THE ART OF RESPONSIBLE CONVERSATION Author(s): Theodore M. Greene Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of General Education, Vol.

8, No. 1 (October 1954), pp. 34-50 Published by: Penn State University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27795452 . Accessed: 15/02/2012 01:17
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THE ART OF RESPONSIBLE CONVERSATION

Theodore M. Greene*
jLhere is, i believe, no type of instruc tion more effective in a liberal arts pro for gram than the discussion method some of the most valuable ob achieving jectives of liberal education. This method may also have its uses in technical and vocational programs; it is certainly used to in effect graduate instruction. i good shall restrict myself entirely, however, to its use in the context of liberal education, level but also, chiefly at the college mutatis mutandis, at the high-school level of instruction. The most useful approach will, i think, be the functional that is, in approach, terms of the question "What are the chief functions, or purposes, of the discussion method?" This question immediately raises the wider question, "What is the proper function, or goal, of liberal edu cation as a whole?" To indicate the context of my larger exploration of the discussion method, i ought, therefore, to indicate as briefly as possible my own conception of the basic skills and main objectives of liberal education. i shall try to do so by summarizing what i have said, orally and in writing, on many
occasions in recent years. i. orientation

four priate focus and emphasis. The "skills" are: ? Both 1. terms Logical-linguistic. should be taken very inclusively, "logi cal" to signify the ability to think clearly on any subject in any linguistic medium, and "linguistic" to signify all the main or vehicles of hu of types "languages" man reflection, expression, and commu nication. So conceived, "logical" think ing includes all clear thinking, whether or values, whether ab regarding facts or in art or stractly concretely, whether or economics, science, religion, politics or "lan The mathematics, "pure" logic. in question include mathemati guages" cal symbols, the technical languages of science, literary expression, the expres sive languages of the fine arts, etc., as as our and well foreign languages uses. I in its mother-tongue everyday two skills because it seems couple these clear that they imply one another. is "Logical" competence impossible with out considerable correctness "linguistic" and felicity, and "linguistic" competence is impossible without "logical" clarity. to these skills are acquired Moreover, learn to think gether, not separately. We clearly by expressing ourselves clearly
and vice versa.

liberal education should, i believe, our to young people to acquire, try help so far as possible, four great complemen tary "skills." i refer to them as "skills" because they are more basic than any of the traditional "disci subject-matter each of these indeed, plines"; disciplines is the discipline it should be only as it makes use of all four skills with appro
* Yale Mr. Greene is Professor of Philosophy at

2. Factual.?This is the ability to ob serve to collect evidence, and accurately, to interpret it correctly and objectively. The "factual" skill also involves a pro found respect for "facts" and "factual in every area of human in knowledge" and activity. belief, quiry, 3. Normative? This is the to ability respond sensitively and maturely to all types of value situations, moral and aes thetic, social and personal, secular and

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can be skills and disciplines which religious. It involves imaginative and just all of kinds of that cultivated is, "taught," apprehension objective by suitable formal training, but that the even more values and their responsible evaluation. basic values which these skills and disci 4. Synoptic? This is the ability to tran to promote can be and to plines are designed scend all types of provincialism see ourselves and our total environment student the acquired by only indirectly, exam in as wide and inclusive a perspective as that is, by a kind of osmosis?for to use a hack is It the the enthusiasm, ability, ple, by contagious by possible. see life overtones and neyed but still useful phrase, to implications of "formal" a student instruction. I can "teach" steadily and whole. One can give a preliminary account of mathematical procedures; but can I simi in the objectives of liberal education larly "teach" him delight inmathematical terms of these skills by saying that a per precision and ingenuity? I can "teach" son is in proportion as him the structure of the sonnet and the liberally educated he is able to think clearly in many con sonata form; but can I, in the same texts and with the aid of several dif sense, "teach" him to enjoy or write real in proportion ferent kinds of language; poetry, appreciate or compose real mu as he is in many di informed sic? I can "teach" him the facts and factually verse areas, fresh for factual methods of science, or of history, or of equipped in and of the social facts; sciences; but can I, by the exploration, respectful as he is sensitive and re same arouse in him true proportion techniques, in his aesthetic, moral, social, scientific curiosity or historical imagina sponsible and religious responses and evaluations; tion or genuine social concern? I can as he has "teach" him philosophical and, finally, in proportion systems and the many transcended to learn a lot about religion; him provincialisms help and is able to but can I, same devices, instil in which bedevil mankind by the reflect and act m catholic perspective. him the spirit of philosophical specula It is clear that every major "discipline" tion or religious reverence? needs and should promote all these basic One further basic presupposition of all skills. It is also clear that each "disci valid liberal education must be men in one or tioned. It is the now widely pline" tends to be pre-eminent accepted more of them?for mathematics is truly effec conviction that education example, in the the natural tive only in proportion as the student not linguistic-logical skill; sciences in the factual; the arts and let only "acquires" the skills and disciplines ters, ethics, and the study of religion in which we have been discussing but puts the normative; history and philosophy in them to use, that his education has really the synoptic. "taken" only if he has learned to educate The value of these skills and disci himself and has achieved the motivation men and women in our demo plines to to continue his education after school cratic society and their essential role in and to use it in his daily life. However liberal education are too obvious to re some of our deplorable continuing peda or defense. It is impor quire exposition be, it is our may gogical procedures a to ask crucial tant, however, question, concern our students that can widespread namely, "What, strictly speaking, to and absorb be assimilate and cannot be taught in formal academic really helped the values the of of liberal edu instruction?" The process significance of this cation and be transformed them more be evident really by question will presently, into responsible citizens and happy, ma in our consideration of the discussion ture individuals. Hence the great impor method. My preliminary and too simple tance of any method of instruction best to in shall wish answer, which I modify a moment, is this: that it is to produce in them these re precisely the qualified

