Tags: Science, Philosophy

University Education As It Might Be and Ought to Be

Part I: What Is the Aim of a University Education?

By Marsha Familaro Enright

“Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined

only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a

paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.” Maria Montessori

Standard education not only fails to teach the philosophy,

history, economics, and politics of a free society, but its

methods oppress individuality and instead encourage conformity

and obedience. It does the opposite of teaching young people how

to live as free, autonomous persons. For a detailed look at the

collectivist and authoritarian purpose and history of traditional

education, especially government-run, see my chapter “Liberating

Education” in the book Common Ground On Common Core.

In the main, traditional university education’ methodology has

been unchanged for centuries. Most classrooms rely heavily on an

authoritarian, top-down structure of a single arbiter of

knowledge, often in the position of lecturer, discussion leader,

and knowledge authority, who conveys information to the waiting

student-receptacles.

1

Of course, many colleges and universities are using all the bells

and whistles of the latest physical technology, which makes the

world’s knowledge available to their students through Internet-

connected classrooms, cool electronic writing technology, online

discussion groups, or handheld quiz machines.

But the more crucial and fundamental psychological and social

elements to learning are often still ignored, especially at the

university level. Yet, a free future demands more than the

dissemination of information; where do free individuals learn how

to use it in their lives?

Given what we now know about human development, learning, and

motivation, education is ripe for a revolution in its psychological

technology. Students need an educational program that embodies

the ideals of self-sufficient, self-responsible, goal seeking,

and autonomous individuals.

Furthermore, when freedom and autonomy are directly experienced,

students become more engaged, interested, and enthusiastic

learners and more often adopt the ideas and values of liberty.

Where can we find the kind of education that suits the

development of autonomy? What specific considerations,

methodologies, and curricula support this development? Such a

system for lower education has been around for more than 100

years.

2

A Few of the Ingenious Features of the Montessori Method.

“When you have solved the problem of controlling the attention of the child, you have

solved the entire problem of education.” Maria Montessori

When it comes to attention and learning, Montessori could have

been talking about anyone, not just the child. Without attention,

there is no learning. Attention is crucial, yet attentional

resources (focus) are limited. They must be used well to

efficiently learn the most possible.

Further, the developed ability to concentrate on work and goals

and to self-maintain interest and focus allow a person to succeed

in long-term projects and purposes. In Montessori, Dewey, and

Capitalism, Jerry Kirkpatrick calls this “Concentrated Attention.”

In his studies on intensely productive and

creative people, University of Chicago research

psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (pictured

at left) found that certain conditions elevate

the ability to pay attention, and pay attention

deeply for long periods of time. He also recognized that

specially designed practices in Montessori classrooms provide

these conditions throughout the school day. His research group,

including the work of Kevin Rathunde, found many exceptional

outcomes from these Montessori practices. (A picture of an

engaging Montessori material to teach geology is below.)

3

The use of the Three-Period Lesson is a case in point.

Much scientific

research shows that

humans learn best if:

1. They are highly

motivated to learn the

material for some

personal end.

2. They are physically engaged.

3. They understand the application of the material to their

lives.

The classic Montessori Three-Period Lesson ingeniously engages

human attention. With small groups of students, teachers (or

“Guides” as we prefer to call them in Montessori) demonstrate

learning materials specially designed to focus attention on an

important concept, such as whole number versus fractions. Objects

and materials incorporating shapes, colors sounds, and textures

concretely make the idea vivid. These Montessori materials engage

the student’s whole intellect, sensory, motor, and conceptual,

thereby powerfully imprinting memory.

The lesson’s three parts are Naming, Recognition and Association,

and Recall. The Guide gathers one to four students ready for the

particular lesson, seats them in front of the materials, and then

4

demonstrates their use with only the essential words, naming the

objects. For example, the Guide might use fraction circles to

demonstrate the addition of fractions. (see picture below)

These are sets of metal, pie-shaped

circles cut into different quantities of

wedges with little knobs on each wedge.

One circle consists of 4 wedges, another

of 12, to demonstrate fourths and

twelfths while all the circles in the

material are the same size, to embody

whole number. There are numerous kinds of problems possible with

these circles, including all the operations of arithmetic. In the

most basic, the child can literally see the relationship of

different fractional proportions by taking the wedges out of the

circles and putting them back in—in different combinations. Each

lesson demonstrates one possible use of the materials.

During the lesson, the Guide speaks little, allowing the student

to focus and observe the demonstrated examples carefully so they

recognize the elements and form associations. The Guide

encourages questions from the students; she also, models

curiosity, and triggers discussion with questions of her own when

students are not forthcoming. Truly successful teachers are

exceptional at listening to students’ questions, surmising what

students need to know, and modeling and encouraging thinking.

5

After the fraction demonstration, the Guide asks the student to

explain what to do with the materials to solve the next problem

and moves the materials has the student accordingly. Finally, the

Guide asks the student to demonstrate the material, turning

student into teacher and thereby recalling the elements of the

lesson, requiring a more complete level of understanding for the

student’s performance.

