Gram Loquitur
Seven Liberal Arts
Everybody complains about education nowadays, for probably the same reasons that everybody complains about politicians and government. And I agree - education sucks, and not just because it is a rip off, very few people learn much of anything, and what they learn is either watered-down mush, cultural propaganda, or is just plain wrong. And as a result most kids graduate barely knowing how to read and write, barely know how to count, but believe they are smart.
Maybe not surprising that the few parents left who actually care about their children's education have decided they want their children to not only learn some real skills, but they want their children to learn how to learn, mostly so they won't be living in their parent's basement all of their lives.
And many parents have learned that the best way to teach children how to learn is a method that is about 2500 years old - in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance it was called the Trivium and Quadrivium - the Seven Liberal Arts (although it has almost nothing to do with the Liberal Arts taught in most universities today). Think of liberal arts as those skills that will help you to become free, instead of a slave. There might be something important here, I don't know.
This month I will give you an introduction to this system of learning, and then will focus on the first step in the Trivium, the study of grammar. I know, I know, this has got to be the most boring topic of the many boring topics I have discussed, but even if you hate grammar, it might just be something your children will appreciate years from now, if you decide that you would like them to have a chance to be free, and not a slave like you.
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