Reclaiming the Lost Tools of Learning, Before It’s Too Late

We’re talking about the media and entertainment mountains, but my friend Gordon Pennington zeroed in on something just as critical—education. He pointed out that while classical education once prioritized soul formation and citizen development, contemporary education has largely lost that foundation. Drawing from Dorothy Sayers' work The Lost Tools of Learning, Gordon highlighted the ancient trivium: grammar (language and structure), logic (reasoning and analysis), and rhetoric (the ability to express and persuade). These elements weren't just academic—they were tools to shape character, culture, and clarity of thought. What’s missing today isn’t just content—it’s the culture of respect, curiosity, and continuity that came from seeing education as a sacred torch passed from one generation to the next. If we want to restore clarity to the culture, we need to recover the roots of real education.