After the lesson, the student is free to pursue more problems

with the materials right then or use them later to practice when

the student feels interested in working on the material (on the

principle that one learns best when one is intrinsically

motivated). The Guide regularly takes notes while observing the

children in her class and if she finds a child avoiding some

material, she makes it her job to think of a way to interest the

child in the work.

A key to the Montessori Method’s success is ensuring that the

amount of material conveyed at one lesson is not overwhelming but

sufficiently interesting, i.e. just the conditions necessary for

Flow. More frequent, shorter lessons with follow-up exercises are

preferable to one long demonstration. Of course, preparing

shorter, pointed lessons is far more taxing to the teacher, but

the Montessori Method has systems to make this aspect of teaching

less time consuming.

The Three-Period Lesson can be fruitfully adapted to many

college-level subjects. In fact, some college classes, such as

6

chemistry, often use a version of the Three-Period Lesson, with

the experiment as the final student demonstration. However, as

with most excellent methods, the devil is in the details.

Lectures in Their Proper Place

Lessons with materials and concrete experiences are not the usual

in university education; lectures are the most common format. If

organized well, lectures can distill a vast amount of information

down to a few principles and key examples. A lecture can be an

economical introduction to a subject. The best lectures

essentialize the subject matter conveyed by the lecture.

However, as a method, lectures are designed to be easy for the

teacher, not the student. They allow the teacher to recount his

or her knowledge without feedback or interrupting questions and

side issues from the listener. Although sometimes necessary,

lectures are usually a difficult way to learn because they

frequently run counter to human learning tendencies.

For several reasons, students must exert an enormous amount of

attentional effort to stay focused on what the speaker says

during lectures. A lecture requires the learner to mostly listen

and look a little. Unlike learning methods that make learning

easy, the lecture usually does not engage the whole mind,

including vivid perceptions and imagination, or the body of the

student. Listening and looking during a lecture involves little

7

sensory-motor work, which normally helps cement learning in

memory.

One of the reasons visual aids such as Microsoft® Office

PowerPoint® are preferred for lectures is because they offer

sensory stimulation, providing at least some perceptual imagery

to associate with the ideas being conveyed. Although, like books,

lectures can have illustrations, the student cannot study the

illustrations in a lecture as long as he or she wants.

Human interaction usually helps to increase interest as well as

physically engage the student, but during a lecture, there is

very little interaction between student and teacher. Often the

lecture is aimed at a large or general audience and thus cannot

address individual student goals, interests and comprehension

difficulties.

A student cannot stop the lecture to ask a question or request a

further, clarifying explanation or replay what the lecturer said.

Once confused, the student may find the rest of the lecture very

difficult if not impossible to follow. Consequently, students

often miss the important points and substantial content of the

lecture.

In a lecture format, the best teachers attempt to address human

learning needs by weaving their information into a story. Stories

incorporate drama, character, values, passion, meaning, purpose,

a climax and resolution. Winston Churchill was a master at this.

8

This method utilizes human tendencies to search for meaning and

purpose, to connect knowledge acquired to personal circumstances,

and to remember people, places and things more easily than

abstract ideas.

Excellent lecturers use plenty of concretes to make the

information vivid and connected to real experience and, at least

in imagination, to stir perceptual memory and bodily feelings of

the listener. Imaginative work and bodily feelings help the

student feel much more engaged in the material. Exceptional

lecturer MIT physics professor Walter Lewin spends 30 hours and

three practice trials developing each of the lectures for his

remarkable classes.

The best learners are active learners. They can gain from almost

any lecture; they come to a lecture motivated to learn for their

own reasons. They expend extra effort in imagining their own

examples in order to concretize the ideas they’re hearing. As

they listen, they maintain an internal dialogue of questions with

the lecturer, noting what they don’t understand and with what

they take issue. They also tend to seek answers to their

questions after the lecture.

Many teachers recognize that this kind of student is rare and

usually has high intelligence, strong intellectual ambition, and

great self-motivation. For the most part, traditional education

methods do not nurture internal motivation and inherent interest

in acquiring knowledge—qualities essential in the new global

9

economy, which demands the ability to lithely move from job to

job, or change careers.

A long school career of lectures, drills, memorization, and

teaching methods out of tune with learning needs usually turns

most students away from enthusiastic learning at school. They are

only too often motivated mainly by external rewards of grades,

adult approval, superior social position and the acquisition of

credentials.

Unfortunately, lectures are so difficult to pay attention to, and

psychologically painful for most students, that students work

hard to avoid them. During lectures, young students often goof

around; consequently, they learn that they are “bad” and

“undisciplined.” They are expected to know how to force their

attention on boring material.

Older students attempting to pass their courses seek low-energy

ways to fulfill requirements while maximizing grades, such as the

use of tape recordings, buying others’ lecture notes, or passing

multiple choice tests without attending lectures.

