Quotes

“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” – Charlotte Mason

"To educate man is the art of arts, for he is the most complex and mysterious of all creatures." - Gregory the Theologian

Monday, December 24, 2012

Are there classical stages of child development?

When a theory is backed up by some kind of authority, has some success in practice, and makes a certain amount of intuitive sense to many, it is very hard to overcome with any kind of argument; even if it is a simple matter of history.  Such is the case with the definition of classical education as the “stages of the trivium” propounded by Douglas Wilson based on a talk given by Dorothy Sayers in the 1940’s.  How a speculative account of stages of child development with no support from ancient authorities became “classical” is a fascinating phenomenon.

I decided to illustrate this by constructing my own “classical” stages of development based upon the four classical modes of knowledge.  Perhaps in fifty years someone will launch a school based on my model.  Probably not, since I haven’t written any mystery novels or translated Dante.  Oh well, stranger things have happened.

    
Four Classical Modes  Example of Knowledge Ages Stages of the Modes
of Knowledge
POETIC Trusting another's love, experience 2-10 Delight in sense experience; observation and interaction with nature and the world of real objects; authority based learning; love of stories, songs, and poetry; imaginative play
SCIENTIFIC Absolute certitude: the whole is greater than the part; motion presupposes agency 8-12 Black and white thinking, beginning of abstract thinking, questions about principles, certainty
RHETORICAL Persuaded by evidence, but without conclusive proof, as when we vote for a political candidate 10-14 Debate, discussion, and argument.  Questioning and searching for meaning, engagement with the world of ideas; analysis
DIALECTICAL Concluding one of two opposing arguments beyond a reasonable doubt, as a laboratory test to certify a drug for human use 12-16 Modern scientific reasoning, applied mathematics, Socratic method
Source of modes and examples: John Senior, The Restoration of Christian Culture and James Taylor, Poetic Knowledge

Please note that memorization does not play a part in my stages of development.  This is intentional, because in a classical understanding of education, one does not “know” unless one has the knowledge within the memory.  Each stage has its appropriate objects of memorization that are cemented in the mind through use.  The Poetic stage would include the memory of poems, scripture, stories, math facts, names of places and animals, etc.  The Scientific stage would include memory of axioms and geometric proofs.  The Rhetorical stage would include memory of great speeches, etc.. 

Any comments or improvement to my stages would be welcomed, just remember that I am only half serious. The problem with a scheme like Sayers's is that it can harden into a method that excludes things.  So my Poetic stage might be wholly missing from a classical school that uses Sayers's "grammar stage".

4 comments:

  1. I agree that ages 0-2 cannot be classified. It's a great mystery--the spirituality of babes. They are far more pious and closer to Reality than the rest of us.

    Good examples. Is this taxonomy mostly based on your experience? ... is Sayer's?

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  2. Here is what Sayers says: "My views about child psychology are, I admit, neither orthodox nor enlightened. Looking back upon myself (since I am the child I know best and the only child I can pretend to know from inside) I recognize three states of development." My stages are things I got off the top of my head that I thought might sound plausible. Truth be told, I don't really like the idea of stages, but prefer to think in terms of a movement from immaturity to maturity.

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  3. The idea of "grammar school" is hundreds of years old, however. Far predating a neo-classical corporation from North Carolina ....

    My grandmother would be near 100 if she was still with us, but she attended Grammar School and could still quote many poems and Psalms she memorized during grammar school. (some poetry long lasting for it's beauty, others for practicality like "Thirty days has September")

    My own children are part of a Classical hybrid academy that uses the stages but we memorize much scripture and poetry, study great art, listen to great composers, learn folk dances and sing Medieval songs in Latin in round ... and SOME students also memorize weekly history sentences and biology facts at home.

    Ann of Green Gables and Laura Ingalls Wilder both attended and later taught in grammar schools, did they not? (I know Ann was fictional, but the way the school system worked was basic factual background to the stories).

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  4. The "grammar schools" in early America were schools that taught young men classical languages so they could attend universities. After that, the name grammar school was adopted for students ages 10 to 14, which followed the "primary school" in the younger years." As I said above memory is always an important feature of education.

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