The following post is by Dr. Florian Hild, principal of Ridgeview Classical Schools in Fort Collins, Colorado. Ridgeview uses the Core Knowledge curriculum from K-8, and an advanced liberal arts curriculum in its high school. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked Ridgeview’s high school #15 in the country, as well as the #4 open-enrollment school and the #4 charter school. This piece originally appeared on Ridgeview’s website and runs here with Dr. Hild’s permission
E. D. Hirsch’s The Making of Americans showed us that the godfather of Core Knowledge now posits a purpose for a Core Knowledge education. The Making of Americans, more so than his previous books, reveals an intellectual kinship between Hirsch and classical education. In my reading, Hirsch has done more than add logic and rhetoric to the grammar of Core Knowledge: He has joined the academic trivium to its moral, civic purpose. Aiming for intelligence and character is what sets classical education apart from a well-executed Core Knowledge education. The Making of Americans presents the good citizen as the goal of American K-12 education. Citizenship is our public virtue; character our private. Together they create a life worth living for the individual and her society. Together they provide the trivium’s academic excellence with a civic purpose.
The Grammar Stage
The Core Knowledge Sequence functions as the grammar stage of classical education’s trivium (the “three ways” of grammar, logic, and rhetoric). In the grammar stage, learners acquire the vocabulary of a discipline. This grammatical learning is not restricted to certain age-groups; whenever we learn something new, we have to understand its grammar. In biology, we need to know what a cell is before we can learn what cells do. In history, we need to know the words of the Gettysburg Address before we can debate its merits. Education has a grammar: Here, I’m trying to explain the ideals of classical education by drawing on your understanding of Core Knowledge. Even baseball has a grammar: Just try explaining to a foreigner what “walking” a star player means. (See also the attached article, “E.D. Hirsch’s Curriculum for Democracy.”)
Every discipline, every form of life, has a grammar. Without it, we are excluded from that discipline or form of life just as a stranger from an inside joke. Ridgeview students—as well as Core Knowledge students elsewhere—slowly (“glacially slow,” according to Hirsch) learn the grammar of their academic subjects and are thus given entrance to many ways of knowing the world. It is in the grammar stage when our academic houses are built on rock or sand depending on the quality of our teachers and our curriculum.
The Logic Stage
Classical education then builds on the grammar of Hirsch’s sequence. (Ridgeview does so in his spirit: The Core Knowledge website has a link to ridgeviewclassical.com in an article about where to go after CK.) When students know the grammar of a subject, they can engage it with logical questions. Why do some cells’ mutations cause diseases, others benefits? What is “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”? What is wrong about saying that “there were grammatical differences between Dr. Hirsch and I”? The Socratic “What is?” challenges us to explain the knowledge we think we have. The logical testing of grammar lets us know what to think of it. The logic stage thus follows quite naturally on the grammar stage, because we are curious and ask questions about what we learn. The trivium accounts for this human inquisitiveness. Every class at Ridgeview takes students from grammar to logic. Already kindergartners ask questions about the things they learn and few Ridgeview teenagers just accept information without testing it.
The Rhetoric Stage
In their senior theses, Ridgeview seniors articulate their view of a good life. Their judgments are based on the grammar they learned at Ridgeview, the many questions they have asked, and the many arguments they’ve had. This articulation of a thesis is the rhetoric stage: It is an argument about the grammar one has learned and logically tested. Our senior thesis is the final goal of a Ridgeview education, but many prior classes include rhetorical elements in the form of papers, exams, and presentations. While mastery of grammar and conversing about and testing this grammar is the bedrock of a classical education, the final goal is to arrive at reasoned judgment. And while many classes in a K-12 school can hardly claim to produce students who have prudential judgment, each class knows it is trying to move students towards this end.