These students aren’t inherently bad, they are responding to the

high psychological costs of traditional education in a

psychologically economical way. They more profitably spend their

limited attentional resources elsewhere.

10

Sadly, they often feel guilt, frustration and anger for failing

to live up to the traditional classroom’s expectations, with a

nagging disappointment for what they’ve missed—or should have

gotten—from education. Many students desperately need help to

become “active learners,” interested in the material and in

charge of their own education.

Integration—But Not the Kind You May Think I Mean

What college graduates do with the information they learn will

now, more than ever, determine their competitive edge.

Consequently it is imperative that education teach how to think,

create and integrate what students learn in one subject with what

they know from another with what to do with it to further their

lives. Broad knowledge and capability to learn combined with the

ability to deftly integrate new material into one’s repertoire is

essential to become an adaptable Versatilist, capable of

switching careers as the economy demands.

However, teaching methods and curricula need to take into account

key psychological features that aid integration. Before valuable

information and ideas can be stored in the mind’s subconscious,

they have to pass through the conscious mind, which usually can

handle only about seven discreet items at any one time (see

George A. Miller’s 1956 psychological classic “The Magic Number

Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for

Processing Information“) If you’ve ever wondered why you need a

list to remember what you have to do, here’s the reason, and it’s

11

one of the reasons for the limited attentional resources of our

conscious minds.

Ideas—abstractions—are the primordial human inventions that

circumvent this limitation, because ideas incorporate myriad data

into a single audio-visual concrete, a word or symbol. All

instances of babies are integrated into the idea of “baby,” and

you can apply what you know about babies to any individual baby

you encounter. Voila! You’ve saved a lot of time and energy.

Ultimately, the integration of simple ideas, like those of colors

or types of animals, into more abstract groupings like “mammal”

make the human mind extremely powerful. Imagination and

integration work together to produce the torrent that is human

creativity. Integration of information into ideas and actions

into skills is the psychologically economical way to use our

limited conscious resources when thinking and solving problems.

The person who is a master at the careful, fact-based integration

of knowledge is a highly effective thinker and actor.

This is the reason any good curriculum must emphasize work on

subject matter across domains of knowledge, by studying works

that integrate epistemology with poetry, science with history,

philosophy with action, especially by asking students to relate

what is learned in one class and course to with what is learned

in another.

12

Tag: Science, Philosophy

University Education As It Might Be and Ought to Be

By Marsha Familaro Enright

Part II: Creativity

Integration to Creativity

“What I cannot create, I do not understand.”—Richard Feynman

Integration of knowledge across broad ranges of subjects is a

characteristic of creativity—and versatility. Research

consistently finds that highly creative people tend to have very

broad, as well as deep, interests and knowledge. They apply

unconventional information and ideas to problems, integrating

information in unusual ways across conventional subject areas.

Famed physicist Richard Feynman (at left) is a

case in point.

Think of his brilliant demonstration of the

space shuttle temperature problem, Challenger’s

O-Ring: by dropping an O-ring in an ordinary

glass of ice water, he simply and directly

proved it could not stand up to low temperatures. His

13

demonstration integrated an esoteric, bedeviling engineering

problem with a mundane experience.

He was also famous for his wide-ranging interests, which included

samba bands and experiments on ants. He put no limits on his

curiosity about the world.

Feynman’s measured IQ was in the high range—124—but not what IQ

test-makers consider genius (135+). Contrary to what many people

think but consistent with research findings, most recognized

geniuses do not have IQ’s in the 135+ range. Measured IQs of

people considered to be geniuses are 116 or higher, apparently

making an above average IQ a condition—but not a sufficient one—

for high creativity. (Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity). (No one knows

how individuals acclaimed as geniuses because of their work, such

as DaVinci and Newton, would have scored on the test. Given the

findings with current individuals, the results of an actual IQ

test on Newton might surprise us!)

Unfortunately, IQ tests—and most tests—cannot measure working

creativity and intelligence. In other words, they don’t

adequately measure how intelligence is put into life’s service by

creatively solving problems.

For example, the number of highly creative and successful

business people who score average to low on SAT tests is

indicative of the test’s inadequacy in measuring working

intelligence.

14

Conditions other than IQ seem to be highly important to the

development of creativity, conditions which we can create in

educational settings, thereby enabling education to actively

develop creativity, rather than stifle it.

For example, the tendency to amass information from close, first-

hand observation

is very important. Michael Faraday, (pictured

here) exhibited this tendency par excellence as a

young man: he had no formal education and knew

only arithmetic, but discovered the laws of

electromagnetism through fascinated observation

of and experiments on nature.

A mind that is curious and constantly problem-

solving is another characteristic of the creative. For example,

the inventor of VELCRO, George Mestral noticed his dog became

covered with burrs during a walk. Examining how the burrs use

microscopic hooks to stick to the loops of his pant fabric, he

realized he could make a new type of fastener. A little nature

hike turned into a billion-dollar industry.

What’s needed in education to develop creativity?

