The grammar stage teaches students to speak, read, and write well. The priority of the grammar stage is to learn the classical languages, which are Greek and Latin, and to read and write about classical literature with skill and eloquence.

The heart and soul of grammar, as the ancients understood it, is, in fact, the learning of Greek and Latin. Understanding grammar as the learning of classical languages might, indeed, sound strange to the modern mindset, but the very language that we take for granted, on a day to day basis, is rooted in these classical languages. The English word for school, for example, comes from the Greek word, schole´, which means restful learning.

Classical educators introduce their pupils to Latin at an earlier age because children, particularly in the younger years, generally learn best through imitation (they can mimic what they see from adults). A child’s formation at the grammar stages eventually gives birth to the reasoning of classical languages as they apply, not only to sentence structure, etymology, and syntax, but also to the subjects as well, to history, to geography, to philosophy, and theology.

The dialectic stage teaches students how to think well, and to ask the right questions in conversation. The dialectic stage of classical education focuses on asking the right questions in constructive discussions to reach well-reasoned conclusions. During the pre-teen years of development, children gain the capacity to ask questions while expecting a reasoned response.

Dialectic builds on the already mastered material, covered in the grammar stage. Vibrant communication, on a given topic, often grants us the opportunity to engage with people whom we might disagree with to reach a well-reasoned outcome thoughtfully.

A classical teacher will, thereby, train students to identify helpful questions and answers, so that conversations might reach well-reasoned conclusions, which are relevant to the matter at hand.

The rhetoric stage is the art of persuasive language. Building on the grammar and dialectic stages, students learn the craft of appealing to the mind, will, and affections of a given audience through their command of language and reason.

Great speakers are generally compelling because they can eloquently reach the whole person by engaging the intellect, the reasoning, and the affections of their audiences.

Students in the classical tradition learn to engage an audience persuasively because they have already mastered the grammar stage of language and the dialectic stage of reason.

Though grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric are crucial components to classical education, they do not exist on their own. People, in the Middle Ages, called the three stages of classical education the trivium, which is the Latin word for “the three ways.”

The trivium, or the three stages of classical education, exist as a part of a broader tradition, called “the seven liberal arts”, which Dorothy Sayers calls “The Tools of Learning”. The seven liberal arts have two distinct parts. The trivium, as I’ve laid out, is the arts of language, and the quadrivium is the arts of numbers.

The Trivium:

• Grammar
• Dialectic
• Rhetoric

The Quadrivium:

• Arithmetic
• Music
• Geometry
• Astronomy

The seven liberal arts, however, exist in a broader tradition, of which we would also categorize as Classical education, including an additional focus on the areas of:

• Piety
• Gymnastics
• Musical Training
• Philosophy
• Theology

Information derived from: The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education