; that is, outside of space and time.
[5] GEOMETRY-

number in space.

[6] MUSIC OR HARMONIC THEORY-

number in time.

[7] ASTRONOMY-

number in space and time.

a. Number
b. Geometry
c. Harmonics
d. Cosmology

The subjects of the Quadrivium (originally organized by Pythagoras, the ancient Greek philosopher) provided much of the more advanced study prior to the integration of the science of physic by Galileo and Isaac Newton. This integration precipitated the rise in studies of other specialized sciences, but, again, you can see the sensible and consistent manner in which the material of knowledge was presented. In the Middle Ages, the Trivium was the method of learning presented in primary education, and the Quadrivium comprised the subjects to be learned by scholars in secondary education (tertiary education provided professional study). Today, the methods of learning and thinking via the Trivium have not been surpassed even as the galaxy of subjects to be explored and learned has expanded immensely.

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The various formal “Arts”, including the Liberal Arts, are classical concepts (from Ancient Greece and Rome) which were refined in medieval times. The following contrast the Three Classical Arts in contemporary terms:
1] The Liberal Arts and Sciences , of which there are seven, free a person who is informed to qualitatively know the mind and the method of training it through the trivium. Knowledge of the quadrivium provides an individual the freedom to quantitatively discern the aspects of physical nature - the realm of extension (mind does not possess this quality). In human perspective, mind and matter are the total of reality. The Liberal Arts are the study of reality as well as a guide to abundant living in that reality. Until recently, in the West, the study of the 7 Liberal Arts was considered the paramount sudy; to be sought even beyond the pursuit of Theology.
2] The Utilitarian or Servile Arts prepare a person to serve - another person, the state, a corporation, or a business - and to earn a living. The occupational professions, trades, and technical vocations comprise these arts. Servile Arts teach us how to provide for a living but not how to live (i.e., in states of abundance). These are the only arts, regrettably, presented to most of us today.
3] The Fine Arts, if of the higher sort, attempt to elevate the human experience by communicating truth through the beautiful and the sublime. Architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, music, drama, and dance comprise the Seven Fine Arts.
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ESSENTIAL TERMS
>Existence - Every entity, action, attribute, and relationship that is, was, or ever will be.
>Identity - That which an existent is; the sum total of its attributes or characteristics.
>Consciousness - The faculty of awareness of that which exists.
>Validation - The process of establishing an ideal’s relation to reality (existence).
>Law of Causality - An entity must act in accord with its nature. This is a corollary to "Identity" mentioned above.
LOGIC - THE ART OF NON-CONTRADICTORY IDENTIFICATION.

The method by which we can validly think for ourselves.

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That in which reside all beings and which
Resides in all beings, which is the giver of
Grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the
Universe, the limitless being - I Am That.
From the Amribitnu Upanishads of Ancient India
[This refernces Judeo/Christian theology.]
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There are those who discern, through the eye of knowledge, that there is only the Field and the Awareness of the Field.

From the Bhagavad Gita
This references:
1. Philosophy - - The two primary axioms: Existence & Consciousness]
2. Modern Science - - Field Theory]
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Your vision will become clear only when you look inside your being. . .
Who looks outside, is led to imaginings.
Who looks inside, awakens.
C. G. Jung
[Do not slavishly accept pre-digested thoughts. Learn to think for yourself.]


I. (Continuation)
Addendum to letter above.

From the NEVADA JOURNAL

Prussia Education System
Are we teaching American Citizens or training Prussian Serfs?
from a speech by Senator Ann O'Connell