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suits?these "liberal" and liberating atti tudes, abilities, and beliefs. One last preliminary word regarding the firsthand teaching experiences from which I myself have learned whatever I I know about the discussion method. used thismethod extensively with groups of students at different levels many years of the Punjab, ago in the University India; then, for twenty-one years, con tinuously and intensively in Princeton, which is noted for its "preceptorial" a for method; then, year, in Leland Stan various small and ford, with larger for the last eight of and, students; groups years, here at Yale with students at both the under-class and levels. I upper-class have also used a limited variant of this method on dozens of college and univer sity campuses throughout the land for one or more one or more days, following on a lectures public variety of subjects. These, for what they are worth, are my the reader must "credentials," which assess for himself.
II. THE DISCUSSION METHOD

1. What is it??It can perhaps best be as a very flexible method described which falls somewhere between a free for-all "bull session" and a formal lecture. It is not a wandering, uncontrolled "talk fest," and it is not an uninterrupted lec a teacher, or a "recitation" class, ture by or even a rigorously controlled discussion dominated by the teacher. It is, ideally, a in cultured conversation participated by several (not necessarily all) members of a relatively small group (ideally six to a smaller or a eight, though considerably can a discussion larger group stage such with skilful guidance). stress the notion of conversa I would tion, conceived of not as a tandem mono or as a stubborn debate but as the logue tossing of the ball of conversation from one person to another in such a manner that (a) the topic or topics under dis cussion are illuminatingly explored, and of the topic or (b) the understanding

is topics on the part of each participant advanced. A really good conversation has many other beneficial effects for those who take part in it, and these must also be taken into account in any adequate nature and multi analysis of its complex ple efficacy. Some of these effects will, I as we hope, become evident proceed. are its 2. What prerequisites??The I am envisaging is kind of discussion or in as, when, possible only proportion certain very essential conditions are ful filled. a) Any such discussion, lasting from, say, half an hour to an hour or even, under rather rare circumstances, longer must, to be effective, revolve around either one central topic or several clearly it is almost related topics. Otherwise bound to degenerate into the random talk of much casual "social" conversation or a typical "bull session." b ) Such a discussion is impossible un less all, or most, of the participants have a reasonable preliminary grasp of this topic or these topics and some initial issues involved. opinion of the basic are condemned to si Otherwise, they lence, thus forcing the teacher to do all the talking, i.e., to give an unprepared lecture or, at best, to ask questions which can answer. If the teacher does only he ask questions, they will, of necessity, be met with admissions of (or evidence) or less or more with ignorance glib and red bluffing and other delaying at which young people herring tactics can become very stu adept. Experienced dent bluffers can easily stage a pseudo discussion with a lot of lively talk about some matters about which they do know are which related but only distantly thing to the topic at hand. This should, I be lieve, be avoided wherever possible, even in though such distracting tactics may to lead animated discussion advertently of really important topics, because, once as I again, the "discussion," envisage it, should be a real exercise in controlled attention to topics agreed upon in ad

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as am not de being germane. I "bull sessions." Students benefit ploring from it them, tremendously especially, may well be, when an older person is present and actively participates. But the best of such "bull sessions" still differ an ideal academic dis significantly from an established cussion in and lacking maintained focus. in c) This focus can be maintained, turn, only if (i) the students have really "done" their reading, that is, have really digested the reading assigned for the dis cussion in question, and ( ii ) if the teach er is skilful in holding them, by guidance rather than coercion, to a topic or topics in this reading. Both conditions call for a word of comment. discussion leader Any experienced knows that it is not enough for the stu dents in a discussion group merely to have read over the assigned reading. Such cursory reading is, of course, better than nothing, but it falls far short of the type of reading really called for. The reading must have been done intensively a real effort on the and critically, with student's part to grasp the fundamental assess it for himself, and "argument," to to note, in preparation for later ques tions and discussion, aspects of the read ing which still puzzle him and opinions or conclusions drawn with expressed or dis he which significantly agrees agrees. I have found in my own experi ence, both as student and as teacher, that such reading involves the careful under lining of important words, phrases, or passages, the noting of steps in an argu ment or successive points made by the author, and, above all, the notation in the margin of the book or elsewhere, in writing, of questions which arise in the reader's mind and of favorable and un favorable opinions which the reading arouses in his mind. Hence the great value, I could almost say the imperative need, of having students own the books which they can and should mark up. Mature scholars will testify that any vol

urne in their library, however battered, which they have thus marked up isworth more to them than a new un infinitely marked copy of the same book. The art?and it is a most difficult art? of guiding such a discussion, assuming that the reading has been done by at least most of the students in the group, consists in giving the students the chance to start the discussion with any aspect of the central topic of the day's reading, or with any one of the several central top as in ics, in their own way; eliciting, as possible, the subtly and unobtrusively initial reactions of other students to the or remark; in first question allowing, with a minimum of help ( as little as pos the topic sible, as much as necessary), thus started on to be explored from sev in out eral angles; drawing differing in re and beliefs reactions, opinions, sponse to the author and to the succes sive remarks of the various students; and, so far as or finally, possible, in guiding or on the discussion teasing nudging from the initial to the other germane that, at the conclusion of the topics?so discussion, the main aspects of the cen tral topic, or the several related topics, will all have been dealt with to some extent, in their relation to one another, and both factually and critically. I hasten to add that I am, throughout, trying to describe what I conceive to be an ideal discussion?an incredibly diffi feat which I, for one, cult pedagogical have never in my life pulled off to my entire satisfaction. Straight is lecturing a "reci and easier, infinitely conducting tation" is child's play in comparison with this challenge of trying to conduct a real I am ly successful discussion. prepared a to give myself, immodestly, high mark, say 95, for a few lectures which I have over a given period of thirty years, and a fairmark, say 80 or 85, for a few more, but I have never conducted a discussion forwhich I could honestly credit myself with more than a 75, and I have batted in the fifties and forties much oftener

