Communication takes place when two minds meet (quote)

Because communication involves the simultaneous exercise of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, these three arts are the fundamental arts of education, of teaching, and of being taught. Accordingly, they must be practiced simultaneously by both teacher and pupil. The pupil must cooperate with the teacher; he must be active, not passive. The teacher may be present either directly or indirectly. When one studies a book, the author is a teacher indirectly present through the book. Communication, as the etymology of the word signifies, results in something possessed in common; it is a oneness shared. Communication takes place only when two minds meet.

–Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C., PhD. The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of Language, p. 7

 

A Historical Observation About Propaganda

In 1919, an American woman who wanted to see more women in journalism wrote that “One cannot estimate the danger, the harm, that comes from insidious propaganda, which, under the cloak of high-sounding new movements, threatens to undermine the most fundamental principles of social and family life.” She said that women must write because “If this propaganda succeeds in winning the support of the women of our country, it has secured the stronghold because an entire people derives its ideals from mothers.”

Any guesses as to the propaganda that was floating around in the early 20th century?

Do you think those who were using propaganda to get what they wanted won or lost?

The American woman’s name, by the way, was Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C., Ph.D. She wrote The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of the Language in 1937 in order to help students see that harmful propaganda was being used in the various modes of communication.

 

What do you think about the trivium?

Why the trivium?

Finding the trivium, for me, is the same as realizing the ingenuity of the wheel or the strength of the triangle in holding up structures. Why throw away such an important discovery? What scholars have elucidated–how the language works–has been hidden from our eyes long enough. Communication does not have to be such a mystery.

What is the trivium?

The trivium is the organon, or instrument, of all education at all levels because the arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric are the arts of communication itself in that they govern the means of communication–namely, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Thinking is inherent in these four activities (Joseph 2002, revised).

The trivium can be explained in the following terms:

• Logic–the art of thinking, concerned with a thing as it is known
• Grammar–the art of inventing and combining symbols, concerned with a thing as it is symbolized as it sounds or as it is printed
• Rhetoric–the art of communication, concerned with a thing as it is communicated to others

The trivium pertains the mind as it learns or perceives things or ideas. The quadrivium, on the other hand, pertains to the matter that the mind perceives. The quadrivium, which needs communication to be understood, is as follows:

Discrete quantity or number

• Arithmetic–theory of number, includes algebra, calculus, equations, etc.
• Music–the application of number, includes physics, chemistry, the spectrum of color, brain waves, radio waves, harmonics, sound waves, behavior of water, etc.

Continuous quantity

• Geometry–theory of space, analytic geometry and trigonometry
• Astronomy–application of the theory of space, including architecture, geography, engineering, physics, etc.

Writing is the test as to whether a student understands the material (the quadrivium) he or she reads or learns from a teacher. Current scholars, such as Tovani (2000), have discovered that students who do poorly in writing are also really not able to comprehend what they read. Joseph (2002, revised) says:

Difficulties in writing are identical with difficulties in reading. Students fail in expression, in speaking or writing, for the same reasons that they fail in impression, in listening or reading; they do not understand or do not apply the rules of grammar–which are inherent to every language–which must guide both writer and reader, both speaker and listener (p. 70).

The trivium offers students the chance to comprehend material so that they can apply their talents in a fulfilling way.

So what do you think?

References:

Joseph, M. (2002, revised). The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of Language. Paul Dry Books: Philadelphia.

Tovani, C. (2000). I read, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers. Stenhouse Publishers: Maine.

 

What will help teachers with the challenges of 21st century multiliteracy?

All people need some sort of literacy to communicate with others. In kind, teachers wish to convey knowledge to their students, and teachers hope that their students will learn something. Language is essential to the conveying of knowledge. All languages have a grammar; all languages convey information through logic to enhance understanding; all languages use rhetoric to communicate ideas (Joseph 2002, revised). If students are not strong in the forum language–the language used in the classroom–they will also not be able to fully understand other disciplines, such as math, history, or science.

