The Lost Arts of a Polymath Education

This week I read a short speech delivered by Dorothy L. Sayers titled The Lost Tools of Learning. This has been reprinted many times owing to the poignant things detailed by her. The overall gist of the speech is that there are some tools in education that are of massive benefits to students that have not been used since the medieval period. This all got me thinking about how we could possibly use these lost arts of learning to revive a kind of modern polymath education today. I talked before about a brief sketch towards a polymath education: now it is time to start to develop those thoughts.

She describes the issues of modern education in a series of questions to the reader: Do you listen to adults argue and worry that neither knows how to address the arguments of the other side? Have you ever wondered why huge amounts of irrelevant material crops up in meetings and discussions? Have you read articles and found authors incapable of defining terms? Have you met people who, maybe even know a "subject", but do not remember how they learned it, thus leaving them incapable of learning a new one? These are paraphrases and not all of the questions appear, but the point is clear: there is something lacking in the educational approaches of today.

Sayers wishes for a totally different approach to education: to move away from teaching subjects as these isolated fields and instead move towards (or backwards!) the trivium. The trivium comprises three fields (hence "tri"): grammar, logic and rhetoric. Grammar is the study of, well, grammar. This is usually done through the grammar of a particular language: classically Latin. Logic is the study of basic formal logic. Rhetoric is the final of these three and deals with expressing this grammar and logic in arguments, that is, persuasion. Sayers deals with each of these in turn inside a framework of education of a child.

First let us begin with grammar. This phase of education is done at a young age during what Sayers calls the "poll-parrot" phase of education. This would be early primary education. In this phase there is a large focus on memorisation and exploration. Building a background of useful knowledge. This phase of course contains the study of grammar through some language, likely Latin, but Sayers also suggests Russian as a possibility. Latin of course has the benefit of making learning any other European language 50% easier, as well as a lot of science as one will already become familiar with the terms. Grammar extends beyond Latin too. What is the grammar of English? Well, one would be reading foundational myth stories in this phase, things like the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Greek plays, Shakespeare and so forth. You might think this is too complex for children of this age but actually not: they will be able to grasp them and this will give an excellent foundation for all further reading, after all, the Western cannon of fiction makes remarkable reference back to these tales. History also has a grammar. The purpose of this would be to give a feel what what the world was like at different times. Sayers suggests something like memorising English Kings and associating images and key events to them. In this way, the past is mapped out. I could also imagine memorising "ages" – like the bronze age, iron age and so forth as a road-map. Geography in this phase focuses on becoming comfortable reading maps, understanding where the different landmasses are in relation to each other. Becoming familiar with flags and key rivers and mountain ranges too. At this age, children do best with science through collections. Therefore, taxonomy is the most natural starting point. Classification of different living things, especially those things around the child. Mathematics at this age begins with the multiplication tables, but also recognition of shapes and primes. Introducing basic algebra at this stage would be good also. There is also the grammar of theology, memorising the basic and key stories of the Bible in this phase. If this strikes you as odd, remember we are gathering material in this phase that will be useful later. Biblical studies will inevitably be useful later in the study of ethics and law – Western ethics and law naturally have their foundation in the Bible itself.

While much of what is described here does indeed take place in primary education, the difference needs to be in the teachers themselves. They must not teach these as discreet, separated "subjects" which have no relation to one another. Precisely what the material is, is of second importance. The point here is exposure to literature and grammar that will set up the student for the next phase of the trivium. A mistake in modern education is to try and force rational explanations for phenomena onto students at too young an age: if they have a question it should of course be answered, but the focus here needs to be on exposure and exploration.

