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1. POETICS

Poetics includes grammar and literature. Literature is

imaginative (not persuasive such as a sermon or

speech) when its purpose is to delight us by telling a

story (poem, novel, play, epic, essay, etc). Its

purpose is recreational, but superior to games or

sports. A poem stirs up our soul and then brings it to

rest by lifting up our mind and emotions above the

strains and frustrations of everyday life. It is not an

escape from life, but rather a vision of the goal ahead

which encourages us and inspires us to live more

perfectly.

The plot is the soul of the story. The characters arealso important. A beautiful book must lead us toappreciate some truth about life which is expressed inthis work of art. This is why the books we study areimportant (we are trying to compile a literaturecurriculum with four books per year for each grade).The power of a story to arouse the emotions and thenbring them to rest is called catharsis (purification).Through philosophy we can have the vision of the

goal but it comes late in life, through poetry we canalready have a similar experience when we areyoung.

Our English curriculum must include grammar,spelling, composition and especially appreciation ofgood literature. We need to develop comprehensionskills. The teacher needs to read out loud and talkabout the books they are studying and make thestudents talk to make sure they understand. This isfundamental! If this requires more than the fivestandard periods a week to do the job thoroughly,then let our curriculum make room for more Englishperiods and suppress some science. Let us avoid

cluttering the mind of our students with meaninglesslists of facts. To be able to read and write well is thefirst tool of knowledge. We need to give our studentsthis first liberal art. We need to work hard towardsthis goal. (In Jesuit schools, students were from ages10 to 15 in the humanities class, from age 16 to 18 inthe mathematics and philosophy classes). Let us beclear: The man who has not mastered his nativetongue cannot claim to be an educated man.

2. DIALECTICSIt is the art of correct thinking. The students mustknow the basic rules of logic. They should be able,when reading a text, to disengage the essential fromthe accidental, to see what the author is trying toprove. They should also learn how to drawconclusions from principles and refute falsereasoning. We must restore the disputatio in ourschools. We have sports tournaments. Why notintellectual jousting? This exercise was a commonfeature of Jesuit schools. It is excellent to sharpen themind. This quote from the famous Ratio studiorumwill make it clear:The concertatio, which is usually conducted by thequestions of the master or the corrections of rivals orby the rivals questioning each other in turn, must beheld in high esteem and used whenever time permits

so that honorable rivalry, which is a great incentive tostudies, may be fostered. Some may be sentindividually or in groups from each side especially theofficers; or one may attack several; let a private seeka private, let an officer seek an officer; or even let aprivate attack an officer, and, if he conquers, let himsecure his honor or some other award or sign ofvictory as the dignity of the class and the custom ofthe place demand.

3. RHETORICIt is the art of persuasion. It is a very practical art,which appeals to emotions, like poetics, unlikedialectics. What is the difference between poetics andrhetoric? The poet is concerned with telling a goodstory which excites our emotions and then brings usto rest in the enjoyment of beauty. It leads us toappreciate what is noble in human life. (Poetry is alsoone of the fine arts, unlike rhetoric).

The rhetorician is concerned with convincing theaudience to act. They will put into practice what hehas urged them to do. (This is what a football coachdoes when he gives a pep talk to his players at half

time, especially when the team is losing) Religioussermons, political speeches, advertising, talks, etcall this is the domain of rhetoric. Ancient educationwas giving a lot of time to oral expression. We haveto restore this in our schools.

4. ARITHMETICArithmetic is the science of numbers (concretequantity). Mathematics is a valuable tool since it is agood exercise in logical thinking. Young boys can gainproficiency in algebra, which, in the Thomistic orderof learning, comes before physical science. Math hasa greater degree of certitude and clearness thansome other sciences. For this reason it is enjoyable to

the mind.But we have to be careful. Modern math is turninginto a formal system where problems can be solvedautomatically, almost without thinking. Of course weneed a method of calculating. This is an instrument ofthe science of maths whose business is not theworking of problems but the demonstration of truths.Algebraic problems can be solved by a computer, butthe computer cannot see why the results are true.Only the human intellect can see this.

So when we are teaching math, we must make sureour students seek to understand why an answer istrue. This means that they must trace it back toaxioms and postulates. Only then do they havescientific knowledge. If they cannot base a conclusionon principles known to be true, it is not real sciencebut mechanical skill, in the manner of an automaticreflex. Some of our teachers seem to have foundproblems with the Saxon textbooks which do notconcentrate on one concept per chapter but aim at"programming" the student without understandingthe principles. Maybe some alternatives can be found

5. GEOMETRYGeometry is the science of magnitudes (discretequantity). When Plato opened his school, the famous

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"Academy", he engraved over its portal the famousinscription: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enterhere." It is Euclid who brought geometry to the levelof a science. In his "elements", concepts are carefullybuilt up in a logical way so that we can see the properreasons for the conclusions.

Euclid is moving in a synthetic order from the simplerproblems to the more complex. He begins with thesimplest truths (definitions) and works in the direction

of more and more complicated theorems. On theother hand, many of his proofs are analytical. Theybegin with the conclusion and work back to theprinciple on which it is based. The student thenpractices syllogistic reasoning (e.g., reductio andabsurdum).A geometry book based on Elements of Euclid is moredifficult than other textbooks, because it requiresmore thinking, but it is better for the formation of themind.