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level of inquiry and some of its guiding in of principles; offering helpful analyses so that time difficult material precious need not be spent on such analysis dur ing the discussion period; in preliminary and provocative exploration of areas of controversy and in illustration of the way in which rival opinions can clash and be argued beneficially; and, finally, silence. in tone and tem Another d) very important prerequi helping to set the right course. site for effective discussion is an intelli the for whole per as elsewhere, context. The con is, of gible and meaningful Flexibility, here text I here have inmind is complex, with A course, important. very good text can at least three differentiable factors: (i) sometimes be found which will accom the factor of an intellectual framework, plish all this better than any lectures (ii) the factor of corporate progress, and which available teachers are, in fact, able to deliver. Also, the more connected the (iii) the factor of campus ethos. These, some comment. for call too, assigned reading week after week and explanatory No good classroom discussion can take the more mature the students, the less are such lectures needed for these and I have discovered, save in the con place, text of an level, adequate ideological frame of other purposes. At the graduate seminars can often be conducted reference. It is simply impossible to pre profit an lectures or texts because cipitate ably without enlightening discussion rele vant to a topic and to in the the students' earlier specified reading grounding is to unless the students and the teacher can sufficient them all a give subject common frame of reference. Much also discuss the topic with some common pre and suppositions, guiding objectives, depends, of course, both upon the sub lectures, say ject matter and upon the skills and tem principles. Supplementary or one a week to two discussion perament of the teacher. AU I would periods, some cases) two a week urge is the avoidance of dogmatic oppo (preferable in to one hour of discussion, in sition to, or commitment to, the lecture are, my as a the device for method best opinion, providing supplementary pedagogical this frame of reference. They will actu device, and, above all, the absolute ne cessity of providing the requisite frame ally perform this function, of course, only if they are very carefully related to the work and the desirable amount of exposi are used to set the stage for tory help and expert illustration. reading and The second contextual factor is the the anticipated discussions. They can fail actu in many different ways?by continuity of corporate effort in the being course as a whole and to both reading and dis irrelevant ally particularly in the successive discussion I cussion, or by being so unskilful as to periods. What seem to the students to be irrelevant, or here have in mind is the momentum which a course and a discussion section by being relevant and factual but boring, or can and should A group of stu by stealing the potential thunder of develop. a dents the discussions by exhausting, prema subject matter together exploring its various aspects and and discussing turely, the controversial opinions pro and con, or by being so authoritarian in tone problems together week after week gets as to contro better and better acquainted with the discourage lively and open sec areas of versy in the subsequent discussion subject, the controversy, basic etc. and differences of well-de tions, emphasis and flat opposi Well-planned livered lectures, on the other hand, can tions, and, not least important, the per in indicating the proper sonalities of the several members of the be invaluable con than I care to remember. My only solation is that even a poorly led discus sion has, I am convinced, far greater real educational value for the student than a well-delivered lecture, provided that the students have come to it reason ably well prepared and have participated in it, some of them, in alert perhaps,

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this really happens, earlier group. When discussions are found to illumine, and to be illumined by, later discussions. Earlier or conflicts are resolved, or deepened, transformed. Students change their opin ize themselves in new ways. Meanwhile, new the inquiry clarifies and deepens; are rede problems arise, older problems fined. In short, the subject, as individual more ly and corporately studied, becomes and more exciting and challenging. This means is that the "discussion method" never an aggregate of unrelated merely discussions but a continuing conversation the course. the Indeed, throughout course should or at lead into, ideally least relate itself to, others until many, if not all, the courses blend, without a blurring, into living, vital, organic unity of total educational experience on the student. This part of each individual an ideal never per again is, of course, fectly realized, but the authentic value of a student's total education can fairly be gauged by assessing the extent to to him. which this has, in fact, happened The emergent benefits are so invaluable that a 50 per cent success in this direc tion can, in our present educational prac tice, be judged to be a brilliant achieve
ions, or become more convinced, or real

ment.

The third contextual component which is the campus ethos. This in I mentioned over and mysterious factor of tangible all spirit, attitude, or temper on the is tremendously in campus as a whole fluential in aiding or hindering the learn ing process which the discussion method seeks to promote. I have visited so many campuses over the past years that I have learned almost to smell the prevalent temper, and if one is sensitive to it, one sees its or benign malign influence every tem where. There are campuses whose au so or is ethos per overwhelmingly thoritarian and regimented that even a leader cannot really skilful discussion succeed in starting or guiding a lively discussion group. The students are too to a passive swal completely conditioned

and to lowing of predigested material too to be bored periodic r?gurgitation, too factu of interest, capable quickened to tolerate or respect con ally minded On other campuses, very much troversy. extreme in the minority, the opposite are impatient Here the students prevails. of all direction, guidance, and discipline and, despite the teacher s best efforts, re duce all discussions to animated but rela and nonprogressive tively unproductive to "bull sessions." An ethos favorable on really good discussions does prevail thanks to a longer or many campuses, shorter tradition of disciplined freedom? a tradition which the administration and the faculty have combined to create and strengthen. On campuses with this favor able ethos classroom discussions in most, if not all, subjects are, for students and most faculty alike, the most enjoyed and the entire curriculum. profitable parts of for suc all these prerequisites When cessful discussion are met to a reasonable the leader degree, it becomes possible for of a discussion group to open the discus sion with the standard question, "Well, what do you want to talk about today?" He can be reasonably confident that the first question or comment will have some relevance to the reading and will evoke some response from another student. This response may, in turn, elicit a reac tion from a third. There is thus a good be will that the discussion chance The teacher can, launched. promptly from here on, guide the discussion along a minimum of overt pertinent lines with control. A suggestion, a question, a brief him now and then will challenge from to give the students the suffice often very "lead"; necessary they will frequently be able to carry the discussion largely by
themselves.