Today, in the United States, literacy continues to decline. According to Marchand-Martella, et al. (2013), scholars have discovered the following:

• —66% of students at the Secondary grade levels read below grade level
• —33% of high-school graduates are not ready for college level writing
• —40% of graduates do not have enough literacy to be employable

Thus, a large portion of U.S. students are not able to find fulfilling work after they graduate because they are not able understand what they hear or read–their reading comprehension is too low. With that, they become adults who are easily manipulated by those who are strong in the language because they cannot understand how the language is being used to undermine them. In addition to that, students will not have the vocabulary and communication skills necessary to express themselves. As Edith Stein (1932) said:

Thought and speech are connected most closely; basically, they are one process. Where a thought ripens into perfect clarity and meaning, it is organized by way of logical grammatical categories and is articulated. And where thought is not successful in finding the right expression, the thought process has not attained completion. What one cannot express remains dark and gloomy in the soul, and whoever is unable to express himself is imprisoned in his own soul; he is unable to liberate himself and to relate to others (Problems of Women’s Education).

Because language is so important for a person’s ability to participate in society as a person of freedom and because student scores continue to decline, educators have begun to incorporate research-based strategies into their curriculum in order to help students obtain language mastery. The following are aspects of language mastery (quotes take directly from Joseph 2002, revised):

• Because communication involves the simultaneous exercise of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, these three arts are the fundamental arts of education, of teaching, and of being taught.
• Accordingly, they must be practiced simultaneously by both teacher and pupil. The pupil must cooperate with the teacher; he must be active, not passive.
• The teacher may be present either directly or indirectly. When one studies a book, the author is a teacher indirectly present through the book.
• Communication takes places only when two minds really meet. If the reader or listener receives the same ideas and emotions that the writer or speaker wished to convey, he understands (although he may disagree); if he receives no ideas, he does not understand; if different ideas, he misunderstands.
• The same principles of logic, grammar, and rhetoric guide writer, reader, speaker, and listener.

Are the principles of the trivium useful today? Teachers are anxiously looking for ways to increase students success through effective teacher-student communication. In Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Students Achievement (2005)–what teachers call Marzano’s Nine Essential Instructional Strategies— the strategies easily fall into the three aspects of communication–logic, grammar, and rhetoric. For instance, “identifying similarities and differences” is an aspect of both grammar and logic since it aims to identify meaning, connections, and categories within an organizational and symbolic pattern. When Marzano speaks of “summarizing and note-taking,” he shows text-patterns that are based on logic and rhetoric. We can conclude, then, that the trivium is the basis of the language (listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing, showing), whether we acknowledge it or not, and that the most effective strategies stem from the trivium.

When students are in the secondary levels, they are reading books to learn–the authors of text (visual, audio, and text) become the teachers, which is a transition from the early grades where students are learning to read (Joseph 2002; Marchand-Martella, et al. 2013). After looking at current literacy statistics, Marchand-Martella, et al. (2013) conclude that grade school teachers are doing an excellent job in teaching literacy because grade school scores reflect that accomplishment. It is in the secondary schools where teachers have not yet figured out how to teach literacy, perhaps, because they have not realized the transition students are required to make into a higher-level of thinking in a rapidly changing communication world. I also believe that fiction for teens is written too far below grade level and contributes to the literacy challenges we have today.

In addition, we are confronted with the phenomenal growth of communication through technology. Students learn from a variety of modes–film, internet, cell phones, etc. Not only are students learning through a variety of modes, they are being confronted by a variety of new cultures and ideologies. Many scholars believe that students will need to be multiliterate in the 21st century–students will need to be able to communicate–understand and convey–through a variety of modes and styles (Kiefer 2010; Pegrum 2008). Not only will the trivium serve as an anchor to all of these sources of communication, it will serve as an effective way for students to be able to comprehend–really comprehend–what they see, hear, and read–this includes anything on the internet, in films, or in books.

Why multiliteracies with the trivium?

• I want students to be able to find fulfilling work in the future.
• I want students to become adults who are not easily manipulated by the variety of communication modes.
• I want students to be able to express their wisdom and individual talents.

Without meaningful instruction in the Language Arts–an instruction that addresses multiliteracies with the trivium–students will not able to do any of these–they will be unfulfilled, easily manipulated, and imprisoned in their own souls.

References:

Kiefer, Barbara Z. (2010). Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 27.

Joseph, M. (2002 revised). The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, Understanding the Nature and Function of Language. Paul Dry Books: Philadelphia.

Marchand-Martella, N. E., Martella, R. C., Modderman, S. L., Petersen, H. M., & Pan, S. (2013). Key Areas of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs. Education & Treatment Of Children (West Virginia University Press), 36(1), 161-184.

Pegrum, Mark (2008). Film, culture, and identity: Critical intercultural literacies for the language classroom. Language & Intercultural Communication, 8(2), 136-154.