The Continual Cycle through the Trivium
Each stage, therefore, needs the others. Grammar without logic and rhetoric is information without judgment. Computers possess a vast amount of grammar, but we wouldn’t call a computer prudent. To ask “What is?” without grammatical knowledge is a meaningless, though popular, exercise. Rhetoric without tested knowledge works for stand-up comedy but not for the more serious parts of our lives. One of the misunderstandings regarding classical education is to assign grammar to elementary, logic to middle, and rhetoric to high school. As parents well know, very young students ask lots of logical questions and grown-ups are in desperate need of grammatical knowledge about many things. The trivium is a process that goes on in all learning, all the time. I might be in the rhetoric stage regarding classical education, but I’m in the grammar stage regarding late antiquity or modern baseball. Students here and learners everywhere continually cycle through the trivium. Classical education understands that every effort in the classroom is a step on the trivium’s long road towards rhetorical mastery of a subject. Kindergarten teachers need to know what kind of human beings they want to graduate and high-school teachers need to know where their students come from. No class takes place in isolation and without the vision of the whole. Classical education is teleological.
From Trivium to Character and Citizenship
The trivium is the method of classical education, but without a moral purpose it aims only at intelligence. While Core Knowledge without a civic purpose is still much better than anti- curriculum, anti-intellectual, anti-traditional education, it is like a powerful engine without a steering wheel, a great athlete without a competition: It lacks a destination. Hirsch’s The Making of Americans knows where it is taking Core Knowledge. Intelligence, gained by studying the Core Knowledge sequence, needs to be coupled with character, gained by learning what it means to be a good citizen. Ridgeview’s founders drew extensively on Hirsch’s first two books to realize their dream of a classical school. Now we can proudly see him return the compliment as he writes that our “success stands as a sharp rebuke to the dominant anti-intellectual pedagogy of most American schools.” Dr. Hirsch and Ridgeview have become educational soulmates, united by the shared purpose of making Americans.
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Pingback by The Common Purpose of Core Knowledge and Classical Education « The Core Knowledge Blog « Parents 4 democratic Schools — November 23, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
I am a big fan of Susan Wise Bauer’s work (The Well-Educated Mind and The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home.) I am planning to supplement my daughter’s regular schooling with Bauer’s work and would love to use that kind of approach with my students. But the concern I have, and the concern about everything I do that may be a bit unconventional, is this: Will it prepare the kids properly for the NYS ELA? And it should, but I don’t know; I’m afraid to take the chance.
Comment by TJ — November 23, 2010 @ 12:31 pm
Funny coincidence. I just started reading Bauer’s guide to classical education at home, inspired in part by Dr. Hild’s post. As a former NY elementary school teacher, I think I can confidentally say your daughter will be sensationally well-prepared for the NYS ELA. As for your students, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP-ijdxqEc
Comment by Robert Pondiscio — November 23, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
TJ, I educate my two daughters using WTM methods. My oldest is 10 now and did extremely well on the STAR test last year (which I guess is CA’s equivalent)–I find that the grammar curriculum, more detailed writing instruction, and the fact that we’re not doing Everyday Math like the local school district, have prepared her very well for testing. (Sorry, I know that’s an awful sentence, but I’m in a hurry!)
Comment by dangermom — November 23, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
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I have done extra-schooling using Bauer’s book and Core Knowledge since my kids were toddlers. Unfortunately the gulf between what they learn at school and the aforementioned curricula has become simply overwhelming, and we live in Montgomery County, MD – a county that claims to provide a “world class education”. This year we decided to homeschool our 6th grader so she could spend at least 1 year learning in a fully classical style.
Squeezing in a classical education around regular school becomes a big challenge as the kids get older, but I’ve been doing this for a long time so perhaps you may find some of my tips useful:
-audiobooks for the car and home – get a real world class education for yourself and your kids; hopefully your library has a good collection. We don’t go anywhere in the car without a story playing. My kids’ vocabulary at age 11 and 8 is shockingly advanced – I attribute this to years of listening to the best in children’s literature.
-Get Bauer’s History of the World CD’s to teach your K-8 kids (and possibly yourself) world history.
-start teaching cursive by 2nd grade (if your school system doesn’t). I really like the cursive book sold by Memoria Press)
- start a history timeline at home. You can do a huge one on the wall or use notebooks. We use large sketch books. I drew a timeline on each page and added dates (I started with 5000 BC). Whenever we read a non-fiction book about history I have the kids add important events to the time line.