adapted by Diane Alden

How do we Americans begin to understand the problems we are experiencing today with our educational community and with our system of education? Oddly enough, the answer to this and other perplexing questions regarding education go back in history to Napoleon’s defeat of the Prussian army in 1806. Because of the Prussian failure to defeat Napoleon, Germany took a long hard look at its institutions—primarily its school system. This introspection led to the conclusion that Prussian pride and power could only be restored by restructuring that system.
A strategy was devised in which the Prussian government would set up a forced government educational system which would turn out well disciplined students who would follow orders without questioning authority. To accomplish this feat, the goal of educating children became a national priority permeated with strategies adapted to turn out a national work force rather then an educated citizenry. Every step in the education process was calculated to offer authority figures the least amount of trouble and consequently train a well disciplined albeit docile citizen.
Of course the government’s attitude towards ordinary citizens did not carry over to the aristocratic upper classes, about 200 families, that owned most of the property and controlled the purse strings in Prussia—and who were intent on keeping it that way. These families did not want their children attending school with the lower classes and in the course of things the new educational protocol gave the upper classes choice in deciding the kind of schools their children would attend, a choice it did not offer to the average German. [0.5% of the population were educated as to how to learn and think systematically; to see the "Big Picture". They were given a Liberal Arts education with particular emphasis on the Trivium. 5.5% were taught how to "partially" think by having only the grammar of subjects or disintegrated portions of the Trivium presented. These were prepared for the Servile Arts - occupational professions, trades, technical disciplines, and military / police duties. The remainder of the children, who were conscripted into the schooling system, had the instruction of methods of self-teaching and effectual systematic thought replaced by programming designed to produce uncritical servants of the state.]
The Prussian system may seem familiar to Americans in that it demanded compulsory attendance, national training for teachers, national testing for all students (important because it gave the government the ability to classify children for potential job training), national curriculum set for each grade, and mandatory kindergarten. Mandatory kindergarten was necessary because it served to break the influence of the mother over the child thus making the child more responsive to government influence.
So how did the Prussian system get from Germany to the United States and what reasons were offered for its adoption here? The Prussian system proved to be a success for that government’s purposes. By the late 1800’s men in the United States including Horace Mann, Barnis Sears, and Calvin Stove heard about the successes of the Prussian system. They traveled to Germany to investigate how the educational process worked. Upon their return to the United States they lobbied heavily to have the Prussian model adopted.
How it Used to Be
Up until the late 1800’s a good education in the United States could be obtained without government interference or oversight. Surprisingly, 50 percent of a population of 3 million in 1776 were indentured servants and 20 percent were African slaves. Yet during that time 600,000 copies of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had been sold in the United States and had been read by countless Americans. By 1812, with a population of approximately 7 million, Pierre DuPont wrote in Education in the United States, "...that out of every 1,000 persons fewer than four can’t read or do numbers." He attributed this fact to traditional dinner table debates over passages read from the Bible. In other words, children learned how to read with an understanding of what they were reading and they knew their numbers. All this education took place at home or in one room school houses, or "Dame Schools," primarily taught by women. The children who came out of these schools grew up to be self reliant and individualistic, in marked contrast to the Prussian system which produced an obedient, collectivist trained populace.
Another development added to the growing furor and revolution in American education. In the early 1800’s, what is commonly known as the Ph.D. did not exist in the United States. Then a well connected American named Edward Everett went to Germany to take courses and returned to this country as the first American to receive a Ph.D. degree. Eventually, 10,000 of America’s wealthiest families would send their sons to obtain the Ph.D. in Prussian universities. Ultimately, this development would affect the educational and intellectual make up of the entire education system from kindergarten through college. These German trained Ph.D.’s took over the educational establishment in the United States and anchored themselves in positions of political and economic power and influence. The substance of the course work in Prussian universities in tandem with
the educational philosophy tended to be socialist and collectivist in nature. Consequently, the knowledge and mind set of the Prussian system were passed on to several generations of American intellectuals.
Implementation of the Prussian System
Implementation of the Prussian system was to become the goal of Edward Everett, America’s first Ph.D. As Governor of Massachusetts, Everett had to deal with the problem of the influx of poor Irish Catholics into his state. In 1852, with the support of Horace Mann, another strong advocate of the Prussian model, Everett made the decision to adopt the Prussian system of education in Massachusetts. Unfortunately for the children and poor Irish Catholics of Massachusetts and elsewhere, the system produced a willing, cheap labor force with minimal reading and numbers skills. The Everetts of the world understood that people who could read and understand are dangerous because they are intellectually equipped to find out things for themselves, thus becoming a threat to already established power elites.