“Our care of the [student] should be governed, not by the desire to make him

learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light

which is called intelligence.” Maria Montessori

15

We cannot change what nature gives our students in terms of basic

intelligence. However, we can offer a program that nurtures those

abilities and habits of mind needed for creativity and

productivity such as:

Objective reasoning skills, not just in science and math,

but all domains of knowledge, including such areas as art,

history, and literature.

Knowledge of a broad array of information, ancient and

modern.

Habits of connecting information and ideas from one domain

of knowledge to another (the way highly creative people do),

by:

o Teaching through works that are cross-domain, like Adam

Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, a work of moral philosophy

that founded the study of economics, or Plato’s Meno,

which examines history, epistemology, and social

interaction.

o Guiding them to draw cross-disciplinary connections by

example such as how a city’s buildings and layout are

related to its history; pointing out examples of the

way in which original thinkers made crucial

connections, such as Newton’s connection of the apple’s

fall with the idea of gravity.

Curiosity through:

16

o Encouraging their questioning

o Modeling enthusiasm and inquiry about what is being

studied

Careful observation of the world through:

o Demonstrating careful observation and the relation of

any idea to the facts on which it rests

o Questioning the observational/factual basis of their

ideas

Awareness and thinking about the meaning and purpose in

life, by presenting a curriculum infused with deep questions

which connect knowledge to living by:

o Always asking what any given fact or idea means to

human life

o Asking of any knowledge: to whom is this information

valuable and how will it be used?

Using the Great Books, what are often called the Classics, in the

curriculum schools students in timeless ideas, of the best

thinkers in civilization, useful in any era or place. These works

are extremely influential today. They include works from

philosophy to economics, mathematics to literature, history to

science and more. Simultaneously, the Great Books’ authors and

their ideas serve as examples of the highest in creative thinking

skills.

17

Properly schooled to think deeply about these works, a student

economically recognizes patterns, trends and influences

everywhere in culture, from art to business, from job trends to

medical discoveries.

One small example: Did you know that there was a time when people

were confused about how something could be one thing now and

another thing in the future? The ancient Greeks pondered this for

some time. In the 400’s BCE, “What is, is,” said Parmenides, who

believed existence is timeless and change impossible, a mere

illusion. “I can’t step into the same river twice,” said

Heraclitus, who argued that all was continuous change. The Greeks

couldn’t reconcile how states and change could co-exist. How

could something be an acorn now and yet the very same thing an

oak tree later? They could not figure out how that worked.

It took the genius of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle decades

later to resolve this problem with the identification of the

concepts of “actual” and “potential.” Try to imagine our world

without these ideas—how could we think about science and

technology, societies or evolution?

Students need to learn about such great ideas as Aristotle’s

breakthrough, along with the important fact that so much we take

for granted in our great civilization was invented by creative

individuals all through the ages. And reflecting on concepts that

we take for granted raises students’ analytic thinking skills.

This is just one benefit of studying the Great Books.

18

Knowledge Across Categories

Carefully crafted assignments, classes can purposefully integrate

knowledge from one domain to another and encourage students to

find connections between seemingly disparate material, just like

creative thinkers such as Feynman and Mestral. Teachers can urge

students to constantly seek connections among these great ideas

and between the ideas and our contemporary world. Unfortunately,

most college curricula and faculties make no attempt to execute

these crucial tasks.

Discussing the place that a fact, idea or theory has in human

life should be a constant aim. Teachers should consistently

require—and offer–—proof for statements and beliefs, and explicit

logical arguments. Everyone should examine the premises from

which they draw their conclusions. Facts and truth, however

unpleasant, should be the standard. By modeling and emphasizing

these practices, faculty can encourage students to have excellent

observational skills.

How to deal with unpleasant facts without denying them should

also be a highly encouraged skill. Teachers who model such

thinking teach volumes. And teachers need training to insure

these aims—something which the rare university professor gets.

Ultimately, by consistently applying these practices, students

will learn the skills needed to think objectively.

19

20

Tag: Science, Philosophy

University Education As It Might Be and Ought To Be

By Marsha Familaro Enright

Part III—Inspiration

“First We Must Inspire, Not Just Inform”

Maria Montessori, pictured at left, noted

that the student is a “spiritual embryo,”

with his or her own innate pattern of growth

ready to unfold, delicately and amazingly,

given the right psychological and physical

environment. The teacher’s role in this

unfolding cannot be underestimated.

Maria Montessori said: Teachers “have to conquer minds stirring

up the great emotions of life,” to achieve real learning in

students. In other words, teachers must tap into students’

deepest desires and values, such as love, joy, and pride, to

motivate students. And, although Aristotle’s dicta “All men by

nature desire to know” captures the human species’ trait of

curiosity, curiosity can be squashed through ridicule or sapped

through boredom by teachers—or coaxed into riotous flowering.

Great teachers are often transformative to the student, helping

him or her learn to love knowledge and serious work, to acquire

21

heightened reasoning skills, to look at many sides of a problem,

to gather information from far-reaching domains in order to find

solutions and to be self-reflective and reasonable – all

important ingredients to future success.

