Deck 1: Learning

Question 1

Do you think it is possible to achieve the ideal kind of knowledge that Plato describes? Why or why not?

Answer 1

It is certainly possible to attain the type of knowledge which, when first heard is completely antithetical to all that one has known, and yet come to accept it. Various discoveries in physics have been like this, where everyone except the discoverer are disbelievers and simply feel that the discoverer is warped or misguided--the wave-particle duality, the Copernican conception of the universe. This seems to be very much like the knowledge Plato is idealizing. On the other hand, Plato is also talking about knowledge of the Forms, knowledge that comes by abstracting away from the senses and recollecting Ideas that are not of this world.

Question 2

Krishnamurti says that appreciating life requires us to be in constant revolt. Why does he think this? (List several reasons.) Do you agree? Why or why not?

Answer 2

thinks that we should be in constant revolt because the imitative and conformity based established social order implies an atmosphere for fear - fear of difference, fear of loss of power or position, fear of the truth. To live in freedom means a lack of this fear. So to revolt against the "rotten social order" would tend to produce more discovery of truth, and so more freedom. Some might agree. If education is currently a means to create an order-an order which keeps certain people in power at the expense of the freedom and discovery of truth of all-then we ought to bring an end to that order, by questioning and by learning in the real sense of learning. All of this is in the service of human love and better human relationships. Some might disagree: constant revolt would produce chaos and with chaos there would be even more fear.

Question 3

This passage is an allegory because things within it are metaphors for other things. What interpretation(s) can you give to the allegory of the cave? How would you justify your interpretation(s)?

Answer 3

not answered

Question 4

What does Plato say would be the probable first reaction of someone freed from the cave and shown the light?

A) Joy
B) Pain and confusion
C) Understanding
D) Knowledge

Question 5

The person who leaves the cave has a transformation that changes that person's relationships with other people. What other examples can you think of where an educational experience changes a person's relationships with others?

Question 6

Krishnamurti says that life is complex and broad, but we usually only learn about one small corner of it.

Question 7

Education is putting knowledge into those who lack it.

Question 8

How would Krishnamurti respond to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" (Reading 1)? Do you think he would agree with Plato? Why or why not?

Question 9

According to Krishnamurti, we must create an atmosphere of __________.

A) Open-mindedness
B) Political liberalism
C) Freedom
D) Segregation

Question 10

In the allegory of the cave the __________ represents the visible world.

A) The forms
B) The form of the good
C) The prison dwelling
D) The sun

Question 11

Foucault argues that we cannot exercise power except through the production of truth.

Question 12

Are there any points on which you agree with Krishnamurti? If not, why not? If so, do you think that he would challenge you to make changes in your life? What are they? Would you make them?

Question 13

Krishnamurti thinks that we should __________.

A) Accept and maintain the status quo
B) Search for our own answers to questions
C) Align ourselves with power
D) Accept the inherent nihilism of humanity

Question 14

Do you think that Krishnamurti is right to characterize this would as mad and full of fear? What do you think he has in mind? Do you agree or disagree with his assessment? Why or why not?

Question 15

Krishnamurti equates intelligence with the capacity to think freely, without fear.

Question 16

Which of the following does Plato say is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful?

A) The forms
B) The form of the good
C) The philosopher
D) The sun

Question 17

Foucault argues that truth is an objective notion, like a unit of measure in the metric system.

Question 18

One purpose of education for Krishnamurti is to __________.

A) Become a productive, tax-paying citizen
B) Eliminate fear
C) Maintain power
D) Attain wealth

Question 19

Krishnamurti talks about creating an atmosphere without fear. Describe in concrete detail what a typical day would be like for someone who lived in that atmosphere.

Question 20

According to Plato, the virtue of reason is always beneficial.

Question 21

If you read the Plato selection (Reading 1), you have (briefly) engaged in the kind of liberal learning that Oakeshott describes. Did it have the effect that Oakeshott hopes for?

Question 22

Would Krishnamurti and Oakeshott agree in their views of what life is?

Question 23

In what sense does Oakeshott use the term "liberal"?

A) Politically left wing
B) Having a lot of something
C) Being liberated from something
D) Happening in a democracy

Question 24

To what extent do you think that institutions, traditions, culture, society, government, and so on, shape and control us and our conceptions of morality? Explain your answer with details from your own experience.

