Classical Education at Flint Academy

Classical education revolves around three stages of learning that sometimes people equate with a child’s developmental stages but which more accurately relate to the stages a person goes through whenever they are learning something new. These stages are referred to as the Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric stages of learning.

The Grammar stage refers to the earliest stage of learning something new. In the early elementary school years, the students are taught the building blocks or grammar of specific academic subjects. Some examples of the grammar of a subject are in reading (e.g., identifying the letters and phonemes and their corresponding sounds), in math (e.g., identifying numerals and the number sense of what numerals represent and then arithmetic-computation), handwriting, spelling, geography (e.g., states and capitals, names of oceans), history (e.g., people, dates, events, and places), science and nature (e.g., the names of things and their properties). In the chronological sequence of age, the years this is typically taught are in the elementary school years. This is why elementary schools used to be called grammar schools, and it still is at Flint Academy. But also anyone of any age will go through the grammar stage of learning when they attempt to learn a new subject. An example would be learning to read a new language as an adult. The adult would need to start with printed symbols and what they represent (the grammar), before they ever could get into reading a book and having comprehension in the new language.

The second stage of learning in the classical form is the stage of Logic. In human development, the stage is approximately from 12 years old through 16. These are the years many parents dread, as they are the years of frequent arguing, challenging, and questioning on the part of the child. The child is likely to go through a time of questioning their faith and their relationship with God. But this is an important stage and created within the child by God to assist them in moving toward becoming an adult. They cannot continue blindly following their parent’s beliefs without making a belief their own. They need to reason, question, and seek answers. And God has answers. God does not fear this stage of development. He does not want a robotic or shallow believer. He would prefer a believer who has tested his faith and found it real. We as parents and teachers just need to remain calm and offer the student Bible classes, spiritual discussions, and spiritual/emotional food for this time. And to allow questions and doubt without showing them anxiety. As much as we want them to have faith in Christ, we need to maintain our personal faith and trust in Christ. The Logic stage not only affects spiritual thought, but most every area of learning. They begin to think about the why of historical events, the how of things that happened from history to science, the “maybe it’s not true what my parents and teachers are saying” and “why do we need to learn this; when would we ever use that.” This is a great time to introduce the subject of logic and reasoning. And the teaching of logic was strong within the time of classical education, even through the 1800’s. Then in the early 1900’s, and the Industrial Revolution, and the time of Dewey influencing education, classical education went out of favor and along with it went the teaching of Logic, and Latin, and the classical thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

The third stage of natural educational development is the Rhetoric stage. This is the time for taking all the grammar that they have mastered, and all the logic they have developed, and using it to develop their skill in rhetoric—rhetoric: explaining what they know to others by using speech or writing. It is the time to develop the art of being of influence. This stage is typically the high school and college years. It is explaining what they know so that others can understand. Classical schools’ common attributes include the teaching of Latin, and Greek, and the roots of our English language. Also in classical schools such as ours, there is an emphasis in the study of ancient history, classical literature, classical art, music, logic, and philosophy. There is the use of the Socratic technique in classroom discussions. Assessments are ongoing and informal and are often oral. Written expression is also used to assess a student’s mastery of a subject.

Dr. Paula J. Flint, Ph.D.