Famed investor Warren Buffet, who did not want to go to college,

said of his time achieving a master’s degree at Columbia

University, “But I didn’t go there for a degree, I went for two

teachers who were already my heroes.”

These principles necessitate teachers of the highest order: those

with the utmost respect for their students, who can teach by

example and guidance through difficult material. To encourage the

development of particular values and virtues in students, faculty

become essential as role models. For example, by embodying great

thinking, respect for independent judgment, and deep appreciation

of individual freedom, the faculty model the very values of a

free society, reason, individualism, and freedom.

While it is possible to be competent in communicating information

and in conveying some of these traits long distance, in-person

interaction is the most compellingly effective method. It’s

important to have a program that actively uses technology of all

kinds to creatively facilitate learning and collaboration and

make scholars and public intellectuals from around the world

accessible to students. But in-person classes with skilled,

specially trained role-model teachers are indispensible for a

great education.

22

Let’s examine some ways teachers influence students.

Teachers and Activation Energy

Csikszentmihalyi notes that human beings have limited mental

resources and energy when it comes to paying attention (focusing

on material), and these should be used wisely. Hence, a good

program keeps these factors in mind and seeks to facilitate

attention. And interest is one of the key ingredients to

minimizing the use of attentional energy.

A small group of people, like concert violinist Rachel Barton

Pine, seem to find riveting interests when they are mere

toddlers. This kind of person often barrels full speed ahead in

what they want to do; but most people are not as definite or

enthusiastic about any particular interest. Teachers can make a

difference in the subjects in which students become interested

and even their choice of profession.

Often, a passionate teacher triggers an individual’s interest in

a new subject. A previously unknown, boring, or distasteful field

becomes the person’s area of professional interest through their

teacher. I’ve seen many a student with no previous interest in,

or maybe even a repulsion to, cicadas or worms, become enthralled

with them after an enthusiastic teacher shows them the

fascinating parts of the worm, the weird way the cicada flies, or

how to eat it. The teacher fuels what research psychologist

23

Csikszentmihalyi calls “activation energy,” i.e. the energy

invested in learning to do something new.

Many complex and deeply engaging areas of knowledge and skill

require an enormous amount of unrewarding work before they become

enjoyable. Ballet dancing, mastering physics, or successfully

managing employees are a few examples. Initially, the learner

must expend intense mental energy in order to focus on the

learning and become interested in the subject or skill: this is

the “activation energy.” Learning a musical instrument is a good

example: the student spends hours practicing physical movements

and enduring awful sonic productions before acquiring enough

skill to make enjoyable music!

In the early 20th century, Montessori noted the same phenomena

and realized its connection to teaching: “I believed that at the

start the teaching material had to be associated with the voice

of the teacher which called and roused the [students] and induced

them to use the material and educate themselves,” Maria

Montessori.

A great teacher like the character of Edward James Olmos in the

movie “Stand and Deliver,” or Robin Williams in “Dead Poets

Society,” helps students through difficult material with

contagious excitement and the ability to make it dramatically

interesting and well-related to students’ deepest needs and

values. This goes back to the principle that human interest

drives learning.

24

Long-time Montessori teacher, Pat Schaefer, summed it up, “First:

we must inspire, not just inform. Second: It is in relationship

that the secret of [human learning] power is released.”

Teachers and Great Questions

On the precipice of full adult life, the college student needs

answers to the great questions: “Why am I here?” ”How should I

live?” ”How should I deal with other people?” “What should I do

with my life?” If the student is not already asking himself these

questions, it is his teacher’s job to show him how to ask them

and how to find good answers.

Knowing how to pose the right questions can lead to a great

awakening with unforeseen, amazing consequences. Forestry

Consultant Charles Tomlinson often regaled friends and family

with stories of his experience at The University of the South

(called “Sewanee”) with “Abbo.” Charles claimed himself a rather

complacent product of a middleclass Southern family when he

encountered “Abbo,” English Professor Abbott Cotton Martin. Abbo

spent considerable hours poking holes in everything Charles took

for granted, from football to religion, with some English

literature thrown in for good measure. This was Abbo’s stock-in-

trade.

Abbo taught Charles to thoroughly question and examine what he

thought he knew, as well as his beliefs. But Abbo didn’t just

throw students in the water of quandaries, he made himself

25

available to talk all during the week, not just during Sunday

office hours. Charles learned to “check his premises” through

Abbo’s prodding as well as reading Ayn Rand. The other wonderful

teachers at Sewanee helped too. They inspired him to demand more

of himself, leading to a long, creatively productive, exciting

life.

This included deeply influencing many, many people, including

Jaroslav Romanchuk, a major figure in the opposition to Belarus’

authoritarian government.

