The Lost Tools of Learning

·      Sayers stated that everyone has the right to obtain a proper education no matter what.

·      Sayers tells us that she doubts that her plans will ever be carried out.

·      Sayers asks the audience to remain open minded and to hold judgment on her.

·      Individuals from the past aren’t necessarily stupider then

·      She questions the effectiveness of modern education.

·      The ability of many to debate is often found to be lacking.

·      The standard of newspaper or other forms of writing is stunningly poor.

·      People lose the majority of the knowledge they gain in school once they leave school, and struggle to gauge the validity of sources of information.

·      The word subject has been pigeonholed into small explicit material.

·      The logic of written arguments is found lacking.

·      Sayers points out flaws in a modern work of science. The flaw infects the entire paper, and provides a poor foundation for the piece.

·      A quote again has a double meaning, and comments that men “remember what they learn, but forget how they learn it.”

·      Sayers draws attention to the last sentence of the previous paragraph and begins to enter in the main part of her argument.

·      She claims that the “great defect of education today” is that instead of learning how to learn, schools teach students specific subjects. She claims that locking down students and forcing them to learn a before b is not always the best way to instruct.

·      Sayers details the medieval system of education, praising its structure and emphasis on teaching how to learn.

·      She continues to describe the medieval system.

·      She details that the medieval system places emphasis on building a basis that can provide a launching point for the rest of students learning.

·      She continues to provide information on the medieval system and how it provided the tools needed for one to defend them.

·      Teachers should broaden the scope of their classes.

·      Sayers pulls back on her criticism of subjects and claims that their are necessary to create a lens with which to focus their learning upon.

·      She spends this paragraph defending her position.

·      While much hard work is put in, it is not effective work.

·      Sayers claims that although it is true we cannot literally return to the medieval era, we can return to the medieval style of education.

·      She proposes completely revamping the education system and installing a program modeled after the medieval style.

·      Sayers claims that education should begin at a young age.

·      Her views are unorthodox, but she believes them to be correct, and helpful to learning.

·      Sayers discusses the first step in learning is grammar.

·      Russian, while primitive in structure, is not as helpful as Latin because many modern languages are based in Latin.

·      The early a child tries to learn Latin the better.

·      Children should be taught multiple languages at a young age.

·      The lively brain should be filled with classical legends and stories.

·      The memorization of dates provides a strong reference for future knowledge of history.

·      Learning how to identify animals can be highly beneficial to a young students

·      Multiplication tables should be learned at a young age, and complicated mathematics should be saved for later specialization.

·      The curricula as thus far discussed do not differ greatly from that of modern education, but the style by which it is learned is drastically revised.

·      Knowledge of theology helps to tie together all learning.

·      Once a child’s capabilities for argument begin to become apparent, they should be moved into learning formal logic, and are equipped with an inquisitive mind.

·      The readings shall shift from narratives to arguments.

·      Because mathematics is a “sub-department” of logic, it shall now be more formally studied.

·      History provides ample material for discussion.

·      Books, and other current events also provide additional discussion materials. 

·      Focus should be on quality argument and ability to demonstrate the skill through writing.

·      Young children are intolerable anyway, so arguments should be used to grow their minds.

·      Subjects are used to supply the material, not the whole educational experience; students should be encouraged to explore for themselves.

·      Once the stage of argument ends, the teaching of rhetoric should begin. This is where classical education begins to provide its greatest benefit. Students will have been equipped with the necessary tools to learn anything.

·      Everything will have been proven to be inter-related, and thus it is difficult to create a plan to teach rhetoric. Therefore, students should be guided in the ways to defend their beliefs.

·      Sayers ponders at which age the education should begin, and begins to offer suggestions as to who should continue their education.

·      She believes this education system to be sufficient for many, and would lessen the need for complete university learning. With this method, those who wish to work with their hands would not be burdened with additional rote review.

·      Discipline is a wonderful thing, and although many would refuse to admit it, everyone lives by a somewhat Christian code of ethics.

·      Teachers should be better then they were in the past.

·      The purpose of education is to teach people how to teach themselves.

I agree with Sayers in that education has to begin at an early age.  Children retain more knowledge when they are young so the more basic taught to children at a younger age, the better they we do in their futures.  I also agree when she criticizes the modern teaching method, because this new system has made America fall behind in national standards for education. 

I also agree with her that grammar is a very important concept for young children, because without a firm grasp of the language it becomes very difficult for them to learn other subjects, especially in the field of science.  Many science terms and theorems come from Latin roots, so the firmer grasp a child has on grammar, the easier science courses will become to them.  However, math is also a very critical area that every individual must know in today’s technological era.

Overall Sayers makes a good point throughout the article, except when she says that logic should be taught to children.  Children should be educated at a young age, so they can be more successful when they are adults, but you still have to allow the kids to be kids.  Teaching children logic is the same thing as destroying their imaginations and creativity.  If you teach a child that it is impossible for a human to fly no matter what, then they will stop dreaming about saving people as a superhero, then they might not become a firefighter or police officer.  Children should learn at a young age but there must be restrictions put on learning.