Dorothy Sayers Theory Of Education Essay

582 Words3 Pages

“That I, whose experience of teaching is extremely limited, should presume to discuss education is a matter, surely, that calls for no apology” is the beginning of an enlightened composition of thought on reclaiming tools of learning by one Dorothy Sayers, whose expertise in learning and writing few question. And yet, she in her personally presumed hubris, set out a theory, if you will, of education and a conceptual analysis of the learning process that have stood the test of time and has been quoted, supported, and debated by modern scholars, who in their limited modern educational realms, have presented nothing greater in concept or quality. This theory presented requests that we look back in time, through history, to a time when learning flourished, and …show more content…

Where are those minds and concrete speech today? They have been placed neatly in boxes and told to sit and stay by our modern educational and parenting process, largely started by Dewey in developing “public education” during the Industrial Revolution. Immigrants and “free range kids” posed a problem to the society of that day, and enlightened thought, without proper guidance, led to mischievous children and unsocialized immigrants, who continued to buck societal expectations. In the last three hundred years we have seen further regression of learning as public education continues to limit, not empower, thought, so that we no longer inherently know how to learn or analyze. Ms. Sayers identifies and names 3 stages of learning, the Poll- Parrot, Pert and Poetic, and three stages of teaching Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric, that together make up the Trivium, and that when discussed together, erase the mystery of education and supply the basis of reclaiming a classical style of education. She goes on to challenge the modern expectation of adolescence. The term teenagers is not found in Medieval times as these “teens” were expected to work and perform as adults with all privileges and responsibilities