Comment by Geena — November 24, 2010 @ 9:06 am
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The problem is that the classical model is too easily dismissed as retrograde and Eurocentric. There was a segment on NPR’s “California Report” show a few months back about a partnership between some district up by Sacramento and K12.com to offer a district-sponsored charter school using the K12 curriculum. The segment brought in some professor of education at one of the UC’s to criticize the curriculum as “whitewashed” and unsuitable for California’s diverse student population.
Comment by Crimson Wife — November 24, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Which is annoying, because the classical method can be applied to any culture. I suppose it’s the word “classical” that gives it a PC PR problem, but I don’t know what other word could be used.
Comment by dangermom — November 24, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
Geena,
I agree with much of what you said but am puzzled by your insistence on teaching cursive. Why use valuable time on such an anachronistic skill?
I stopped teaching cursive in the late eighties realizing most everything kids will be submitting in middle and high school will be done on a word processor. As well, most secondary teachers will accept nothing done in cursive.
If there were more time in the school day, maybe; but the academic demands of a classroom teacher have become borderline overwhelming. For me, it was a simple case of pragmatism combined with priorities.
Comment by Paul Hoss — November 25, 2010 @ 9:01 am
Paul, I generally agree with your thoughts on cursive. But not teaching cursive or even refined printing is having a an effect on the success of my high school students. They cannot read their own writing when solving multi-step math/chemistry/physics problems and so they make a lot of silly mistakes because one number looks like another, or because exponents, decimals or operation symbols vanish into a string of numbers. You could almost convince me we should teach penmanship.
Comment by Matt — November 25, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
Paul,
Why teach cursive? First, there’s a lot of literature in the cognitive sciences addressing that question. Second, there are far fewer strokes in producing cursive script than type-script, making it easier to teach, especially to the fine motor challenged. Third, who teaches typing? Nobody! Young teachers can’t teach typing because they can’t do it themselves. Hunt and peck is not real typing and the cognitive demand of hunt and peck interferes with the attention needed for the compositional aspect of writing—the critical aspect for elementary and middle school students. Finally, have you ever read a large body of middle school typescript? It is awful! What kids get of typing instruction looks to be just as bad as what they’re getting of cursive instruction. I am a 7th grade English teacher and I am just disgusted that so many of my students are virtually crippled by their lack of ability to type or write in cursive or printing. I very, very seldom have a student with above average writing ability who has poor handwriting or typewriting skills while among my weak students these problems are legion.To conclude, I’ll again invoke what the cognitive scientists have to say on this subject. In my own practice, I will accept firing before I would submit to a directive ordering that my students must do their work in typescript. (Sorry to jump on you like this, Paul, but you’ve caught me at a bad moment—I’ve spent the last three hours of my Thanksgiving morning correcting essays. You know how cranky that can get you!)
Comment by bill eccleston — November 25, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
For Paul: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html
Google around and you’ll find that research is confirming the value of hand writing.
Comment by dangermom — November 25, 2010 @ 4:14 pm
“Third, who teaches typing?”
Everyone.
Every single one of my high school freshmen can type and all of my “young teacher” colleagues can type.
Why? Because they’re taught to do so in junior high.
Comment by Anthony Guzzaldo — November 30, 2010 @ 11:53 am
Matt, Bill, dangermom, Anthony,
Sorry for stirring up such a hornet’s nest. I thought my comment on cursive writing was relatively innocuous, but guess what kids? I appear to have been wrong. Imagine.
Again, sorry. It’s just one teacher’s thoughts.
Comment by Paul Hoss — November 30, 2010 @ 4:51 pm
Don’t apologize to me, Paul, I agree with you.
Comment by Anthony Guzzaldo — December 1, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
Is anyone else familiar with Susan Wise Bauer’s world history series texts?
I am going to pick up her “Well Trained Mind…” book and I have heard great things about it. But, I also read some reviews on amazon.com of her world history series that leveled some serious accusations of historical inaccuracy and revisionism.
