RECOVERING THE LOST TOOLS OF LEARNING PB (Turning Point Christian Worldview Series) Paperback – 1 Apr 1991

excellent

As a teacher at a Christian school I appreciated the challenge that Doug Wilson has to Christian education in this book. This is the book that has "begun" my journey through Christian classical education and, frankly, just what it means to be a Christian education regardless of the type of school you might be working at. A lot of this book uses Logos as a backdrop to his exposition on complete education, but it is clear that this can be applied to any location with just about any student as well. His ultimate challenge is that Christian education needs to be distinctly Christian and look at the world with the correct view that the Lord exists and has designed everything with a God glorify purpose, including how we learn!It seems like that might be an obvious statement to most Christian institutions or organizations (Hello ACSI), but Wilson looks for the solution in the past, and doesn't try to create his own generic version of how to "fix" education. That is what I appreciate about this book, it suggests that the way it used to be done (education) actually was pretty good and that it should be brought back and basically just modernized--not overhauled like it was during the late 19th century with people like John Dewey. It also has the original essay by Dorthy Sayers which is great as well. Worth the read if you want to critically consider education as a parent or teacher. Also the book by John Milton Gregory, "The Seven Laws of Teaching", is worth a read if you are an educator looking for ways to improve (or just to grow your understanding of teaching).

The book relies heavily on Dorothy Sayers essay entitled, "The Lost Tools of Learning," a copy of which is included in the appendix. Douglas Wilson discusses in depth some of the ideas and subjects missing from our current public school curricula. His theme seems to be to return to what he styles "the basics" which include a healthy dose of classical literature and relates this to scriptural learning and understanding. He uses his own personal experience with The Logos School (A Christ centered private school in Idaho) as an illustration of the points he is presenting. I was surprised to see him identify some of the areas needing improvement as well as suggestions on how to design a comprehensive High School curricula modeled on his experiences. An interesting and enjoyable read.

If you are considering classical Christian education, you should read this book. While some of it is not what I would call an easy read, the information is very informative and really makes you think about where and how you are educating your children.

Mr. Wilson's book on education is outstanding. Does it matter that a teacher is a Christian teacher or a secular one, in light of basic math problems? or perhaps history?-Yes. Read the various cases that Wilson wrote about and you will understand why this principle matters. Also he promotes the need to learn Latin among school age children, which is great; look how often our English language borrows from Latin. Above all I like this book because Wilson promotes the need for a truly Christian Education.

I found this book so interesting, I was reading it as a narrative story. It seem to answer many questions that I had and built truth around its teaching material. For a Foundation, this is an excellent book to build with, it works along well with "Created to Learn" by William R Yount.

Dry reading but great info

Great book

Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning was an interesting and enlightening treatment of a subject not understood by many. While reading the book I felt as if a lightbulb suddenly illuminated the problems with not only public schools and private schools but also with most Christian schools.

Helpful thoughts. Loved that they included Dorothy Sayers' essay in it.

Excellent read

A bit outdated but still valuable. Shows the limits of public education and the mindset of early christian school founders in the late 20th century. A good text for people studying the topic or time period.

Book arrived promptly as described