Shortly after Everett and Mann collaborated to adopt the Prussian system, the Governor of New York set up the same method in 12 different New York schools on a trial basis. Incredibly, within two weeks he declared the system a total success and took control of the entire education system in the State of New York. In a "blitzkreig" action with no debate, public hearing, or citizen involvement, government forced schooling was on its way in America.
The Results of the Prussian System
The history of American education since the acceptance of the Prussian system is checkered with failure and elitism. From the time of John Dewey, who felt people should be defined by groups and associations and who believed that people who were well read were dangerous, to our own era, U.S. education has suffered. We have in this day and age the disheartening statistics showing 33 percent or our nation’s college graduates can’t read or calculate well enough to perform the jobs they seek.
Working against the concepts and principles the Founding Fathers provided in the Constitution, the Prussian system has produced a gradual but statistically provable decline in literacy and intellectual capability of typical Americans. We can track the five different stages that American education has gone through: 1750-1852—The idea of government controlled schools was conceived; 1852-1900—It was politically debated in state legislatures; 1900-1920—We had government controlled industrialized factory modeled schooling; 1920-1960—Schools changed from being academically focused to becoming socialized; and 1960 to the Present—Schools became psychological experimental labs.
In the year 1941 the Defense Department was preparing for World War II. In testing 18 million men between 1941 and 1944, the Defense Department found 96 percent of those tested were literate. During this same period, among African Americans who were tested—the majority of whom had only three years of schooling—80 percent were found to be literate. By literate we mean that Americans, both white and black, could read with understanding.
During the Korean War the Department of Defense tested three million men for service and only 19 percent were found to be literate. In less then 10 years there had been a 500 percent rise in illiteracy. Perplexed, the Defense Department investigated and found that the same test had been used during the two wars and the only difference was that those men and women tested during the Korean War had more schooling—at a significantly higher cost.
Twenty years later, around 1970, the same test was used at the time of a new war. Among the Vietnam draftees and enlistees who were tested for literacy only 27 percent were found to be capable of reading with understanding the material which they needed in order to serve in the armed forces. Again the major difference between American soldiers in the 1940’s and the 1970’s was more schooling for the latter group at a higher cost to the taxpayers.
Consider that the billions of taxpayer dollars were spent over the time period from the 1940’s to the present increased by some 350 percent with totally unacceptable results despite all the increased spending. In 1996 statistics prepared by the National Association of Education for Progress showed that some 44 percent of African Americans can not read at all. The same set of statistics shows that illiteracy among whites has quadrupled. Incredibly, educating Americans continues to cost massive amounts of taxpayer dollars to achieve unacceptable and devastatingly poor results.
Conclusion
The cost to America can’t be measured in just dollars and cents. While the economic cost is monumental as indicated by the $30 billion annual Department of Education budget and billions more spent by local communities, the lack of results for the dollars we spend is catastrophic. We are paying billions to maintain a system which is ineffective and dangerous—because it is not teaching people the critical intellectual skills which are crucial to making economic and political decisions for themselves. [Currently, most of this spending is not going to teacher's increased pay or toward efforts at better teaching standards. In the enormous, centralized corporate enterprise which has grown to be public schooling, the great majority of tax-raised income is purchasing new buildings, campus-site real estate, and ancillary physical facilities - buses, metal detectors, computers, and the like - in which funds can potentially be diverted and spread among those involved in the procurement process (education bureaucrats, local and state politicians, and contractors). To compensate for the lack of finances for other perceived needs of socializing children - like band uniforms, field trips, and other extra curricular activities - which finances have been diverted to the interests just named, school children are transformed into peddlers of sundry products to raise money for these resources under the guise of developing personal independence and responsibility ... how ironic.]
What is the answer? While the privileged class may choose to send its children to private schools, most Americans have only one option, public education. Public schools are the country’s largest employer and the largest mediator in contracts.
Unfortunately, the public education establishment is so powerful it can outlast public outrage. Consequently Americans face a dismal educational future unless we insist on parental choice. Until then there is little likelihood that a Prussian inspired educational system will change and deliver the desired results—a literate, intellectually capable citizenry.
An American hero, Abraham Lincoln, was very outspoken against the Prussian idea that ordinary people should not be taught the same way as the privileged class. He said such a concept was unAmerican—that this country was built by its common people. God created all men as equals and they deserved to be educated in the same manner, rich and poor alike.