Sooner or later, the child will pass to the second phase of the trivium: logic. In the first part of the trivium the backbone was Latin grammar, now the backbone is formal logic. Now there is a sharp disjoint with modern education: it no longer teaches formal logic. One would have to wait to university level to start studying this. That is a mistake and it needs to be introduced to students of this young age. Formal logic has two approaches to its study: a philosophical one and a mathematical one. Both approaches should be taken. On the one hand a philosophical approach for more standard, verbal arguments. On the other, mathematics should now be taught as a sub-branch of formal logic itself. After all, both make exactly the same arguments. Now all those other fields start to flourish too. Now, beyond simply memorising, the student is able to start writing. Therefore, in all "subjects" there will become discussion and explanation in a polymath style. For example, in history we will want to offer discussion of "was so-and-so justified", or "was was the consequences of this action". Theology, geography and science should all proceed in this manner, as polymath as possible. The purpose of this part of the trivium is to teach thought itself: what is an argument, how do we gather evidence, make judgements and so forth.

Towards the end of this phase of education, around the onset of puberty, the child will want to start making original arguments and not just rehash old ones they have read. Now the study of rhetoric begins, but here it is hard to create a syllabus: one must allow a certain degree of freedom. For example, in literature we can move from analysis and criticism of others' works to allowing the child to write their own original tales. This stage also allows something critical, towards the end of this phase students should drop the "subjects" that they personally do not find edifying. For example, Latin, if of no further interest can be dropped in favour of some other modern language that the student has probably already encountered. The final goal of the trivium is the writing of a thesis, and the public presentation and defence of it.

The scope of rhetoric depends on the plans of the student – will they enter employment at sixteen or continue with education beyond that? To review, grammar is studied from the early ages to eleven, logic from twelve to fourteen and the last two years on rhetoric. For those planning on leaving after this, the final phase will be vocational to prepare for the immediate reality of work. For those planning to continue to university, rhetoric is also a preparation for study of the quadrivium. The quadrivium were considered to be arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. I think this naturally needs to be updated for the modern world, but the principles remain the same.

Sayers argues this style of education would far exceed the modern approach. While up to a certain point, these students would appear behind modern ones in specific knowledge of "subjects", they have learned something more valuable: how to learn itself. When the time comes to learn specific things about specific subjects, these students will excel hand over fist compared with the modern educated students.

While we have covered the basics as presented by Sayers, we now need to break new ground. So far a sketch of education for children has been presented. I agree would be superior to the modern education system, it now begs the question what are the adults who have already suffered at the hands of modern education to do? How can we who are already long past the age of 16 catch up in this way?

I believe the answer is to mimic the suggestions thus far. Frankly, it will require drive and discipline such that we are studying in our free time. I also want to try and update the quadrivium – what useful skills are we to learn?

In the grammar phase the adult should proceed like the child would. Absorbing background material to fill out basic knowledge in many fields. Study of maps, basic facts of history, Latin grammar and so on, to gather material and start to get a broader sketch of the world. I believe flashcards could be an interesting and effective way to quickly acquire this material. Reading is always important and getting through some of the classics of the Western cannon is important in this phase.

The logic phase will of course require study of formal logic, mathematics, and writing in much the same way as the child. Learning to synoptically read a large number of texts in this phase and write essays on topics of interest are important. A larger body of works will need to be read in this phase.

The rhetoric phase will continue to emphasise this. Now, the adult will be writing original pieces, and furthering their mathematical ability. Hopefully a community of polymaths can emerge who will critique each other's pieces and create a dialogue.

Then moving to the quadrivium, obviously, there are many more academic subjects of interest these days. While we would still be interested in mathematics and music, there is also physics, chemistry, biology, art, history, geography, philosophy, psychology, economics, politics and too many others for me to enumerate here.

I would like to compile together an open source course along these lines, although, I can not do this alone. I will need the help of aspiring polymaths from a range of different fields to compile flashcards, to compile reading lists, mathematical questions and essay questions, provide feedback on essays and so forth. I think an open source and community based approach is the only way in which this would have any legs. I will write another article soon on the next steps, but in the meantime, if you are interested in this project please reach out to me.