Spending decades at the nexus and intersection of cultural traditions and education can certainly conjure significant reflection. Lately, conjuring has been active. Lively, even.
The last few decades in Canada have seen an emphasis on traditional education.
On one level, I understand this focus due to damage, turbulence and aims upon repair and efficacy. On another, I wonder if successful education will be built through expansion rather than emphasis.
Exploring the concept of the human family (and acknowledging the words of Wendell Willkie that there are no distant points in the world any longer), I think that emphasis can become synonymous with contraction—just as looking downward into a microscope can make us oblivious to the sea of stars above, waiting to be sources of awe.
As far as the eye can see and the mind can wander, there have been many different blends of traditions intertwined with education that have shined brightly as pinnacles of support for learners.
There is one form of traditional education that once struck sparks wherever it landed and transformed the world.
The two parts are known as the Trivium and the Quadrivium.
Together, they were designed to develop a person’s ability to think, communicate, reason and understand the world we share.
Together, they created what would be referred to as the Seven Liberal Arts.
In this sense, the term liberal does not have political or partisan intention. Instead, the Latin term liber is central, meaning “free.” Rather than only preparing someone for a vocation, the Trivium and Quadrivium were developed to create a free person (meaning the development of a person who is unlikely to fall prey to tyranny, fanaticism, or control over one’s thoughts, words, or individual destiny).
The Trivium
Establishing an unshakable foundation for learning all other disciplines, the three disciplines of the Trivium establish tools of language and reasoning.
1. Grammatica (Grammar) — to understand and use language correctly (including reading, interpretation, vocabulary, linguistics, communication mechanics, and relationships between words and meaning) and how language conveys reality and knowledge.
“How do we accurately express and understand ideas?”
2. Dialectica (Logic) — to distinguish truth from error through disciplined thought (including argument structure, evidence and inference, fallacy identification, testing one’s assumptions, and the construction of sound arguments) and ensuring fact is not confused with opinion.
“How do we know what is true?”
3. Rhetorica (Rhetoric) — to communicate truth effectively and persuasively (including public speaking, persuasive writing, awareness of audience, the gift of storytelling, and the ethics of communication) to move others toward wisdom and action rather than error or manipulation.
“How do we communicate truth to influence others?”
The Quadrivium
Building upon these three disciplines of the Trivium, the four Quadrivium disciplines apply reasoning to mathematics, patterns and the structure of reality.
1. Arithmetica (Arithmetic) — to understand quantity and abstract numerical relationships (including mathematical reasoning, proportions, patterns, and numerical relationships) with a focus on the principles behind numbers rather than merely calculations.
“What are the fundamental patterns of quantity?”
2. Geometria (Geometry) — to understand form, shape, and spatial relationships (including measurement, spatial reasoning, mathematical proofs, and the relationship between physical and abstract forms) to understand order and harmony.
“How does order exist in space?”
3. Musica (Harmonics/Music) — to understand proportion, harmony, and relationships expressed through sound (including mathematical ratios, harmony, rhythm, and the relationship between beauty and mathematics) to reveal hidden mathematical structures in the universe.
“How does order create harmony?”
4. Astronomia (Astronomy) — to understand the patterns and movements of the cosmos (including celestial movements, cycles, patterns, mathematical modelling, and our place within the universe) to observe and understand cosmic order.
“What are the patterns governing the universe?”
Seven as one
As you can see, the purpose is the development of the full being through mastery and understanding of words, thought, communication, the mystery of number, the order of space and time, the harmony of proportion and the order of the cosmos.
The Trivium and Quadrivium became a foundational combination in the ancient world. In the Greek world, they were described as enkyklios paideia, meaning “the circle of learning.”
Ultimately, the goal was the cultivation of wisdom: the ability to perceive truth, reason clearly, communicate effectively, and live according to a deeper understanding of oneself, the world and the cosmos.
The legacy of this version of traditional education abroad influenced education and schooling in many places across the globe.
Ideas and understanding
Although the Trivium and Quadrivium are one among many other ways education has been utilized to build a being in our world, I am reminded of the words of one of our leaders at the signing of Treaty #3 in 1873. A contemporary of Ogichidaag Mawedobines and Powassin, Saagajiwe spoke very favourably about bringing the best of different worlds (and ways of learning) together to benefit all collectively.
Our human family has long developed many ways to grow, inspire, and support the development of the full person, both here and abroad. Perhaps acknowledging that our own forms of traditional education (wherever they may be and whoever we may be) also have profound limitations—just as all forms do—is a continuation of that wisdom.
Traditional education (through which generations of the human family have developed all over the world) is part of our story, no matter how we try to partition or claim the title. I do not think that the value of all things should be measured by their internal allegiance to tradition, but at the same time, countless traditions contain value, insight and potential to work together.
As our world continues to become (and grow into) one world (while also considering the unique benefits and challenges that greet us), perhaps the time has come to see traditional education not through narrow emphasis but through widened expansion.
Perhaps being open to such insights (especially those with which we may be marginally familiar or not familiar at all) while also being open to innovate and collaborate is a key to addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow.
