According to Fletcher, the purpose of education is "to produce the balanced character - the man of the world in the true sense, who is also the man with spiritual roots in his own community in the local sense" (111). In Fletcher's perspective the antebellum Southern education system did this much better than the public school postbellum system. He does not go so far as to say the Southern system is the best period. He acknowledges the victories of the Northern system in the North and attributes it to the industrial and urban character of the North. In the South, however, the rural character brought about a much different system of education, that of the Academy. Fletcher describes the Academy as a school of tutors and pupils who pay tuition to learn. He says "Their object was to teach nothing that the teacher himself had not mastered, and could not convey to his pupils." Sounds a lot like John Milton Gregory here. The result, according to Fletcher was that "their training was therefore classical and humanistic, rather than scientific and technical" (103).
What is a classical education according to Fletcher? He describes the three stages of the trivium very well. He begins with the Grammar stage.
Primary instruction in the English language in the elements of grammar and mathematics, in geography, in elementary history, is, after all, largely a question of being able to remember certain facts. It depends on memory - on being able to repeat a lesson correctly once it is given. (115)
From this basic understanding of fact, Fletcher represents an interesting picture of the Logic (Dialectic) stage. This stage lasts from "ten to twelve years of age" according to Fletcher and during this period "the sole abiding object of education is not to convey information at all" (115).
It is to train the pupil's mind in such a manner that he can master for himself whatever subject he wishes to take up, and to enlarge his mental horizon by showing the relationship of this subject to the whole of human life. (115-116)Technically, Fletcher does not represent a Rhetoric stage in his map of education. But given what he does say, one can deduce the content of the Rhetoric stage. It is whatever exists past the training stage. That period of a child's life after twelve years of age when he does introduce himself to new learning and does master whatever he desires. This is just what Sayers had in mind.
It is fascinating to me that we have come to expect so little from our school children. Given the opportunities open to them, we should expect much more. I often wonder what Martin Luther or St. Augustine would have done with a word processor, given their already prodigious output of works. I had a parent of an eleventh grader come to me expressing concern that her daughter had not learned something several years ago. I listened carefully and respectfully and then suggested that now was the time to expect her daughter to learn that for herself, to teach that to herself. She should begin using the tools of learning to teach herself. Needless to say, this wasn't what this mother wanted to hear. But it should represent exactly what we want our students to do in life. No school can teach every art and science that will be needed. Public schools may try, but then look at what comes out. We have graduates who have very open minds to all forms of religion and sexuality, but cannot make change at a cash register.
Fletcher represents a picture of what American education could be again. He does so in a fallen state, remember this if you read him, but he does paint a beautiful picture of the educated man.
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