6. MUSICIt is applied maths. When a stretched string vibrates,the shorter the part is, the more rapid is the vibration

and the higher the tone it emits. The scale istherefore composed of mathematical proportions.Aristotle includes music in a liberal education. Headvocated learning to play an instrument in youth inorder to be a better judge later.Music is also a fine art. Its purpose is to give us acontemplative recreation. When we listen to a fluteconcerto of Haydn, it makes us enjoy the beautiful.There is a sense of wonder. (Plato says that educationends in wisdom, but starts in wonder.) The vocationof the Catholic student is the contemplation of thetruth. It requires effort, so we need rest. The work offine art recreates us (we experience pleasure whenlooking at a painting by Fra Angelico) but it is, so to

speak, a continuation of contemplation. It elevatesthe soul. We need to teach our parents to have goodmusic in the home.

7. ASTRONOMYIt is another branch of applied maths. St. Thomassays that it is a prerequisite to metaphysics. It is thelast of the seven liberal arts and is also a naturalscience. It seems that the quadrivium has a"transitional" status. In other words, the study ofmathematics (whether pure or applied) begins as thestudy of a practical art and ends as a speculativescience. Astronomy is a good way to have thestudents apply their knowledge of geometry tophysical reality (the movement of celestial bodies).The observation of stars and planets with a telescopeis also a great way to awaken wonder in their mindsand leads them to appreciate the beauty of Godscreation.

CONNECTIONISM (EDWARD THORNDIKE)The learning theory of Thorndike represents theoriginal S-R framework of behavioral psychology:Learning is the result of associations forming betweenstimuli and responses. Such associations or "habits"become strengthened or weakened by the nature andfrequency of the S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R

theory was trial and error learning in which certainresponses come to dominate others due to rewards.The hallmark of connectionism (like all behavioraltheory) was that learning could be adequatelyexplained without refering to any unobservableinternal states.

EDWARD THORNDIKE'S EXPERIMENTSThorndike investigated learning in animals by usingcats. A hungry cat was confined in a puzzle box with

food visible on the outside. He presented it aproblem, which required the cat to manipulate somedevices, which would open the gate of the puzzle box

Bits of food were placed outside the box as anincentive for the cat to open the gate. From suchexperiments, Thorndike made the followingobservations.The cat first behaved aimlessly as if doing things bytrial and error.It then responded correctly by accident (chancesuccess) and finally, repeated the successfuloperationConsuming the food (satisfier) rewarded it. Getting

the reward strengthens the connection between thestimuli and the response made just before the reward(satisfier) was given. From the above observations.Thorndike formulated three major laws, namely: lawof effect, law of readiness and law of exercise

LAW OF EFFECTThe law of effect states that the association betweena stimulus and a response will strengthen orweakened depending on whether a satisfier or anannoyer follows the response (Gibson, 1980). An act,which is followed by satisfaction in a given situation,will generallyBecome associated with that situation; so that when

it recurs the act will also be likely to recur (Curzon,1981). On the other, an act, which results indiscomfort, tends to be disassociated from thesituation, so that when the situation recurs, the actwill be less likely to recur.The greater the satisfaction or discomfortexperienced, the greater the degree to which the S-Rbond will be strengthened or loosened.After research studies have showed that thisexplanation was inadequate, Thorndike propoundedanother law, the truncated law of effect. This lawadded the idea that while satisfiers alwaysstrengthens the bond between a stimulus and aresponse, the effect of annoyersIs much less predictable; sometime they weaken thebond, but sometimes they do not.

LAW OF EXERCISEThe law of exercise states that response to a situationmay be strongly connected with the situationdepending on the number of times it has been soconnected and to the average strength and durationof the connection. The exercise here refers topractice. Practice they say makesPerfect. In a later revision of the law, Thorndikeasserts that practice in itself did not make perfect,but practice in circumstances that allowed the learne

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to be informed or given comments about his progresscould be valuable in strengthening the S-R links

LAW OF READINESSThe law of readiness states that a learner'ssatisfaction determined by the extent of hispreparatory set, that is, his readiness for action. Thislaw was summarized into two:When someone is ready to perform an act to do so issatisfying.

When someone is ready to perform some act, not doso is annoying. An interference with goal-directedbehavior causes frustration and making someone todo something he does not want to do is frustrating

SUBSIDIARY LAWSThorndike also outlines other subsidiary law (Curzon,1981). They include the following:Law of Multiple Responses. A response, which failsto produce satisfaction, will trigger off another untilsuccess results and learning becomes possibleLaw of Set. The individual's total attitude ordisposition affects learning.Law of Response Analogy. A Person's response to

a novel situation is determined by innate tendenciesto respond and by elements in similar situations towhich he has acquired responses in the past.Law of Selectivity of Response. As an animallearns, it becomes capable of ignoring some aspectsof a problem and responding to others.Law of Associative Shifting. A learner firstresponds to a given stimulus, then transfers theresponses, but association, to another stimulus.Law of Spread Effect. If an act had pleasurableconsequences, the pleasure tended top becomeassociated with not only the act and the elicitingstimulus, but also with other actions, which occurredapproximately, the same point in time.