Today’s Plan:
- Paper Feedback
- Nathan
- Homework: Thelin reading
Paper Feedback
Philosophy and Rhetoric:
Plato believed that obtaining
justice for one’s self was all-important, and the only way to achieve that justice was through knowledge. True, unbiased, non-persuasive knowledge in specific. In Plato’s mind, education is not in place to serve as a guidebook on how to become a functioning member of society. Instead it exists so that each and every member of a society has the opportunity and ability to become their absolute best.[…]
Plato is criticizing the act of learning through controlled education and manipulation. Rather than being given the tools to find the truth, students are given a truth crafted by their elders. Words are purposefully utilized to create narratives and persuade the uneducated. A lot of this ideology still holds true in the education system in place today.
I might adjust this a bit. Take a look at this piece on the Principles of Socratic Education: https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-socratic-questioning-in-thinking-teaching-learning/522
Instead of arguing that Plato emphasized knowledge, I would argue that Plato stressed a method of investigation centered around questions–especially self-questioning.
So, the debate between Plato and Gorgias (between Philosophy and Rhetoric) comes down to this:
Philosophy believed that every person should learn to discover truth themselves, working through questions, seeking evidence, proposing solutions. In a world in which every individual thinks for themselves, you need no art to convince others what they should think and do. Those arts will undoubtedly end up serving manipulation more than education.
Rhetoric (sometimes) thinks this would be a nice goal, but ultimately concludes that it is unrealistic. Most people either don’t *want* to do the work of thinking this much, don’t have the time to do thinking this much, or simply don’t have the intellectual capacity to think this hard. So, you need to develop an art that allows people who think to persuade others about the importance of their thought. At the same time, you need to arm people so they can’t be as easily manipulated. [ZeFrank and learning video editing]
Returning to the question of indoctrination and critical pedagogy. I’ve written a thing.
Liberal Arts:
Ultimately, the question is: Can higher education institutions find methods for students to find what they are passionate about and give students opportunities for creative thinking and learning, which they can use to benefit others? Of course, they can. Some programs, like the Upper Division Honors Program here at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), give students the chance to explore any and all subjects through a creative, interdisciplinary lens. In the Upper Division program, students are given total control over an individualized research project of their choosing. By allowing students to design and fulfill their own project, the Honors Program encourages interdisciplinary learning, having students work closely with faculty members, and finding solutions to modern problems. A program like this encapsulates all of the requirements universities should meet in order to be successful: allowing students to have creative freedom, helping students find what they are passionate about, and foster “service” citizens.
In fact, the Honors Program mission statement says its two programs are “designed to foster outstanding students by providing a small community of intellectually-challenging peers… the tools to learn how to think critically and…how to dive deep into today’s problems, issues, and cutting-edge research challenges.” While this mission statement may seem highly specific, Harvard President Drew Faust agrees with this interdisciplinary style of teaching. In an interview for Ivory Tower, Faust says Harvard wants “to give [students] the abilities to think and reason and question for a lifetime.” Institutions all across the country should aim to give students a well-rounded, thought-provoking education. Although UNC and Harvard are vastly different institutions, they share common goals. This is perhaps why a liberal arts education has become so popular in American higher education over the last few centuries.
This made me think of a recent interview with Mark Cuban getting passed around.
Nathan
I’ve made a copy of my chapter notes.
- Chapter 2: Life in the Dorms
- Dorm room doors 21-26 [dissonance between official University representation and student expression]
- Moffatt’s 1970 study on time management 32-33
- Community? 38-40
- Chapter 3: Community and Diversity
- 4 things that students have in common 42
- Community? 1990 take on Greek life 48-49 [tension between support and confinement]
- “Individual resources make collective spaces superfluous” (54)
- Friends [55-57, 58*]
- Race and the lunchroom 60-63
- Chapter 4: How Others See Us
- Nice but distant 68
- Independence vs Friendship 73-75
- (In)formality and dress, accessibility of faculty 78
- Teaching: format, contract, entertainment 79-80
- Ignorance–attitude towards news media 88-89
- Chapter 5: Academically Speaking
- The Witch (equality and debate) 91-95
- Dorm Talk 98-99
- Intellectual life vs take the degree and run 100
- “Perfect class” 103-107
- Chapter 6: The Art of College Management
- Helen Horowitz’s classic categories (plus one) 107-110
- Hours in the day (2003 NSSE report) 111-121
- Cheating / Academic Dishonesy 127-128
Homework
Reading in the Thelin (80 pages, but it is pretty easy reading): Chapter 7 (260-271; 274-277, 303-310); Chapter 8 (317-321, 323-326, 341-342, 344-353, 357-362); Chapter 9 (363-398). Note that the book was revised in 2011.