I normally take most of those kinds of reviews with a grain of salt, but it’s hard not to let it give me pause for concern. If Bauer’s world history works ARE flawed, I worry about how much stock I can put into the “Well Trained Mind…” approach.
Any thoughts?
Comment by Anthony Guzzaldo — December 1, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
The negative comments on Mrs. Bauer’s history texts I’ve seen are mostly because she includes Biblical history. She’s a pastor’s wife and therefore someone who is looking for a secular account of history won’t like what she has written. For me personally, this is no big deal because there are tons of secular history books available and it’s actually nice to have one written from a Christian but not “Providential” POV.
TWTM, on the other hand, includes very little Christian content. Some of the recommended texts are Christian but she makes sure to give a secular alternative. It’s very easy to do TWTM secularly if that’s your preference.
Comment by Crimson Wife — December 1, 2010 @ 2:25 pm
I attended a public HS in the early 60s and both my ancient and world history classes/texts included some “Christian” content, particulary in ancient history; Bible history (aka Jewish and Christian) was part of the ancient world,just as were the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks etc. In world history, we certainly covered the Crusades and the Reformation. Religion is a part of history.
Comment by anonymous — December 1, 2010 @ 3:00 pm
Some of the critiques I read involved Bauer’s inclusion of Christian history.
Others, though, alleged that she changed historical dates and manufactured history that is unsupported by evidence.
Is there anything to these critiques?
Comment by Anthony Guzzaldo — December 1, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
This post was like uncovering a treasure chest! I bought TWTM and it is a wonderful guide to classical homeschooling, and roadmap to other resources. If this book had been available when my children were small, it’s a good bet they would have been homeschooled all the way. As it is, I plan to use it for my granddaugher who is ten months old. I have the time, and leisure now to help my daughter and son-in-law give my granddaughter the kind of education I wish my children had received.
Comment by Cindy — December 3, 2010 @ 2:11 pm
And, I must add, if it hadn’t been for The Core Knowledge Foundation and this excellent blog, I might never have found TWTM and so many other excellent ideas and opinions.
Comment by Cindy — December 3, 2010 @ 2:13 pm
I’m just now finding time to see others comments so I’m coming back late in the game, but I had a few thoughts to add. About Bauer’s world history – I’m no historian to debate the finer points, but I think the criticism is largely over-stated because the material is presented at an elementary level. Regardless of a few flaws (is there a body of work without them?), it is an excellent overview of world history and more that I ever learned in school. I was perplexed by the comments about too much Christianity in her book – back when I first researched it many years ago she was condemmed by some Christian homeschoolers for not having a Christian point of view. Frankly, I don’t see how one learns history without learning about religion – it would be rather incomplete. I don’t recall ever coming across any proselytizing in her work.
Paul – I know many think cursive is like the horse and carriage, but I personally like it for a few reasons. One, it’s easier and more efficient than printing. Second, it develops small motor skills which we need regardless of technology. Third, have you ever watched an elementary kid write? – it’s torture! They take forever because they haven’t learned how to properly form letters (I should add that in my district elementary teachers do not teach print either). Also, I’m just not one of those people that believes one should only learn something for utilitarian reasons and I’m not raising my own children that way. Lastly, it’s pretty and elegant and kids feel a sense of accomplishment when they master it – which to me ties in with brain development. I’m also teaching my kids typing (our schools don’t teach this skill) through an online free typing website – another skill I 100% believe is essential because it’s efficient and in the process of learning one is growing brain cells.
I forgot to add another home-school activity that we do because my kids’ lousy school can’t be bothered with – geography. We’ve got some fun geography games and I have some maps and globes around the house. I started a fun car activity with the kids a few months ago – I printed each of them a black and white US states map. The kids color in the states when they find them on a license plate. We live near DC so we do get a lot of different plates around here – some Canadian ones too. This idea did not orginate with me. I must thank a very wonderful 3rd grade teacher I had. She knew I was going on a road trip to Florida so she gave me a similar map and the assignment. I was thrilled that she gave me this extra attention and I was super diligent about filling it in and showing it to her.
Comment by Geena — December 4, 2010 @ 9:57 am