Active Listening and Independent Judgment

“Be “careful not to ask [your] questions of the [students]. Only when [students] seek to

answer questions which they themselves ask, do they commit themselves to the hard

work of finding answers that are meaningful to them…give only as much guidance and

encouragement as is necessary to elicit the [students’] interest.” Maria Montessori

Inspiration is the fundamental mission of the teacher, because of

motivations’ deep importance to learning. Active Listening is a

powerful teaching tool which promotes an inspiring relationship

between teacher and student. For one thing, Active Listening

conveys deep respect for the individual’s independence in thought

and value.

Active Listening is a key skill enabling

teachers to nurture independent judgment. The

26

Active Listener authentically tries to understand what the other

person means, empathizing with the other’s point of view by

working hard to grasp his or her full context. This means trying

to understand the other person’s level of knowledge about a

subject, their age, what emotional issues may be affecting their

thinking, and the set of ideas they are using to grasp the

subject.

Active listening promotes the spread of truth. Only by Active

Listening do we end up having a full idea of what the other

person means and thereby gain the opportunity to respond with

appropriate facts and reasoning.

Used in teaching, this means the Active Listener asks clarifying

questions about the student’s terms, respectfully allowing the

student time to finish what he or she is saying before responding

and, importantly, conveying an attitude of alert interest in what

the student says.

The Active Listener must try to leave aside any personal feelings

about the subject and squash the desire to assert and forcefully

drive home the rightness of his or her own opinion. These actions

only serve to distract a student from deep thinking and learning

by bringing in issues of social hierarchy, personal power, and

self-worth (i.e., do I know enough, what does the teacher think

of me, he’s got more status than I, I should listen to him).

These issues elicit powerful, distracting emotions.

27

Further, the Active Listener tries to sense any motives in the

student’s statements beyond the informational. For example, if a

student in a class on Freud asks “What if a son is extremely fond

and affectionate toward his mother—does that mean he has an

Oedipus complex?” The teacher needs to be aware that the

student’s study of Freud may have caused him to feel anxiety

about his love for his mother. The teacher needs to respond with

gentleness, general reassurance, and kindness.

Independent judgment is the well-spring of real choice, and good

discussions nurture true individuality and judgment..

Unfortunately these days, teachers sometimes find it difficult to

conduct good discussions because students have been led to

believe all opinions are equal in value and everyone should open

their mouths to babble whatever they wish, no matter how

inaccurate or trivial. Resulting from the reign of the Post

Modernist attack on objectivity, this belief cripples students’

minds by encouraging them to think that any opinion is

acceptable, regardless of foundation, as long as it is theirs.

While stoking their egos by making them feel whatever they think

is important, this practice stops them from learning that true,

valuable opinion must be grounded in facts and good reasoning.

Postmodernist ideology further deforms a student’s concept of

self by equating diversity with group membership. In the Post

Modernist schema, one’s diversity depends on race or ethnic

background or sexual preference rather than considered,

28

ideological judgment. It promotes a collectivist concept of

tribal or social diversity rather than true ideological

difference.

In contrast, Active Listening in the classroom conveys a deep

respect for the independence of the other person’s mind: the

Active Listener takes the student’s ideological point of view

seriously and tries to respond to it carefully. The aim of Active

Listening is full understanding of what the other is saying in

the service of arriving at truth. Just imagine the kind of

productive political discussions we all might have if we used

these principles!

Some people have a rare, natural ability or tendency to listen

like this, but since it can be learned, there’s hope for the rest

of us. It is also typical of the Montessori teacher, because of

his or her deep training in careful observation of students.

For university students, we can bring together all the elements

I’ve discussed through a special way of crafting curriculum by a

special methodology which the teachers can use.

Tag: science, philosophy

University Education As It Might Be and Ought To Be

29

By Marsha Familaro Enright

Part IV Socratic Practice: A Methodology That Serves Young

Adult Needs

“It is a sign of crudity and indigestion to throw up what we have eaten in the same

condition it was swallowed down; and the stomach has not performed its office, if it has

not altered the figure and shape of what was committed to it for concoction…Let the

tutor make his pupil thoroughly sift everything he reads, and lodge nothing in his fancy

upon mere authority…To the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and

bend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his

judgment. His education, labor,and study aim only at forming that.” Michael

Montaigne

Socratic Practice is a formidable discussion methodology that,

when used properly, incorporates Active Listening at its best and

nurtures reasoning skills and independence powerfully. Classrooms

using Socratic Practice are active learning environments,

intellectually, socially, and physically engaging. By encouraging

the learners to ask their own questions of what they are

studying, the motivating power of individual interest is

harnessed. Furthermore, because they are so engaging, Socratic

Practice discussions don’t tax attentional resources, making

learning much easier and enjoyable; students often get into a

Flow state, forgetting how much time is passing because they are

engaged.

30

I am referring to a very specific, carefully crafted methodology

of teaching, which I will describe shortly. Some of you may have

been to classes called Socratic Seminars which are quite

different from what I mean. In these, a teacher might ask a

question like “What is justice?” and then proceed to tell

students they’re wrong when they give an answer the teacher

doesn’t want. Well, that’s wrong; Socratic questioning is meant

to develop the student’s ability to think about a subject, not to

test them and catch them when they are wrong or call them on the

carpet for the right answer.