Care must be taken to estimate the success of any given hour of discussion to relevant standards. For according we the familiar question, "Did example, is only partly 'cover the assignment?" relevant. The chief facets of a central issue or the chief problems raised by the

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reading should indeed have been at least touched on, and, preferably, somewhat explored. But it is emphatically not the responsibility of the teacher to "cover" all the material with meticulous thor as he well feel oughness, might obligated to do in a "recitation" or in a designedly "factual" lecture. Again, the question, "Did everybody talk?" should be asked, but the answer should be assessed with care. Ideally, everyone should, of course, have taken an active part in the discus sion. But it is natural, and valuable, for the abler students to take the lead and talk more than the rest. The less able can learn much from careful listening, especially if the teacher succeeds in get some of their unvoiced ques ting at least tions asked and some of their unex stated and argued. I pressed opinions have also had some very able and con scientious students who were tempera si sometimes pathologically, mentally, lent. After many honest tries to draw them into the discussion I have finally a conscience. Or, quit trying, with good the "Was the discussion question, again, is Ex exciting?" dangerously misleading. citement is relatively easy to arouse, both in lecture and in discussion, and though some types of excitement do reflect a real involvement in real issues, excitement is often superficial, more emotional than re flective, and not indicative of genuine student interest and growth.
. THREE CRUCIAL VARIABLES

I cannot urge too strongly the fullest recognition of the importance of three the subject crucial variables, namely, matter, the individuality of the teacher, and the student group. 1. Subjects differ greatly in their avail more ability for effective discussion. The "factual" they are, or the more factual the emphasis is, the harder it is to stage a real discussion; the more whereas sense of in the widest "philosophical," that term, the subject and the approach, the more feasible is the discussion tech

courses in nique. In general, elementary and and mathematics begin language courses in science are the hardest ning to conduct via discussion, though it is to see how successful some amazing are in teachers staging real dis gifted cussions in even these subjects at the as elsewhere, dis elementary level. Here, cussion seems always to involve standing back from the subject from time to time to see it in a controversial perspective. It seems essential to ask, in some form, such is the essen probing questions as, "What or tial nature of mathematical proof?" "Can language be understood merely in terms of grammar and syntax, apart from its symbolic reference and apart from in which different characteristic ways at with different languages look peoples or them?" around and the world life "How, in general, are hypotheses derived from observations, and to what extent do they initiate and guide observation? How does a 'hypothesis' evolve into a a 'law'?" Such a 'theory' into 'theory,' and can be made intelligible and questions even to relatively profoundly interesting, immature students of average ability. In the social sciences and in the arts and letters, interpretation is more pre carious and evaluation much more diffi cult. Conflicting well-sustained opinions abound. These subjects lend themselves to discussion, even admirably therefore, with due and necessary attention to the facts. The importance of well-established the social of of the findings application sciences to practical affairs is even more controversial. Philosophy, of course, is a "natural" for the discussion method, as is the enlightened (i.e., not purely factu al) study of history and the enlightened (i.e., not purely dogmatic) study of reli
gion.

is 2. The second important variable the teacher. I cannot see that skill in a discussion is a special innate leading a musical ear or like crea like aptitude, seems to tive or mathematical genius. It in be the product, much more developed

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some teachers than in others, of several These men and women will respond interrelated factors. sympathetically and with real interest to the a) One of these factors is, as already mality of each student a to the and mature, reflective, specula indicated, inevitably unique quality and tive to the sub overtones of every and com approach subject?any question Some fail na?ve however and ment, ject. professional philosophers inept. They to conceive of as a will even be (of all sub philosophy challenged, golfer is an jects!) in this way and, in their courses challenged by the need for unusually are able to offer their stu in difficult stroke, philosophy, by the very uninterested dents nothing but a dry-as-dust drill in student and by those who are having philosophical doctrines and systems. Such special difficulties. I have used the words a and "interest" I philosophers cannot conduct good dis "respect" advisedly; cussion even in should add the word "liking." I am con philosophy. vinced that one can be a b) A second factor is a liberal rather really good than an authoritarian attitude on the in discussion, teacher, particularly only teacher's part in areas of if one conflicting really respects his students, is opinion. It is really appalling to discover really interested in them and their prob how many teachers, both in school lems, and, in addition, really likes them high as human in college, and irritated or dogmatically identify beings, however their opinion with the truth, in open de he be with them, may discouraged quite fiance of, or indifference to, or perhaps justifiably, from time to time. even d) A final factor is a profound under ignorance of, the fact that able con on the teacher's have defended the people cogently standing part of the "dialectical" nature of all trary opinion. It is even more scandalous inquiry, of the to learn of cases, many cases, in which ultimate mystery of all reality, and of the students are penalized, sometimes very impossibility of solving any of the peren nial and poignant human severely, for differing with the teacher problems. The more a teacher restricts himself in his not on established facts but on admitted issues. This attitude is, to ly controversial teaching relatively well-established of course, utterly alien to the proper facts, the more does he condemn himself to lecture and temper of informed discussion and quite exposition, to recitations fatal to it. A liberal attitude is the sine and regurgitative tests. He also inevita qua non of free discussion, in class as out bly stresses the difference between him of class. self, as one who knows, the expert, and a is A third factor his student who is inexpert and does not c) genuine respect un areas of all the teacher for however know. These knowl minds, by accepted informed and immature, and, further, a of be course, cannot, edge ignored in the real interest in student reaction. There is teaching process at any level, and partic a kind of scholarly mind that is inter ularly with younger students. But even ested only in expert opinion and the so the young can be introduced, from time new discoveries. to time, and on search for phisticated appropriate occasions, to Such a mind is bound to be contemptu germane larger problems to which even ous of student opinion and bored, or the teacher, and even those who are more even pained, to to listen and brilliant than by having knowledgeable to think he, do not know the answers and whose clearly and youthful efforts are also, thank solution may elude full human compre argue cogently. But there are fascinated those who these God, by the hension to the end of time. When a are raised for consideration, youthful mind problems gradual unfolding of education becomes what it should be far and who revel in the everlasting oppor more often?a of teaching. tunities and challenges really co-operative venture

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of older and younger searchers for the in truth, the older only a little more formed and expert in the prob probing lem and only a little more aware of its baffling and unfathomable depths. This same spirit of co-operative search will, in fact, be cultivated even in well charted factual areas whenever the teach er, who must fall short of omniscience even here, in his own field of special questions which competence, welcomes the he cannot answer and encourages and student, with genuine anticipation to find out and tell him what gratitude, or not he, culpably innocently, does
know.

same course in any given year, he will know how much these groups may differ from one another, one calling for a very than are different pace and handling beneficial for another. That, of course, is part of the fascination for the teacher of the discussion method. Not only are no two students ever alike or two questions ever identical; every group has its own corporate individuality and every hour its own unique pattern of question and answer, clash and argument.
IV. SOME RANDOM HINTS AND PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

I am pleading for so urgently is What not an idle game or a pedagogical pre tense. I am envisaging a teacher who in the enrichment of his really delights fund of factual knowledge by the contri trivial, of a student; bution, however who is really baffled by the great scien tific and social, aesthetic, moral, and reli our time and other gious problems of is that the who times; really persuaded human search for truth must be a co in which the humblest operative venture can have his tiny but real role. inquirer I think that I, for one, can truthfully re a port that I have seldom conducted some discussion without learning good some student and that, when thing from it has been my this has not happened, own fault and the result of my own in or lack of proper sensitivity humility. is the third great variable 3. The for discus group of students available sion, in the context of the entire academ ic community and the prevailing ethos. Some types of discussion are possible in some not in colleges, for example, and courses some in others, (because of the and not in others, enrolled personnel) later in the term but not earlier, and even in some years and not in others. has taught the "same" Anyone who course for a number of years with the discussion method will testify to all these in important differences; and if he is in several discussion the of groups charge

It may to some possibly be helpful teachers who are relatively new to the discussion method for me to list a few practical hints and tricks of the trade which I have myself found useful in my own conduct of discussion groups. Many of these are, I believe, relevant to all seem to me to good teaching, but they be particularly important in trying to a discussion. Readers not inter guide ested in such practical details are asked to skip this section. out for the unusually talka 1. Watch tive student who tries to monopolize the discussion. He is probably something of an exhibitionist and he may well be a recognized "apple-polisher." To give him his head is bad for him and fatal for the group. If you fail to control him, his fel low-students will rightly size you up as a sucker and the group discussion will lan guish and die. 2. Don't unduly push the extremely or silent student. You can be inad shy more harm vertently cruel and do him than good. Even he can, with attentive silence, contribute something, as audi ence, and his written work may eventu ally demonstrate that he has learned far more than you from the discussion thought possible. 3. Discourage the efforts of "eager beaver" crammers who want to use the discussion period as a cramming session. This is easier said than done; it is some times hard to distinguish an honest and

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proper request for factual explanation or for clarification of issues from a stu dent's attempt to add to his store of regurgitable factual information. out for facile talkers who are 4. Watch and who want to escape em unprepared barrassment by plunging you and the group into irrelevant argument. Several students may join forces in this attempt, or on the spur of the mo deliberately ment. The teacher's chief safeguard here is a well conceived strategy for the hour, thought out in advance, plus very flexible improvised tactics. 5. Don't ever pretend to omniscience or bluff your way out of an embarrassing or not know, question problem. If you do if with due say so, apology apology is called for, or with appropriate explana no reason tion if there is really why you should have a ready answer or solution. or is not an A good teacher encyclopedia an a on cannot He expert quiz program. afford to clutter up his mind with a lot of trivia. If you lose track of the discus sion, or lose control, the best solution I have found is to admit it frankly with such questions as, "How did we get can we are we? How here? Where get back on the track?" Students love to help a teacher out of a predicament, and they can often do so very cleverly. They do not, I am sure, lose respect for a teacher who occasionally slips up and honestly as elsewhere, admits his lapse. Here, not is only morally scrupulous honesty right; it pays dividends.
6. Don't ever resort to

are, quite properly, more enraged by such brow than by almost anything do. They welcome with fervor all indications of corresponding or ef respect for every honest opinion the and of teacher's however lame, fort, sense of fair play and sincere tolerance. to take sides and hesitate 7. Don't argue for or against a position if you in a real contro have real convictions I know, be chal advice This will, versy. teachers and scholars many lenged by casm. Students and disgusted tactics beating a teacher can

irony

or

sar

defend the principle of absolute in areas of dispute. But I must neutrality strenuously oppose the effort of teachers to be neutral for three reasons, first, be cause this effort is almost unsuc always to convictions are bound cessful?one's influence, and eventually to reflect them selves in, one's thinking and teaching; it seems to me much second, because more to tell one's students where salutary one stands, if for no other reason than that they can then take these confessed convictions duly into account; and third, because one can, by taking sides in the an actual right way, give one's students can be convictions of how example firmly held and supported with full recognition of, and respect for, contrary convictions. All this presupposes, however, a real dis tinction between blind prejudice and in formed between conviction opinion, coupled with real tolerance and respect for others and conviction dogmatically asserted and ruthlessly forced upon an is indeed no in opponent. There place or liberal education for sheer prejudice fanaticism. My criticism of evangelical the defenders of "neutrality" is that they confuse such prejudice and dogmatism, which should always be resisted and con demned, with sincere and informed but tolerant beliefs which, I am sure, should be strongly recommended to our students by precept and example. It may be to add six additional helpful hints tech regarding specific pedagogical use in the of the discussion meth niques
od.

