This article argues for classical education's trivium--grammar, logic, and rhetoric--and its step-by-step building of knowledge as a heuristic for general education courses. Specifically, courses must intertwine the four rhetorical acts of reading, writing, speaking, and listening to achieve a trivium-based heuristic. Current curricula, however, have separated these four rhetorical acts--especially listening--from one another and have left their teaching to competing departments. All general education courses--regardless of department--should combine the rhetorical acts through this trivium-based heuristic to better prepare students for communicating and transferring knowledge. A reorientation toward listening and self-reflective practices as a theoretical basis in general education achieves this trivium-based heuristic and the goals of a liberal arts education.