u -----------------------------------------------------------

The Key to effective education (the education which was provided to the upper 0.5% in Prussia, or "learning how to learn and think systematically") is the application of the first three of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Trivium, in each of its three manifestations:
A]

The Subjects of the Trivium - this three-fold method reflects the natural human psychology for assimilating knowledge.

1] Rules of General Grammar to concisely organize a body of Knowledge.
2] Rules of Formal Logic with which to produce Understanding by finding non-contradictory relationships (eliminating contradictions) within that body of knowledge and to objective reality (in which there are no contradictions [!]).
3] Rules of Classical Rhetoric to produce Wisdom with which to cogently express and use the understanding garnered from the body of knowledge.

B]

The Trivium as an age-appropriate division for training and educating in childhood and adolescence; this takes account of the changing capacities in the instrument of study, the mind, as it matures into adulthood.

1] Grammar Level - ages 4 to 9 - training in self-discipline; memory work and primary, informal presentation of language-based subjects (as in spelling, phonetic reading, foreign languages, and absorbing factual data); introduction to elementary numbers and arithmetic (addition, subtraction, and multiplication tables).
2] Logic Level - ages 10 to 14 - education and self-instruction in analytical subjects (Formal Logic; advanced mathematics; literary, historical, and scientific analysis; and primary composition)
{#1 & #2 comprise The Art of Learning}
3] Rhetoric Level - ages 15 to 17 - self-expression of what
was and is being learned and understood by use of advanced, original literary and/or mathematical composition. The student is now pre-pared for a life-time of learning by using the Trivium Method as a pattern of "how" to properly think.
{With the addition of #3, The Art of Thinking is now in place.}
The Trivium has been used not only for learning, but also for teaching. The “Dame School”, which provided primary education to children aged 6 to 17 in one room with one instructor, was a complete and efficient system for the dissemination and debate of knowledge. However, the single instructor was not unaided in her teaching chores. The ingenious use of upper classmen to help instruct lower classmen was part of this system. Logic level students helped “train” Grammar level students, those at the Rhetoric level helped “teach” Logic level students.
“The best way to learn is to teach!”
Motivation to learn was also addressed in this schooling. Younger students respond more favorably to being taught and emulating slightly older contemporaries, their peers, rather than being unceasingly instructed by an adult. As can be imagined, this dance of learning and teaching could serve a person throughout his life.
C]

The Trivium (a means for guidance in "how" to think) as a classification tool of those modes which gather knowledge of "what" to think.