8. In addition to occasional hour tests and final examinations of the usual type, at ir ten-minute quizzes unannounced at the the of intervals, regular beginning hour, and consisting of one question in which deals with a central problem the reading for the day, can contribute markedly to the discussion. These quiz zes will be as accepted by the students if the teacher fair, however unwelcome, explains, early in the course, why he proposes to give them from time to time. that they may have to The knowledge

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take such a quiz will help those students who need such a stimulus, and fortunate indeed is a teacher who hasn't some such or in his dis sluggish neglectful students cussion sections. But the chief construc tive value of these quizzes for the sub is that an intensive sequent discussion focus of student attention for ten min utes upon a should be problem which prominent in that day's discussion, plus his effort to write something specific and clear about that problem, often sharpens up the following discussion and enables the group to accomplish as much or more in the remainder of the period as would normally have been accomplished with out a quiz. Like all tests, much depends on how the is formulated quiz question and then made use of by the teacher, and also on the spirit in which the quiz can be a mere irritant, is given. Quizzes or a much resented punitive device, but can also be put to excellent creative they
use.

9. When a group finds it hard to learn how to start a discussion from scratch with really relevant questions and com ments, the teacher may be well advised to start the discussion himself with a brief and provocative analysis of points to be covered, or, better yet, if possible, to ask some student in advance to start the discussion in this way. This method may, with some groups and at certain hours (e.g., after lunch), get the discus sion better started than any other. is the 10. Another useful procedure short of essays, analytic and assignment factual in character, on crucial aspects of the reading, and also of longer essays, one or two a term, in which a student can have the valuable experience of de care a longer analysis and veloping with one or more a more careful critique of controversial issues. I have myself found it very profitable to assign both types of essay and, furthermore, to discuss with the group the kind of essay, both long and short, which they feel would give promise of maximum interest and benefit to them. One result of such frank and

friendly conference has been that many so inter of my students have become ested in their that essays writing they have written far longer and better essays than I had dared to hope for. They have also frequently told me, at the end of the course, that they felt they had learned more from their writing than from any other component in the entire course. account 11. My of the discussion method has presumed, throughout, the use of a serious stu of reading worthy dent's serious attention. Here, too, I would wish to be flexible as regards what re reading might satisfy this general some In the quirement. subjects only a textbook; if so, the reading available is most mature and textwithin challenging the students' competence is clearly indi cated. Sometimes volumes of selections from first-rate authors are available and more of us who appropriate. More and have been using the discussion method con at the college level have become vinced, however, that the ideal reading for able students in most fields is,more often than not, entire compositions by really top-flight authors in the field, or, when necessary, designated portions of such works. Here much depends, quite obviously, upon the students' maturity and also upon the cost of available edi tions. The ever increasing number of in very "classics," older and modern, is an untold editions, cheap blessing for the imaginative teacher and the impe cunious student. I would not make a fetish of teaching are too difficult only such classics. Many for this or that discussion group; many are intelligible only with the extensive texts; help of lectures and collateral sometimes books of less intrinsic value are more effective. But, pedagogically is whenever the principle applicable, that be sound students should surely challenged by firsthand contact with the writings of the best minds of his own and other centuries, the teacher func as a tioning chiefly intermediary. It is thrill to be able to announce to a group

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one of of eager students that their real teachers physically and psychologically, not my the group; he is falsely removed and be the will weeks during ensuing exalted. The ideal setting for a discussion and myself but some of the colleagues exam is a pleasant and comfortable room with of all time?for great philosophers movable chairs around a round or oval and Descartes Plato and Aristotle, ple, a square or a Even is table. Kant That Whitehead. and Hume, rectangular table on "this side" the students inwhom a student can really take aligns falsely faculty and "that side"; no table is sometimes he and I can both from and whom pride to a learn with profit and pleasure. rectangular table. Physi preferable cal is in 12. There and, indeed, luxury is unnecessary great value having, or too comfortable chairs whenever possible, two congenial teach harmful; ers take same discussion, invite sleepiness, and too rich a couches in the part either throughout a course or occasional setting creates false overtones. But it takes a "cultured" setting to promote, device ly by invitation. This pedagogical rather than hinder, a "cultured" conver is more difficult to use successfully than one sation. This, I repeat, is not a trivial de is There always might anticipate. discussion leaders will tail. Experienced the danger that the two teachers will get to the great value of so interested that will unanimously testify monopolize they an the discussion, as well as the opposite appropriate physical milieu. so fearful of in that will be each danger SYSTEM V. THE TUTORIAL on the other that the discussion truding seems an to say This will lose needed direction and sparking. appropriate place a the so-called "tutorial" about word is I have found for The best safeguard just as a method the two teachers to agree in advance that system, which many regard of instruction far superior to the discus one or the other is to be "in charge" sion method. has estab This method throughout the hour, the other accepting it lished itself in Oxford and Cambridge; himself of keeping the responsibility it is also is extensively used at Harvard; more or less in the also but background common practice in many of speaking up from time to time to ask colleges and in universities as a pedagogical device a to challenge an stimulating question, with departmental or working his intensively colleague's), opinion (preferably are its assets and limita to formulate and defend a neglected po majors. What tions? sition on some debatable issue. If the is still Its assets are obvious. There teachers like and re two co-operating truth in the hackneyed statement that the exercise each other and peda spect essence of all education is symbolized by effort can easily gogical tact, their joint at one end of a log and a Mark in clarification and stimulation Hopkins surpass student at the other, and this, in brief, is could accomplish that either anything the tutorial system. This iswhat, in fact, alone. a for 13. Finally, the physical setting any teacher has transpires whenever contact with is of far greater importance discussion any one of his meaningful students in private conference. There is, It is almost, than might be supposed. of course, no substitute for such face-to not quite, impossible though, of course, face private contact; it has merits which a dis to conduct lively round-the-table contact can no other form of academic cussion in a classroom with the teacher rival or supplant. behind his desk and the students in rows But it is excessively expensive if prac of chairs fastened to the floor. Here they an awk ticed on a large scale and as a substitute see one without cannot another for some other type of instruction. It is ward craning of necks?they are not fac I believe, most effective as a rela as cultivated people do other each also, ing is when they converse. The teacher not, tively self-sufficient academic procedure

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with very able and mature students. ( In method than on the tutorial method for tensive personal work with students in the core of its informal individualized in stu trouble and with less-than-average struction. dents is also, of course, most this helpful; VI. THE MERITS OF THE SPECIAL might be entitled tutorial instruction in METHOD DISCUSSION as its corrective and remedial humanely are now in a We the pect.) Even at its best, moreover, position to try to assess the many values of the discussion tutorial system lacks two very great merits which the discussion method pos method. In doing so we can relate our sesses. rather detailed description of the method to some of the ultimate It involves a single student confronting objectives of a no were he is for fair liberal whom education which single teacher, briefly sketched at the beginning of this essay. match. In this respect, at least, the dis can h est cussion method is positively superior to 1. The discussion method the tutorial method. For in a discussion elicit the total responses of the student's e have, in recent group the students enjoy the strength of entire personality?W one aware that become numbers vis-?-vis the teacher. While years, increasingly our students are not mere minds, inci student is speaking, the others can get associated with bodies and dentally ready to take their part in the discussion. to It is the very rare student who is a match given emotionally charged beliefs, but that they are for a teacher singlehanded, but a group complete rounded person alities with minds and bodies, intellect of good students is a real match for any and imagination, will and emotion, intel teacher. Thus the discussion technique lectual curiosity and practical and spirit does much to prevent the teacher s great er ual concern. They are not just "students" skill from and knowledge becoming but human beings living in a human so unconsciously tyrannical. It also does to challenge a teacher to do his much ciety with human opportunities, chal level best as he is seldom challenged in lenges, and risks. The formal lecture and the recitation sessions. tutorial need not ignore or wholly neglect this The discussion method has a second real advantage over the tutorial method, many-sided personality of the student, are far of economy of but both pedagogical methods namely, the advantage less well is the discussion I am an total pedagogical effort. While than adapted an argu method to the drawing out and develop swering a question, or meeting ment, of student A in a discussion group, ing of the student's total personality. He the other students may well profit from can function, in a good discussion, as more than a mere mind. Not can he my answer or comment as much as does only and factual student A. The same is true when stu material, produce acquire and C make a good point or ask dents analyze and comprehend with his intel or argue with one an a lect; he can also explore the value dimen good question sions of such facts and puzzles; he can other. Thus several students benefit si from whatever happens in take sides; he can discover how all this multaneously a whereas each tutee has a bearing, perhaps a crucial bearing, discussion, good on his own beliefs and conduct. must, of necessity, learn alone and be in he is confronted, hour alone. structed Meanwhile, that an ideal liberal arts after hour, with other youthful I conclude personali a ties program will include judicious amount similarly engaged and challenged. of intensive tutorial work, both for the He can come to understand his contem very able student and for the student in poraries far more significantly than he often does in his extracurricular contacts trouble, but that such a program will with them. He can learn to estimate their lean far more heavily on the discussion

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the discussion method does bet What characters at their thoughtful best, dis ter than any other method cover in them undreamed-of is to of depths provide most natural and dynamic the note and of fervor belief, feeling setting for signif the instruction and icant differences in total outlook, etc. In learning of clear as the thinking and felicitous expression. It is persons," "community of persons one a clear which is really what a continuing discus thing to listen to exposition of well-thought-out sion group ought to be, he can learn ideas; it is quite an what it is to be a person and what it other thing to try one's own hand at it. to write an essay, It is one means to respect persons who are very thing clearly conceived and well expressed, at leisure different from himself. and without it is far more can learn infinitely more interruption; Finally, he difficult to formulate and express one's about his teacher, as a person, in a dis ideas in the give and take of an cussion group than he can ongoing possibly learn conversation. It is one thing to give a about him in a long series of lectures or or to take recitations. A lecturer exhibits his wares part in a for prepared speech it is, for most students, far and himself, without challenge and the mal debate; more to argue with their fel need to respond to new, unexpected situ meaningful low-students and their teacher in the nat ations. A teacher conducting a recitation holds the whip hand and, almost neces ural, informal atmosphere of a congenial discussion group. the role of the unquestioned sarily, plays in contrast, Stated otherwise, a good discussion The discussion leader, expert. not the lecture platform only invites but tests clarity of steps down from teacher and comes out from behind his desk in thought and expression. What has not read countless tests and essays the recitation room and joins his students as a inter pares, by students who thought they were think fellow-inquirer, primus the leader, only in maturity, among ing straight and expressing themselves his own accurately but who in fact were intellec equals. He thus better reveals more or less total strength and also his weaknesses, tually confused and verbally ca incoherent? The teacher can, indeed, his three-dimensional humanity?his to be irritated subsequently point out to the student the pacity also to feel strongly, and pleased, baffled and enlightened, to mistakes which he has made. But in a discussion group errors of have convictions and to honor the con thought and are victions of others. In no other type of in expression immediately apparent, to the other students as well as to the teach struction can the teacher so effectively er. The student is therefore teach by example as well as precept. immediately or 2. The discussion method can he most challenged with "That doesn't follow" are your ac or to "What the student in effective presuppositions?" helping or "You have contradicted yourself" quire linguistic-logical proficiency, both I am convinced "What do mean?" in and you writing?This proficiency by orally stu can be and is, of course, long experience with all types of under acquired by instruction that the discussion It is good dents in many other ways. graduate is to method take lec to and recite, vastly superior to all others in get up training ture notes, to take tests and examinations really helping the student to think and in any course, to write longer and shorter argue and speak and write cogently, rele is There context. in academic any vantly, and clearly. essays is less That this method also obvious value to the student inwise appropriate in some areas and types of learning, such directed laboratory speaking, public ly science social as, for example, in creative art or in the projects, experiments, or in classes in creative writing and art, etc. laboratory experiment precise without say All these and other devices have their mathematical goes analysis, suited to, and real uses and should be continued. ing. But it is wonderfully