Question 25

On Hook's view, creativity is the primary element allowing the possibility of change.

Question 26

Because things now are so much more uniform, we should recognize and promote this uniformity by socializing students in our schools.

Question 27

Foucault speaks of two levels of power in order to emphasize one over the other. Describe these two levels and provide examples of what you think Foucault might have in mind.

Question 28

Do you think that Foucault would agree with Plato (Reading 1) about truth? Whose view do you think is most applicable to what you see in society?

Question 29

Contrast Krishnamurti and Oakeshott on the importance of understanding and becoming a part of contemporary culture?

Question 30

How do you think that Oakeshott would characterize a technical or career-focused education? Does his view disregard the economic reasons people might seek education? Is it elitist?

Question 31

For Oakeshott, what is the relationship between a culture and the individual within it? How does education influence this relationship? How does Oakeshott's view differ from Krishnamurti's (Reading 2)? Whose view do you agree with more? Why?

Question 32

Oakeshott says one role of education is to free us from the boundaries of our specific time and place.

Question 33

For Oakeshott, being human is a __________.

A) A process
B) An adventure
C) A set course
D) A skill

Question 34

Foucault says that the problem of the intellectual is to __________.

A) Separate truth from power
B) Discover the truth
C) Detach truth from hegemonic systems of power
D) Gain power over non-intellectuals

Question 35

Do you think that Oakeshott would characterize your college education as an "adventure in human understanding"? To what extent? Why? Support your answers by citing specific things that Oakeshott says in the reading.

Question 36

What pressures do you experience that work against participation in the conversation of liberal learning, as Oakeshott describes it?

Question 37

The university is a place sheltered from the circumstances around us where we can learn excellence.

Question 38

Which of the following is a key concept for Foucault?

A) Discourse
B) Tragedy
C) Privacy
D) Diplomacy

Question 39

In the second paragraph, Foucault says, "We are subjected to the production of truth through power and we cannot exercise power except through the production of truth." Explain what you think he mans by that statement: to what contemporary examples do you think his statement could apply?

Question 40

In what terms should we think of the political problems of intellectuals?

A) Truth and Falsity
B) Right and Wrong
C) Truth and Power
D) Science and Ideology

Question 41

We are all models for the education of others, according to Snyder's poem.

Question 42

Why does Hooks see engaged pedagogy as a form of political activism? Support your answer by citing specific things that she says in the reading. Do you think that this kind of political activism is appropriate? To what extent is political activism appropriate in the classroom? For example, what if a professor had a deeply held belief that she could support with good reasons and solid data that showed that women students are better able to engage in critical thinking in a women-only classroom, and she therefore limited enrollment to women? Or what about a professor who gives students lower grades if their work reflects disagreement with his political positions but argues that this is justified because those students haven't fully grasped the facts?

Question 43

What do you think the person could be saying about the relationship between culture and the individual? Does it add a new dimension to what any of the other authors have said in this chapter?

Question 44

Hooks argues that educators should use the "banking system."

Question 45

What is the method of education Hooks says the establishment is so invested in?

A) Engaged pedagogy
B) Whole language
C) Montessori
D) The banking system

Question 46

If a student and professor were both to approach a course from the perspective of engaged learning, what attitudes and questions do you think that each would have to bring to the conversation? Would they have to agree in their political positions?

Question 47

Line 21 begins "And he sees." What do you think the narrator is saying that Kai sees?

Question 48

For Hooks, engaged pedagogy can lead to a student being deeply challenged, unsettled, and changed. Do you agree that this is a goal of a college course? Have you ever had such an experience? If so, what were the conditions that made it possible? Did everyone involved strive to be neutral? Open-minded? Thinking critically? Is neutrality or objectivity a worthwhile goal in the classroom? To what extent? Why?

Question 49

What is the connection between the narrator's shaping of the hatchet and the educating of his son? Does your answer resonate with any of the other readings from this chapter? How?

Question 50

What does Hooks identify as the primary characteristic necessary for change to happen?

A) Open-mindedness
B) Freedom
C) Intelligence
D) Critical thinking

Question 51

The handle in Snyder's poem is symbolic of

A) The father
B) The son
C) Education
D) Literature

Question 52

What kind of teaching method is Hooks devoted to?

A) Socratic method
B) Engaged pedagogy
C) Chicago school method
D) Rote memorization