Self Education

I believe this book, The Well-Educated Mind (TWEM) by Susan Bauer, is a great way to start off with the topic of Self Education.

For the purpose of working towards self education, a classical education is a great approach. The reason is that the classical approach gives the student the tools needed to facilitate self education. Unfortunately, many of us did not have the opportunity to pursue a classical curriculum. But here we are today, and the concepts are available to all. Going forward, it is a matter of the will.

TWEM takes the classical philosophy for the stages of learning (grammar, logic or dialectic, and rhetoric) and applies it to the exercise of reading literature. Children are typically not ready for logic concepts when they are 6 years old, so they are taught material that is equal to their ability at the time. However, as adults we hopefully have well formed minds capable of complex levels of reason.

Even still, learning beyond formal education is performed with the same approach. To be more clear, Bauer suggests to first understand the book's basic argument and structure, next evaluate the book's assertions, and finally form an opinion about the book's ideas.

This applies to the classical approach because:

1. Grammar is about understanding the basic fundamentals
2. Logic (or dialectic) is about evaluating assertions
3. Rhetoric is about forming and articulating opinions on ideas
   

This process is applied to the five categories of literature, which are always interconnected to history (even the fictional forms).

The five types of literature described in the book are:

1. Novel (Stories about Humanity)
2. Autobiography (Stories of Me)
3. History (Stories of the Past)
4. Drama (Stories on Stage)
5. Poetry (History Refracted)

The types of questions which should come to mind should vary depending on the genre. TWEM describes how to intelligently approach each type of literature.