Students

in Writing 5 class February 6th, 2012 1st Writing Assignment

Summary of What True Education Should Do In What True Education Should Do, Sydney J. Harris, a writer for major

newspapers in Chicago, defines what he thinks is true education. First he says there are two viewpoints of educationstuffing information into students OR eliciting information from students. Socrates defined true education as not stuffing knowledge into pupils, but drawing it out and Harris seems to agree with this viewpoint and quotes two famous educators who say that education is what is inside a person, but needs to be discovered. He then tells how Socrates amazed his observers by taking an ignorant boy and drawing out the principles of geometry that were just waiting to be called out from the boys mind. Therefore, he argues that all of the discussion and arguments regarding the content of education turn out not to be effective because they are based on stuffing knowledge into students instead of taking it out. To prove this he cites an example of a student who studies so much trivial information that he has no time to reflect on his own resources and knowledge regarding the information. He concludes that true education has to use rules of reason hidden in every human being, so the person is able to sift evidence and draw conclusions.