Part 1 Focuses on the classical model and walks the reader through what a classical education is. However, Leigh goes deeper into the dialectic stage than she did in her preceding book, The Core.
"Dialectic-age students naturally debate the merits of anything. So, the classical model complements and exercises their natural tendencies to "talk back" by teaching young teenager to argue effectively by using formal logic. It takes a wise parent to trust that it is appropriate to teach her young child to argue well, to ask questions, to make new comparisons, to examine true relationships, and to discover false premises. " (page 11)
Aaack!!!! Am I REALLY going to be teaching my children HOW to argue with me? What kind of craziness is this? YES. Yes I am. I will be teaching them how to think through, question, compare, and examine their thoughts, beliefs, ideas, etc. The scary part (well, it's all scary) is that I don't know how to do this myself! I need to learn too.
"Excellence in any realm of study requires perseverance, sweat, wrestling, time, tears, and just plain labor over the fundamentals."(page 14).
Yes....this is something I want my children to learn, but I've done a poor job at teaching them. Often time, our world attempts to make things easier, when it is through great struggle that great victories are made.
"I'm sorry. My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions."
-Hologram of Dr. Algred Lanning, I, Robot (2004)
Pages 24 & 25 are completely marked up in my book. They are chalk full of wisdom.
"One of the hardest things about being a parent or teacher is believing (to the point of acting on your belief) that truth will stand up to scrutiny. Too often, we associate critical thinking with criticism or even cynicism, something that always tears down and never builds up. That's not true logic."
The key to learning critical thinking it to learn how to ask the right questions. How to discuss these issues and topics. The problem is....I was never taught to ask the right questions. I never learned how to engage in deep conversation. I have no idea how to spot a fallacy.
However, I can still learn...and I will. In fact, Leigh encourages me in this. "When you are new to dialectic studies, your primary goal should be to learn how to ask good questions. Down the road...you can being to encourage your student to develop his own questions to ask them without your prompting....the art of asking questions takes time, and you should expect to face resistance until your child learns that finding answers to his many questions will take time and patience but is nonetheless possible." (page 24)
I have seen this working out this year with my second year Essentials student. Like her mom, she does not like to be questioned, because obviously being questioned either means (a) you are wrong, or (b) the other person asking the questions thinks your are an idiot. Neither is true in a classical education, and that is a preconceived notion I have to break in myself and in her. Although it has often been awkward, I have worked to help her by asking questions and making her answer them in hopes that those questions will help her to see that she is actually learning through them. I'm not sure that we have hit that understanding yet. But, we will keep working on it.
As I pondered the above statements, I wondered to myself, "How? How do you do this and keep your sanity through the teen years?" Leigh answered that for me when she stated, "While both parents and children should learn how to argue effectively, they must also learn how to do gently and considerately." Whew....that's going to be a tough one. She goes on to say, "In order to successfully master the dialectic, parents and children must work to set aside defensive attitudes. As teacher and student, they must first build a relationship based on trust and respect."
Yes again! This has been my heart's desire for the past 18 months...somehow, I must be headed in the right direction. Although I fail daily, I am working toward building that relationship with my oldest, and my second daughter as well. We must trust and respect one another. We need to know that each is expecting and offering the best of one another. Relationships. Relationships are where it is at!
Another tough one to swallow for me is this, "Your task is not to have all the answers; rather, it is to engage your child in dialogue honestly confronting their questions, and at the same time learn how to model the type of question you want them to be able to ask on their own." Um, excuse me Mrs. Bortins but, I like to be right. I want to have all the answer, and when I don't, I tend to disengage. What do you mean I have to stay engaged even if I don't have the answers. Oh, and by the way....just because I have the answers, doesn't mean I should just say it and expect my kids to believe it. I will have to learn how to keep silent and allow them to seek, ask, question, etc.
Near the end of this section, Leigh begins to point us toward the Rhetoric stage and encourages us from the words of Dorothy Sayers, "Towards the close of this stage, the pupils will probably be beginning to discover for themselves that their knowledge and experience are insufficient and that their trained intelligence need a great deal more material to chew upon."
In other words- hang in there through the "Pert" stage where teens naturally question. If I have "taught him how to ask the essential questions and that it was productive to ask them." then we will survive. In fact, those "questions are designed to weed out falsehood and cultivate right thinking so that we can share its fruits with those around us. This is the promise that hovers at the beginning of the rhetoric stage."
The beginning of The Question has stretched me, my thoughts, and my hopes for the next few years. However, it has also brought encouragement and hope. We need to bathe the next 10 years in prayer. My prayer is that Lord would continue to reveal himself through his Word to my children as they questions, struggle, and grasp for what is truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment