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Aristotle & Education

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Aristotle(1)

COMMENT:

Hello Martin,

The volume and content of the work you are putting out is both phenomenal and sincerely appreciated.

In relation to your recent topics on education and learning, Dorothy Sayers wrote an interesting article in 1947 about the “Lost Tools of Learning” http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html where she referenced Aristotles Trivium, Quadrivium based work that has helped reinvigorate classical education at home for many. It looks to be one of the more effective ways to help our children of today to move toward some of the critical and dynamic ways of thinking that you are advocating with the emphasis on understanding the history and context without the focus on which is the so-called correct answer. Learning the grammar, logic and rhetoric to supply their own answers as their experience grows.

Many have their biases against learning outside the system but I’m betting (as I believe you also are) on it being the only real option.
Kind Regards,
SH
REPLY: Home schooling seems to be best, at least as a supplement. When I was 8 years old, my father handed me Aristotle. He told me to read. “If Aristotle was good enough to teach Alexander the Great, then he is good enough to teach you,” he said. I waited until my children were about 10 to hand them Aristotle. I must say, my first conflict in school was with a teacher who was being illogical and could not respond to my question. I used to drive my mother mad because I was constantly asking “Why?” about everything. I named the report on cycles I wrote in 1979 – The Why Report.