Book Review: Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning
by Anna Saputera

Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning: An Approach to Distinctively Christian Education Douglas Wilson. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1991. 224 pages. 215 pages. 1991. Crossway Books Category: Education

The author, based on facts and observations, thinks that education offered in American public schools has been declining in quality for the past few decades. “The National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) reported that the schooling of the average student is barely adequate and that one out of every seven seventeen-year-olds in the United States is functionally illiterate.” Compared to the rest of the nations, American students rank at a pretty low spectrum. “In a comparison of 24,000 thirteen-year-olds from the United States, Ireland, Spain, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and four Canadian provinces, the United States placed last in mathematics and almost last in science…” According to the author, teachers and public schools do not do what they are supposed to do: teaching and educating.

A system that lacks accountability will not achieve its optimal ability. This is what happens to public schools. Public schools are protected and defined by the state; there is no free market that could opt out public schools, therefore they maintain their status quo and remain to be mediocre. The only pressure strong enough for a change in public schools is the possibility of a loss of funding (political pressure). In public schools, there is little incentive to please the customers, who are the parents, whereas in private schools, competitions and continuous parent feedbacks would keep improving the schools' quality. The lack of market forces in public education does not only affect the schools, but also the potential teachers. Low-quality teachers are attracted to an educational system where performance is not evaluated by the market. While high-quality teachers who pursue excellence in education are frequently discouraged and frustrated in the public schools.

The author mentions that various groups suggested many reforms to tackle the problem described in the above paragraphs. In general, they can be divided into 3 types of reforms: structural reform, curriculum reform, and Christian reform of the schools. Structural reform varies from putting more money to education, giving better motivation to attract teachers, to localizing control over schools. Curriculum reform starts from improving reading skills (phonics) in younger students, returning to basics by answering questions such as: 'What is true education? What is education goal?' and requiring proficiency in certain basic subjects. The last type of reforms is Christian reform, ranging from the effort to reinstate prayers in schools, the attempt to have Creation taught alongside Evolution and immoral teaching in sex-ed classes. Their belief is that education cannot take place in a moral vacuum and it needs to return to Judeo/Christian values. Despite the chorus of voices calling for reform, declining education quality in public schools persists. There is another issue that has been overlooked: these reformers have failed to take the importance of foundations into account: Classical and Christian approach of education.

On Christian education, the Bible gives main responsibility for children education to the family. It is very crucial for parents to carefully carry out this assignment, and not to delegate this assignment to well-intentioned institutions such as church, private school, or any Christian organizations. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 speaks about this: ”… These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on our foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” The Christian view of education should take into account the existence of the Creator. Consequently, the universe created by Him coheres and knowledge about the universe should be consistent. This implies that in principle consistent school curriculum is possible. Additionally, the Bible also states that men are sinful. None, including education, saves men. Only our Savior Jesus Christ saves sinful men. This does not say that Christianity is a spirit of anti-intellectualism. True Christianity and true scholarship are compatible. Unified knowledge is imparted such that student comes to love and understand it. Although the author stresses on the importance of Christian education as one of the two solutions of the current problems, the book should explain more on how this solution would apply in a pluralistic society, not to mention other nations whose main foundations are not Judeo-Christianity. If education is for everyone in the society including those who are not Christians and if education could not take place in a moral vacuum, what sets of values must be adopted at public schools? The author could add some explanation on these values such that overall education in pluralistic society could be improved and ultimately would help to create a better civil society.

On Classical education, in her essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” (appendix A), Dorothy Sayers wrote: ”… although we often succeed in teaching our pupils 'subjects,' we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think… They learn everything except the art of learning.” The author stresses that not only we need a Christian education; we want also a Classical education. Dorothy applied the structure of medieval pattern for education and found that it fits very well with the development of young people. That medieval educational method, called Trivium of the Middle Ages consists of 3 parts: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These three parts should prepare students for the Quadrivium - the study of various subjects. The Trivium equipped students with the tools of learning in order to undertake the discipline and specialization of the Quadrivium. In contrast, modern educational method emphasizes the teaching of various subjects from the beginning. Modern students never learn Trivium, they immediately jump to Quadrivium. A quote in the book says: ”… modern education concentrates on teaching subjects, leaving the method of thinking, arguing and expressing one's conclusions to be picked up by the scholar as he goes along…” All things being equal, a student who has been trained with Trivium will master a subject half of the time of one who has not, because this student possesses a tool of learning. The concept of Trivium and Quadrivium described in the book is certainly worth to be explored and deployed in school systems all over the world. The only concern for this approach is how feasible they could be applied in both modernized world and poor nations which demand a young man or woman to enter workforce and acquire skills as early as possible.

The author should consider that although American schools' quality has been declining, American universities in overall are ranked the highest among nations and are still leading and cutting-edge in their research and breakthroughs in various fields. People from all over the globe are competing to enter American universities. In Newsweek magazine, the Minister of Education in Singapore, Shanmugaratnam pointed out that American universities are unrivaled globally-and are getting better. “You have created a public-private partnership in tertiary education that is amazingly successful. The government provides massive funding, and private and public colleges compete, raising everyone's standards.” There seems to be a missing link between the two extremes: worst public schools and best universities happening at the same time in the same country, which might demand some explanations. This book is a great book for those who care to understand the meaning of education, seek to reform current education system, and desire to be effective in their calling as educators.