The Socratic Method

Today was my second day of class. I had planned on starting this blog yesterday, but like Miss Scarlett O'hara repeatedly said in her Southern belle accent, I said to myself "I'll think about that tomorrow." (No accent, nor a corset.) Today is now that tomorrow, and like procrastination, ignorance can be outright devastating to an individual, particularly as time goes by and nothing gets done and nothing is learned and history repeats itself.

Ignorance is therefore humanity's greatest crime.

The dictionary is my best friend in times of doubt (What's that word that Ayn Rand keeps using...oh yes.) Well, my computer's dictionary defines ignorance as "lack of knowledge or information." The succinct definition is accurate, however it feels as though something may be missing. I would add that to be ignorant is to maintain a certain level of misinformation, again, sometimes without knowledge of this non-petty crime and sometimes willingly.

I guess ignorance is tailored to the individual, because all of us ARE ignorant of one thing or another. Certainly, there are different degrees of ignorance as well as the possibility that some people choose to be ignorant while others are born ignorant and will die ignorant because of the life they were born into. Ignorance is (like) a lifestyle...

So going back to class today, one professor didn't sugarcoat it. He announced to his class of 100ish students that if he ever called on a student to answer a question about the readings due for that day and that student didn't know the answer, he would kick them out without hesitation. I don't blame him. When he asked the class the definition of the Socratic method only one young man was able to meet his expectations of a decent answer. Most of those who raised there hands to impress their neighbors or to repress a fear of public speaking realized instantly that they, in fact, had no idea why they had raised their hands in the first place. I kept mine down, not too proudly.

So, what is the Socratic method? well...you can find the answer all over the web. You'll probably start with Wikipedia, like I did and move on to the next links provided by Google.

What I learned is that the socratic method is a way of reassessing what you think you know. It's asking "why?" And, the answer simply cannot be "because yes." Socrates proposed a manner of thinking that led to questioning one's ability to learn and to answer questions that have no one right answer. It's too easy nowadays to memorize something without truly understanding it...with multiple choice and the proliferation of students copying, "why?" is akin to "who cares." Well, you should care because the more you understand something, the smaller the chances are you'll forget it. So, because I once pledged to cure the disease of ignorance ( I kid you not, it has been on my resolutions list for years), I will pledge to rid myself of my own ignorance, blog post by blog post.

How, you ask? Well, every day I will post what I learned in my classes, or from conversations with friends and family, or just anything that makes me less and less ignorant. Today, the Socratic method, tomorrow...I'll think about that tomorrow.