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 find a person who can defend their point of view let alone convince others of it. Daniel I would attribute this to a general lack of purpose and passion for anything that has to do with learning or thinking. So few people care anymore to actually spend time studying or developing themselves mentally. Ken I must agree and yet I would put the blame on us as educators. We take in such 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 so numbed, 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 then it 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 think we must first consider what the purpose of education really is. Ken If 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. This means 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.

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 Oppressed I refer to education as giving people a sense of 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 this sense consciousness is the first step in thinking through a situation as you put it Ken. Daniel If 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 and sometimes 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 of information, is what is missing in nearly all of today's systems of education. Scott So 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 it plausible? 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 how far 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 were useful to them. Because of this they are not any better prepared to face the world than when they first started. Scott Is 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 to college. Daniel Again this is where the classical model is better suited than more contemporary systems. While learning Greek, studying the works of Plato, 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 so neglected 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 you undermine their capabilities, which makes it easier for them to lose interest. Scott

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. George Traditionally 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 which the 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 computer art? 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 manner we must exercise our legs and build up our sense of balance to be able to stand on someone's shoulders. Freire Gentlemen 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 students to 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.