1] The Literary or Mythopoeic (Mythological and Poetic) Mode uses analogical methods to elucidate phenomena. .
2] The Philosophic Mode uses the logical methods to explain phenomena.
3] The Scientific Mode uses the "scientific method" to gain
knowledge, understanding, and the use of phenomena through experimental demonstration (empiricism).
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Ancient India (4th and 3rd Millennia BC, or possibly earlier) appears to be the birthplace of the institution detailed above as the Prussian model. Even the ratios of population specialization were derived from the Indian system of social castes. The Indian Brahmanic System specified four hereditary castes in descending order of "cleanliness" (their term . . . read - importance). In fact, the entire system was based on varying levels of education.
1] The Brahmin Caste - those born into the holy priestly / judicial / teacher caste were the ultimate authority figures in society and directed its courses of action. This caste was taught the full manner of systematic learning and thinking; the precepts of the integrated trivium. Because of this training, they were the only people in their culture who had a view of the society's “Big Picture”. About 0.5 percent of the general population belonged to this caste (!).
2] The Kshastria Caste - those born into the heroic king / warrior caste were the figures of power and were the force behind the dictates of the informed, authoritarian caste. The warrior caste was always considered potentially dangerous to the authoritarian caste because the warrior’s primary focus was physical coercion. This coercion could easily be turned on the caste of authority to assume total control of society if it (the warrior caste) so chose. For this reason the 'holy' caste taught the warriors only the means to partially think, as in the case of the 19th century Prussian System. That is, perhaps one or two of the precepts of the trivium were emphasized; or all three were presented, but out of sequence or as subjects unto themselves and without the integrating aspects of valid systematic thought being stressed. About 5 or 6 percent of the general population were members of the warrior caste - the "royal" executive, police, and military branches of political society.
3] The Vaishya Caste - those born into the commercial agricultural / merchant / artisan caste were nominally in charge of the material wealth derived from economic activity. They co-ordinated the business, the trade, and the employment of productive society. The members of this caste were taught only the grammar of thought - the specialized materials (the servile arts) of their various vocations - in order that they be politically uncritical, rote functionaries in society. Approximately 4 to 5 percent of the general population belonged to this caste.

4] The Shudra Caste - those born into the menial caste provided the servants and laborers to the other three castes. This caste was not given any formal instruction (the members not being "Twice Born" - or initiated into their life's station in adolescence after their periods of education [we signify this today by a ceremony called "graduation"] - as were the three upper castes). About 87%, or almost all of the rest of the general population belonged to this caste. The very small percentage of the population that were born into the lower spectrum of this fourth caste were labeled Untouchables, and performed either the very unsavory tasks of society (sanitation work, etc.) or were the common beggars. Interestingly, after coming to a comprehensive understanding of the hierarchical structure of their social order, a number of this group of Untouchables later became the international bands of traveling societies which are known as the ROMA or Romani people. They are most commonly known to us as "Gypsies".
These basic divisions in society have manifested in various cultures throughout the ages. Some more westerly examples:
Ancient Egypt developed priestly and warrior castes. To cope with the potential problem of a rebellious warrior caste, the priests selected their titular leader, their Pharaoh, from among the warrior caste itself. Once selected, this leader was initiated into the Mysteries of the knowledgeable priestly caste ... the centerpiece “Mystery” being the integrated trivium, most likely. Of course, the deeper Mysteries were pharmacologically communicated.
European society in the Middle Ages was divided into oratores, bellatores, and laboratores. 1] The Church was the dwelling of the oratores. These were the men who had been given the sequential instruction from grammar, to logic, and on into becoming accomplished rhetoricians and orators. European authority stemmed from skillfully applied rhetoric. 2] The bellicose men of society were the kings, princes, and various noblemen who executed aggressive actions on their own behalf if in concurrence with the guidelines of the Church and , at times, acted as coercive auxiliaries of the Church itself. 3] Laboratores were composed of farmers, merchants, tradesmen, artisans, serfs, and freemen laborers and servants who lived under the authority of the Church and at the pleasure of the various (bellatore) Monarchies. (In France, these are called the Three Estates. The Fourth Estate, added later, is the press/media.)
In his very readable works titled Republic and Laws, the Greek philosopher Plato thoroughly describes the intricacies and implications of these social divisions. By studying these two works - these dialogs - one can see that the contemporary world is still structured in this manner although under different names and in veiled guises.
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II. Read the essay written in 1947 by Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning, at the following web site:

www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html

III. See the 19 part video series on "An Underground History of Education" by John Taylor Gatto - which is available on You Tube - to understand how our natural intellectual growth has been psychologically arrested in our schooling systems, and of what the solutions might consist.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=82A5378A59A3E207&search_query=private+boarding+schools+john+taylor+gatto
(Or conduct a You Tube word search: john gatto private boarding schools to begin.)