Teachers looking for the right answer encourage students to focus

on pleasing the teacher, not on thinking for himself or herself.

But the truly excellent teacher aims at helping students learn

how to find the right answer themselves.

Students often view school as the place to feed back the answer

the teacher wants to hear, not learn new knowledge in order to

figure out the truth with their own powers. Teachers skillfully

using Socratic Practice often have to spend time rehabilitating

students after a lifetime of being told what to learn, what is

the “right” answer—or that any answer is right, with no standard

of truth.

Consequently, in the beginning of a program using Socratic

Practice, the teacher (often called “tutor,” i.e. guide to

learning) must work especially hard to shape the learning

environment. Just as in any Montessori school, the prepared

31

environment is a key to success in developing the thriving,

independent-minded learner.

For the college level, these are the conditions that foster good

discussion and develop excellent reasoning and social skills, as

well as a strong sense of autonomy:

Physically, the environment must be quiet. All participants are

required to respect the appointed time of discussion, with no

phone calls, text messages, etc. They sit in a circle facing each

other. Attention must be on the discussion, and all participants

are expected to have read the assigned text.

Psychologically, the tutor shapes the environment by many

principles. He or she requires a formal politeness among

discussants, to encourage rational, civil discourse. Sometimes

participants must address each other by title and last name

(e.g., Ms. Smith and Mr. Murphy).

The tutor picks a text or work that has rich meaning and is well-

made. It is most often a text but can be other things such as a

painting, sculpture, building, or experiment. The Great Books

classics are often used because they embody “The best that has

been thought and said” and because they powerfully combine ideas

and knowledge from multiple domains, aiding the work of

integration. The right piece elicits many interesting thoughts

and questions in the participants’ minds. This becomes the meat

to explore in the discussion. The goal of the discussion is to

32

reason together about the material, in order for each person to

arrive at his or her own, independent judgment about the piece

and the ideas and values discussed. Participants think together

to think independently. The tutor guides the discussion by

evidence-based rules as follows:

a. Ask questions of the text and each other.

b. Cite the text to give evidence for your ideas and

interpretations.

c. Try to make connections between the ideas in the text and

what other participants say, and your life.

d. Each person takes responsibility for his or her own learning

and for the quality of the conversation; if you would like

to change the direction of a discussion, please feel free to

ask the other participants if they are okay with that; then

if they are, proceed.

e. Treat the other participants respectfully.

f. References to material outside of the text must be cogently

linked to the text and discussion at hand, and explained in

general principle, comprehensible to general reasoning.

References dependent on knowledge not available to every

participant are not considered cogent to the discussion.

g. Be concise.

h. In the discussion, reason is the only authority. This means

no person is the authority on the text, but each must use

logic and facts to support their opinions.

33

Unless a student starts the discussion, the tutor leads off with

a thoughtful question about the reading—or often a factual

question if the material is mathematical or scientific. The tutor

always finds a question to which he or she genuinely wants to

know the answer. This initiates a real inquiry. Students

recognize leading questions requiring prescribed answers—which

cuts off the student’s own thinking.

Learning to reason objectively about complex material requires

the willingness to entertain possibly incorrect ideas in order to

examine them fully, to measure them against the facts, and to

analyze their rational foundation.

The tutor skillfully encourages questions and comments evincing

an earnest search for truth, while discouraging or disallowing

talk in which the student is proving his knowledge or

disingenuous agreement with the tutor.

For example, during a seminar on Aristotle’s Politics, the tutor

might deflect a student who says “Richard McKeon says that

Aristotle’s politics…” from lecturing about these details by a

question such as “What does Aristotle say that makes you think

that is true?” The tutor aims to bring the discussion back to the

facts of the text studied, plus the student’s own experience and

reasoning. In order for the discussion to be excellent, all

participants should be able to judge the facts discussed for

themselves, firsthand. If a participant brings up a lot of facts

and claims he alone knows, how can anyone else examine those

34

claims firsthand? Instead, the tutor encourages observations of

the facts, generalizations closely derived from the facts, and

conclusions reasoned from the facts of the work the entire class

is studying together. Any outside material must be explained in

general terms, understandable to general reasoning.

The tutor must walk a fine line, skillfully encouraging excellent

reasoning while being careful not to discourage students from

talking because they might have errors in their arguments. If a

student is too fearful of looking foolish or feeling humiliated

when caught in an error, he or she won’t explore complex ideas

thoroughly enough to find out if they are true.

To help students be more consciously aware of how to reason well,

both inductively (e.g., how to make an accurate generalization)

and deductively (e.g., how to derive a conclusion from already-

given facts and ideas) the tutor gives students extra, explicit

instruction in reasoning skills and logic. Sessions on logical

fallacies especially valuable in sharpening students’ awareness

of reasoning’s pitfalls.

When Socratic Practice is implemented well, the group engages in

excellent objective reasoning, learning from each other because

each person brings their understanding and thoughtful

interpretation of what the text and its implications mean. The

tutor doesn’t aim at a “right interpretation,” yet it is common

to see well-functioning groups reasoning together arrive at solid

conclusions, conclusions an expert would reach, about the meaning

35

of very difficult texts, whether Plato’s Meno, Einstein’s

Relativity, or Mises’ Human Action.

An excellent seminar leader asks intriguing, deep questions

respectfully, keeps discussion on important topics but lets

students diverge from the set topic if it means exploring

something important and meaningful to them. Clearly, much art and

judgment is involved, which is why extensive training is

necessary.

To be a good listener, a teacher must be a careful observer. As a

scientist, Maria Montessori, incorporated the scientific method

into her teacher-training program. She urged her teachers to

spend time every day sitting back and watching the students work,

interact with each other and deal with problems. In this way,

teachers learn a great deal about each student, their interests,

abilities and difficulties, thus enabling the teacher to guide

him or her well. Observe, empathize, respect—these are the basics

of good teaching.

The only way teachers can learn these methods is by intensive

questioning and self-reflective experience. Guidance by mentors

with great knowledge and skill, plus plenty of experience, helps.

Such training should be a key component of every teacher’s

education—yet few university professors get any training in

teaching at all. Good professors know their area of expertise,

from philosophy to physics. But whether they know the subject of

human learning and development is idiosyncratic.

36

The evidence that the methods of Socratic Practice, consistently

applied, increases cognitive skills is strong. Our advisor,

Michael Strong, extensively discusses these methods in The Habit

of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice.

Strong established remarkable programs in four high schools

around the country. He measured program outcomes with the Watson-

Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, a cognitive skills test

correlated with performance on intelligence tests and college

entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT. Administering this

instrument before, during and after a year at school, he found

cognitive skill gains ranging, for example, from 30% to 84%. The

mean score of one school’s 9th grade group moved from below the

national 9th grade mean to above the 12th grade mean in one year,

while one inner city student who scored at the 1st percentile on

the initial test, scored at the 85th percentile by the end of four

months. While more work is needed to fully validate his results,

they were consistent from school to school. Any teacher would be

proud to so deeply help students learn to think well.

Professor John Tomasi implemented this method in his hugely

successful special program, The Political Theory Project at Brown

University. He says: “Kids are sick and tired of being told what

to think. They want to make up their own minds. They want to be

challenged.” The kind of work done through Socratic Practice

discussions of the Great Books does exactly that.

37

Scott Buchanan, architect of the Great Books program at St.

John’s College, voiced the ultimate goal: “Have you allowed

adverse evidence to pile up and force you to conclude that you

are not mathematical, not linguistic, not poetic, not scientific,

not philosophical? If you have allowed this to happen, you have

arbitrarily imposed limits on your intellectual freedom, and you

have smothered the fires from which all other freedoms arise.”

The Delicacy of the Young Spirit

Achievement and success require the vision of the possible and

the ability to weather the actual.

To navigate the stormy waters of life, the difficulties, the

disappointments, the setbacks and the failures, students need

cognitive skills and plenty of encouragement and emotional fuel.

They need great examples of other human beings who have

successfully dealt with many difficulties.

As the scientific findings of Positive Psychology have recently

identified, knowledge and cognitive skills integrate with

emotional habits and character traits. Healthy, successful, happy

people tend to have cognitive habits that deeply influence their

emotional tone in a positive direction.

Models are particularly important as they provide concrete

experience and A higher education program should always include

instruction about human achievement and what makes it possible,

38

both existentially and psychologically. Further, the teachers

should implement his or her best attributes:

commitment to clearly knowing what he or she knows and

doesn’t know (the first step on the path of objectivity);

passion for learning new material and integrating it with

other knowledge;

commitment to modeling the highest virtues of the free

person, including honesty, responsibility and respect for

the rights of others;

commitment to the restless pursuit of personal improvement

and growth;

willingness to submit to careful investigation and

evaluation in order to improve.

Through embodying these virtues, the teachers inspire students to

the highest ends of the free man and woman.

To prepare a young person for life as a free, autonomous

individual, capable of making his or her own choices and putting

them into action, an excellent curriculum should endeavor to

educate the student in the full range of ideas, history, and

knowledge. This means using the works of the Classics as well as

modern science, and significant modern works, which should

include the usually neglected works of the liberty movement. The

curriculum should include the study of philosophy as the basis of

all knowledge and self-understanding, but also take into

consideration findings in scientific psychology and neuroscience.

39

And the teachers and other staff should be available to help

students in many aspects of their lives.

This way, students come away from their education armed with

inspiring and invigorating knowledge, skills, experiences, and

habits that help them achieve their goals.

Published at TheSavvyStreet.com, Spring 2015,

http://www.thesavvystreet.com/university-education-as-it-might-

be-and-ought-to-be/

40