We all (all being everyone in this philosophy class) know (or should know by now) that Socrates is the most historically famous gadfly. He was an extremely critical man, and questioned any presumption that he encountered. His questionings and pestering, while bothersome, prompted his targets to engague in self-reflection. This method, in my opinion, taught people more things about life than any lecture ever did.
On this topic of teaching, I have been lucky to have had some teachers myself whose methods have closely resembled Socrates'. Like this ancient philosopher, they accepted the fact that they were not all-knowing beings, and that they 1) had the ability to be wrong sometimes, and 2) could quite plausibly learn from their own students. While not necessarily teachers of traditional science, they were scientists in the manner that they did not accept social presumptions, but instead took it upon themselves to examine them and come to some sort of reliable conclusion based on many factors.
To take things a step further, they made me do these things too. A specific example of this examination took place in a math class. My teacher, Mr. X, would not let me use mathematical concepts and properties unless I had proven them first. Once I could present a proof of the theory, I could then use it to solve problems and prove other theories.
These select teachers challenged me. They bothered me. They made me reach conclusions on my own instead of just throwing information in my face. They prompted questioning and examination. They are the modern gadflies.
Clever. Mr. X- math class.
ReplyDeleteI agree that educators ideally should serve this role in society. At the moment they are pushed and pulled toward the standardization of thought and curriculum. A movement that generally doesn't celebrate divergent, critical thought. I am happy to hear that your education still contains hints of self-discovery, argument, and questioning.
I like your example. Teachers are here to question our knowledge and ideals. When we come into class, they are ready to ask us a bunch of questions about why we got the answer we got and why we think it is correct. This makes us question our work and how we came to an answer. I find this to be especially true in English classes. Since texts we read in class and questions we answer are largely up for interpretation, there are a variety of answers we can get. Talking to our peers and teachers make us think about and defend or even change our ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree that school is place of modern gadflies. Not only in the actions of teachers, but also in the guidance that students give to each other concerning education, social behaviors, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some teachers are modern gadflies and express themselves differently. This is interesting considering that school is made to teach students the right way of doing things; Some teachers question if what's supposed to be taught to there students.
ReplyDeleteI had not really considered teachers as gadfly's because I was really in the mindset that a gadfly was one who asked questions about life's larger pictures and issues, but I think I had the wrong idea of what a gadfly was. I never considered one to assist in smaller issues like math problems, so that's cool.
ReplyDelete