IV. (SUMMARY) The Trivium

- a book by Sister Miriam Joseph (Rauh) is an introduction to the three branches of the trivium. Chapter # 3 contains a cogent explanation of 'general' grammar (start here). Her treatise on logic is the standard academic presentation which contains many extraneous elements not suited to a philosophic-layperson's comprehension of the subject. Likewise, her treatment of composition or rhetoric is aimed at explaining the primacy of language rather than the primacy of reality as expressed in a Statement-of-Protocol derived from a Statement-of-Rational (i.e., a rational argument). (See article on Rhetoric)

>>> Read the first three chapters. Then read the third chapter three more times. Read this once a day over three successive days or more. It is important to employ spaced repetition in this type of reading to influence the neural mapping of the brain (to form new neural path-ways and synaptic connections) so as to make the new material being learned more fully understood and to affect an automatic process in application. This is the equivalent of “sleeping on it”.
After the third reading of Chpt. 3, underline all passages which appear as important to you. Also write any marginal notes which you find appropriate. The next day, write a short synopsis, in your own words, of your impressions of the material.
You may find putting the meaning of the technical language into your own terms a difficult task. The purpose of this ‘rhetorical’ exercise is to test your ‘understanding’ (the logic) of what has been read in the body of ‘knowledge’ (the grammar).
The following explanation will not be coherent at present, but it will be upon finishing Chpt. 3 for the first time. Here is an example of the process mentioned in the paragraph above. To use the four familiar types of sentences - declarative, interogative, imperative, and exclamatory - in determining in which type a ’proposition’ might reside, is more effective for our purpose of everyday useage rather than applying the more unfamiliar (but more rigorously academic) grammatical ‘moods’ - indicative, potential, interrogative (equivalent), and volative which Sister Miriam Joseph uses in her exposition.
The pertinent point in knowing ‘general’ grammar is to establish its close relationship with logic and rhetoric so that the Trivium Method itself can be used as a fully integrated system of intellectual cognition.
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V. (SUMMARY) Introduction to Logic - a recorded lecture course given by Dr. Leonard Peikoff in the 1970's. This is the most appropriately constructed exposition on the subject of logic to which a layperson can relate. It is presented in plain English and without superfluous content which might detract from the real-world applications of logic. This is the core of the Trivium Method. Regrettably, this is an expensive item selling at $355. If finance is a problem, I suggest the formation of a study group to share expenses as well as being a source of diverse ideas and views. Review of this material over time is an important aspect in the study of logic and this particular medium is ideal for that purpose. Upon finishing this series of talks, a return to Miriam Joseph's book, as well as those listed below, will generate supplemental insight which otherwise would not be apparent. This is a long lecture series which presentation should be spaced over several weeks. The exercise of taking notes during the lectures will help in maintaining focus.
(Online order from the Ayn Rand Bookstore, Peikoff lectures department, catalog # LP30M.)
>>> Unlike Sister Miriam Joseph's intent, which was to provide an academic, scholarly presentation of the trivium to her university level students (i.e., using many and highly nuanced terms for the same fundamental concept , like the use of 'indicative mood' instead of the more common 'declarative sentence' to clarify the concept 'proposition'); Dr. Leonard Peikoff's intent is to relate information to laymen for day-to-day use in the real world. He generally uses one common term, and one term only, to signify the meaning of a concept throughout his logic lecture series. Regarding the useage of language, these lectures are easier to follow than are the specialized writings in the book The Trivium.
The general subject of Aristotelian Logic itself consists of four other, more specialized subjects. They are listed below as A. through D.
A

. List of Common Logical Fallacies

B

. Rules of Definition

The following two subjects are concerned with the manner in which the human mind processes information. It either mentally takes information apart, or mentally combines information together to form generalizations.
C

. Rules of Deductive Reasoning:

Making new particular observations with similar or the same characteristics to other previously made obervations, and placing the new particular observations into a known general category in which the observations that had been made previously are already placed. This is reasoning from all - to - some (taking apart).
D

. Review of the known rules of Inductive Reasoning:

Making several separate observations with similar or the same characteristics and forming them into a new general category -- or to form a generalization. This is reasoning from some - to - all (combining, or putting together).
The topics listed above are the standard topics covered in introduction to logic cources. This course consists of 30-CD which form ten lectures of approximately three hours each, including the question and answer periods. Three-CD comprise one full lecture. To approach this series as it was originally presented would be ideal. Listen and complete the written exercises to one lecture (3 discs) per week; ten weeks total; and try to listen on the same week-day each time.
The practice of taking notes while listening to these discs is highly recommended as a means of focusing attention as well as for recording varying perceptions over time. I have personally reviewed this lecture series every second year for the past thirty years and have experienced at least one new insight each time. The following are the individual disc titles which are listed under the basic topics.
A.

Common Logical Fallacies

#1. Basic logical theory

The role of logic. The laws of logic and their validation. Logic and reality.

#2 & 3. Informal fallacies

Twenty-two common fallacies, including: the appeal to authority, ad hominem, ad populum, ad ignorantiam, begging the question, equivocation, composition, division, misuse of the mean and false alternative.

These topics are self-explanatory and self-evident. Complete the assigned exercises and a workable grasp of the subject matter should be attained. No special commentary is required.
C.

Rules of Deductive Reasoning ( This is out of the order presented above, but it is in the order for logical presentation as the rules of deduction are used to form the Rules of Definition which follow. )

#4. Introduction to Deductive Reasoning
The nature of deductive argument. Validity and truth. Mixed and pure hypothetical arguments. Alternative arguments.
#5 & 6. The Aristotelian Syllogism
Categorical propositions. Immediate inference. Rules of syllogistic validity. Analyzing arguments in ordinary language.
These three lectures ( 9 discs ) are the most highly technical portions of the series. Do not be concerned if a full understanding is not reached upon first listening to these nine discs and completeing the exercises. It is enough that you have simply been exposed to this material at least once.
In the course of having understood the common fallacies in the section immediately prior to Deduction, and in coming to know the Rules of Definition and identification immediately following, an appreciation for part of the process by which they came to be, will develop. Of course, part of that process will be explained in this section on deductive reasoning. The remainder of the process will be covered in explaining inductive reasoning. { > The Common Logical Fallacies and the Rules of Definition are the operative sections used in everyday critical/creative logical activity. > The deductive and inductive rules are the means by which the Fallacies and Definition were developed and validated, in other words. Of course, beyond only this function, deduction and induction are further used in detailed processes of analysis and synthesis as well. }
However, these three sections on Deduction should be reviewed more often than the others. To be exposed to these complex and intricate rules can be likened to practicing the scales in the growth and development of musical talent. The more developed your understanding here, the more automatic the critical and creative capacity of thought becomes in everyday use.

B

. Rules of Definition (Out of alphabetical sequence.)

#7 & 8. Definition
The cognitive role of definitions. Genus and differentia. The method of formulating valid definitions: five Aristotelian rules of definition. Definitional fallacies.
This section is very straight forward. Sister Miriam Joseph's treatise on definition does add some useful comments on the roll of 'Species' to those of genus and differentia. Complete the lectures and exercises before referring to The Trivium.
D.

Review of known rules of Inductive Reasoning.

# 9 & 10. Inductive Generalization.
Induction vs. deduction. Induction by simple enumeration. Experimental induction. Mill's methods of discovering causal connections. Major inductive fallacies, including hasty generalization, oversimplified generalization, post hoc. The justification of induction. The argument from analogy.
Again, the writing and the ideas presented in this last section are straight forward and self-explanatory.



VI. (COMMENTARY) Rhetoric

To quote from Dorothy Sayers' essay The Lost Tools of Learning, "It is difficult to map out any general syllabus for the study of Rhetoric: a certain freedom is demanded".

In keeping with her observation, a brief summary of the general rules of rhetoric follows. However, since classical and midieval times when the major role of rhetoric was to refine the art of persuasion, the conditions of more modern times have necessitated an expansion of the definition of rhetoric.
Classical Rhetoric was developed at a time when all social activities in men's lives were directed from a cultural hierarchy which extended central planning from the upper reaches of a metaphorical pyramid down to the operative or lower, foundational reaches of the pyramid. Societal planning was conceived by the rhetoricians - priests, jurists, and educators - and more widely passed on in a verbal form as oratory to the operative branches of society. Operatives consisted of the people who did the actual work of the society as directed by the rhetoricians. The operative classes consisted of the governmental officials (usually Monarchs), military and police personnel, producers of agricultural and commercial goods and services, and the common laborers and servants. (The caste systems as previously referenced.)
It is because persuasive rhetoric can be used for moral or immoral purposes, that a student should be able to analyze its content as the rhetoric might directly affect him. The term moral is defined as follows: an action directed at another party which does not harm his person or property through the initiation of force or fraud. To be able to judge an action as immoral is to use the knowledge of rhetoric in self-defense against that action. To judge persuasive rhetoric as moral is to foster cooperation to a positive purpose. This positive aspect relates to a person's own use of rhetoric, hopefully, as well as rhetoric directed to him.
In more modern times, specifically during and after the Industrial Revolution, the function of planning has spread from the top of the hierarchical pyramid to lower and more dispersed areas of society. The development of the Scientific Method to produce physically useful technological artifacts has placed a premium on specialists conversant in the Science of the Natural World. As Nature herself is not subject to persuasion, a rhetoric to describe and utilize discoveries made within the realm of the physical world had to be developed. This is the rhetoric encompassing a Statement of Rationale and the set of instructions derived from it, the Statement of Protocol. The rationale is the complete argument; the detailed thought process of deriving a conclusion from observed premises, as expressed in a statement. The protocol is the sequential set of procedures to actualize a goal which is implied from the rationale without the need for expressing the entire rationale itself.
The use of rationale and protocol leads to less equivocation within its implementation. That is, a specific term tends to have one and only one definition in its use in the rationale/protocol system. I call this system Practical Rhetoric. Practical Rhetoric closes the gulf of imprecise communication between the rhetorician and his audience, in other words. Misconceptions - both intentional and unintentional - can be minimized if a student can consciously convert persuasive or classical rhetoric to the procedures of practical rhetoric.
>> The Scientific Method itself is a derivation of this system of classification.

(SUMMARY) Elements of Classical Rhetoric
The elements of Systematic Wisdom are:
1. The five stages (or what are called "canons") of composition: 1] invention, 2] arrangement, 3] style, 4] memory, and 5] delivery.
2. The three types of discourse: deliberative (political), judicial (forensic), and ceremonial (epideictic). They are related to time: future, past, and present tense, respectively.
The Past and Future belong to men; the eternally present Now belongs to the gods.

Aristotle

3. The three appeals: rational, emotional, and ethical. Stated more succinctly in Classical terms: the rational is the Logos of the proposition or argument being presented, the emotional is the Pathos of the audience, and ethical is the Ethos of the author or orator of the proposition.
4. Types of proofs: inartificial (which is external, objective evidence), artificial (is subjectively devised or invented by the author of the proof or argument).
5. The topics: common topics (genus or kind, comparison, and consequence); special topics (the right and expedient, the just and unjust, praise and blame).
Oration

(Wisdom presented in formal speech)

6. Arrangement: the five parts of classical oration: introduction (exordium), statement of facts, confirmation, refutation, and conclusion (peroration).
7. Style: diction (selection of most appropriate words), sentences (length, type, and variety), rhetorical figures (schemes and figures of speech or tropes).
Skilled rhetoric authors can use the discipline in two senses. In its most fundamental form, Systematic Wisdom is the art of efficiently passing thoughts from one person to others. In its most effective form, it is the art of passing "validated" thoughts from one person to others.
The internet is a valuable adjunct to the concepts presented above. A simple word search on any of the technical terms listed should suffice to bring the proper clarification needed to implement a useful rhetorical dissertation.

VII. (Advanced - optional) Read and perform the exercises in Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle by Martin Cothran

He is happy, as well as great who needs neither to obey nor to command in order to be something-
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe