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Josh Nielsen

Carrie Sippy

ENGL 1102-014

03/25/13

Cast: George Bugliarello, Paulo Freire, Daniel Howe, Ken Robinson, Scott Armstrong

Setting: ..

George

Never has there been a generation so depleted of the ability to think

logically and carry on a conversation on a topic of any meaning.

Everybody has such strong beliefs, or thinks they do, but it is rare to finda person who can defend their point of view let alone convince others of

it.

DanielI would attribute this to a general lack of purpose and passion for

anything that has to do with learning or thinking. So few people careanymore to actually spend time studying or developing themselvesmentally.

Ken

I must agree and yet I would put the blame on us as educators. We take insuch brilliant children when they are just five or six and over the next

twelve to twenty years we strip them of any sense of creativity or genius

they had within them. It is such a crime yet we continue to submit wave

after wave of students to this regime.Freire

This is exactly what makes it possible and even encourages dictators and

oppressive regimes. When you have a population that has been sonumbed, so used to being fed everything they know what is to prevent

despotism? As a result we are seeing more and more problems of this

nature. Only when a regime goes so far do the people revolt and by thenit is too late. As long as we continue in the manner we will be stuck in an

endless cycle of revolt and oppression. Only when you have a population

that is conscious of the world around them and and able to view it

through a critical lens will the cycle be stopped.Scott

It seems we all agree on two things at the least: education is of primary

importance, and our current mode cannot propel us forward but rather is

setting us on a downward course. To go about solving these issues I thinkwe must first consider what the purpose of education really is.

KenIf I may take a swing I believe that education is our way of preparing the

next generation for the future. We have no clue really what will be

happening even ten years from know let alone fifty or a hundred. Thismeans that we cannot prepare them for specific events. Instead we have

to give them general skills that will allow them to use their heads and

think their way through any situation that comes up.

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Freire

This is very similar to what I meant when I was referring to

consciousness. In fact I would take it a step further. In my book

Pedagogy of the OppressedI refer to education as giving people a senseof consciousness as consciousness of consciousness (77). It is admittedly

a rather difficult phrase to grasp. Yet my meaning is simply a knowledge

or awareness that constantly reminds us to be aware and alert. In thissense consciousness is the first step in thinking through a situation as you

put it Ken.

DanielIf I may interject I think this is exactly what classical education was

defined to do. You speak of the ability to think their way through any

situation. In my opinion this requires an enormous sense of mental andsometimes physical and spiritual discipline. Classical education was

designed not simply to pass on facts but to help students to be able to

receive information, process it to determine its importance and relevance,

and then store or discard it. The middle step, the processing ofinformation, is what is missing in nearly all of today's systems of

education.

ScottSo what is the answer? How can we provide more people with this sense

of consciousness and the ability to think through a situation? Daniel you

have presented classical education as a possible solution but is itplausible?

George

We need more relevance in education. Students go through twelve years

of school before college and four to eight or ten more depending on howfar they go. What is the result of all this study? For the average student

the results are not extremely satisfying. Many have slept their way

through their education because they were not taught things that wereuseful to them. Because of this they are not any better prepared to face

the world than when they first started.

ScottIs it possible that it is not the usefulness of the information but rather the

way that we cater to the students every need and act like it is our fault if

they don't do well? I think we need more structure, especially prior tocollege.

Daniel

Again this is where the classical model is better suited than more

contemporary systems. While learning Greek, studying the works ofPlato, Aristotle, and other great thinkers may not help you operate an

iPhone or computer directly they will develop the mind and allow you to

use such devices to a far greater purpose. Self-discipline has been soneglected in modern education. If you teach a student how to use logic

and reasoning you prepare him in a far more powerful way then if you

just teach the results of another person's reasoning. By doing this youundermine their capabilities, which makes it easier for them to lose

interest.

Scott

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It is true that we need more challenge and higher expectations. As you

alluded to if we are going to expect them to think and challenge them to

go further we need to give them the proper tools.

GeorgeTraditionally the classical method teaches the trivium which inlcudes

grammar, logic, and rhetoric, in that order. I do not disagree that these are

essential and foundation for success rather I think it is the topics to whichthe reasoning is applied which need to be updated. For example when

teaching art is it necessary to use artwork from hundreds of years ago or

would it be of more use to offer courses in graphic design and computerart? Likewise when teaching math it is important to explain the concepts

behind the subject but is it not also important to teach students how to use

a calculator and other modern aids?Ken

It seems to me that we could go back and forth all day on this issue. I

think we need to be careful that we are well balanced, that our teaching is

both creating discipline and preparing students to live in a modern world.It's not necessary to reinvent the wheel, we can stand upon the shoulders

of those who have gone before. However we need to understand how the

wheel was made to be able to put it to the best use. In the same mannerwe must exercise our legs and build up our sense of balance to be able to

stand on someone's shoulders.

FreireGentlemen this discussion has been most enlightening but before we

close I think we must sum up the points we have discussed.

Scott

I think we have agreed we need to put higher expectations on the studentsto take responsibility for their own education. However this needs to start

from the very beginning and they need to be given the proper tools to do

so.Ken

This means that teachers and educators need to be focused primarily on

building up the reasoning skills rather than teaching facts.George

The foundational skills of logic and reasoning must be applied to a

relevant topic. We need to be using education to move the world forward.Scott

Although it seems we have barely scratched the surface I think we have

shed some light on what we can do to better prepare the nest generation

and how to balance between extremes on some of these issues.Freire

There is definitely no easy solution. Teaching people how to think is a

daunting task and one that requires a great amount of thought itself.