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available for, a great deal of in in most lecturers this attitude inquiry engender all the liberal arts and of intolerant wher? omniscience in their own disciplines, it fits, its effectiveness is unrivaled. even in other and subjects subjects. 3. The discussion method excels in The recitation method, in turn, tends demonstrating the universal need for the inevitably to stress isolated facts, since are factual interpretation of evidence .?One of the simple questions usually of na?ve or fallacies the which invite major intellectually questions simple right as wrong is the belief that there are such answers. utter bore The student's things isolated indubitable facts and that such dom in the face of mountains of facts to facts are of value. It takes some be memorized and produced on demand sophisti cation to realize that every so-called is too notorious for comment. "fact" is actually a conclusion, more or The discussion method offers no infal less well established and based upon a lible panacea for these stupidities, but it wealth of primary evidence duly inter them and encour certainly discourages That Caesar a crossed the more Rubicon subtle and preted. ages profound under is not an isolated fact; it is a well-founded of evidence, interpretation, and standing historical conclusion based upon a mass one fact in their complicated relation to of historical evidence and sustained by another. If it is at all successful, it cor a lot of re rects facile interlocking historical interpreta dogmatism and promotes tions of this evidence. This, of course, is flective in vital the process, inquiry and, true of all facts, that is, of all factual izes the subject and interests the student assertions. They are in the hows and whys of always valid only in deeper explora as are tion. In this sense it is the ideal vehicle proportion supported by suf they ficient evidence and set appropriately in and or disci laboratory for "scientific" a framework of coherent in areas. all factual interpretation. plined inquiry A good lecturer can, it is true, exhibit 4. The discussion method is the meth the nature of fact and the essential role in re od, par excellence, for practice of evidence and interpretation in all fact evaluation is, sponsible evaluation.?Such ual judgments. He can also make clear of course, the greatest single cultural the precariousness of all factual asser need of our society today. We now real tions and the resultant need for caution ize, as perhaps never before, that man and the danger of dogmatism. This is one or cannot live by fact by bread alone, of the great functional values of the lec or mere science and technol alone, by turing method. Yet, despite the best ef ogy. A man's moral and political, social forts on the part of a lecturer, the stu and economic, aesthetic and religious, on lectures dent who has to evaluations are of crucial importance for rely chiefly instruction is almost for his academic and for our corporate the individual certain to be overimpressed by the lec and welfare. How, then, can stu safety turer's expert authority and to accept dents learn to evaluate more sensitively much too passively and uncritically the and wisely, to avoid cynical indifference, lecturer's own conclusions on the one hand, and blind fanatical fer regarding is and what is not factually the vor, on the other? what case. In short, the student is very Here again much can be accomplished likely to emerge from the lectures of an un a lecture and by precept and example in a very in lecturer or even a in recitation dogmatic dogmatic laboratory, and state of mind. This tendency is often much is learned certainly by the student intensified when the lecturer is himself in his multiple extracurricular activities. and authoritarian; and con But the formal academic exercise tends dogmatic tinuous lecturing, without the purgative all too often to be merely exemplary, and con to meet of at its students it is discipline having frequent painfully didactic in lively debate, is very to worst. The results are often negative, stantly likely

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throwing the student into rebellious re verse or relatively neutral, that is, having no real effect upon him. The normative and indifference and, simul insensitivity the intolerant taneously, bigotry of many of our able and industrious graduating seniors every year is utterly deplorable? a clear index of the considerable failure of liberal education at the both today and the levels. high-school college The trouble with undue reliance on the extracurricular life of the student as an education in imaginative in and formed evaluation is that it is far too random and undirected, on the one hand, to be effective in this on the regard and, other hand, far too subject to tyrannical and social stereotypes. campus mores Out of class the typical American student is a curious merger of predatory, irre individualist and slavish fol sponsible lower of the mob. His campus society so usually establishes rigid and well-en forced a scale of values that he must have very unusual perspicuity and cour this age to challenge or defy it.Within set limited and of often false values very he tends to be, so far as possible, his own undisciplined, ambitious self. I may have somewhat overstated his predicament, but the trends I have suggested can, I think, hardly be denied. the discussion method can do, What and often does do, is, as it were, very to combine the and usefully advantages to cancel out the weaknesses of both these normally divorced settings?the and the purely extra merely academic curricular. The informal give-and-take of a discussion has a vitality quite good a ses to that of good "bull comparable sion." The competition of student with student in such a discussion is somewhat like his competition with his fellows in various campus organizations. Yet the are academic, and subjects for discussion so are the teacher's guidance and benign if anywhere, really vital control. Here, problems can be vitally and profitably
discussed.

Above

all, the discussion method

is the

for authentic education in in evaluation and the discriminating high art of the toler respectful tolerance?not ance of indifference and not the toler ance of patronizing condescension. Here crude initial evaluations can best be re utterances fined, dogmatic challenged, identified and unsupported declarations criticized, self-righteous superiority re buked, humble and steadfast conviction students exemplified and imitated. Here can not learn, really by merely observing or in fruitful merely doing, but by both or in not and alone crowds but in union, a of persons continually chal community to produce their responsible best. lenged is best able 5. The discussion method to resist provincialisms and promote more competent synoptic perspectives.?The lecturer can, of course, accomplish much in this direction, as, indeed, can any context. In teacher in any pedagogical a lectures is, series of deed, well-planned in my opinion, the ideal vehicle for the and systematic ex orderly exposition as the of wider perspective ploration secular and religious for corrective only But the best possible se provincialisms. ries of lectures can never transcend the defect of being delivered to pedagogical students and received by them. In a good discussion section, in con can students the trast, actively partic in the recognition of provincialism ipate and all its attendant prejudices, and they in the hour-by can no less participate hour discovery and development of more raise inclusive points of view which see to them life and enable men's sights more whole. The and experience steadily of actually seeing various provincial dog mas dissolve, in themselves and in their fellow-students and even in the teacher; of struggling for a larger vision and grad it and ually encompassing establishing it in themselves and in others, is an educa tional experience which is far more eas ily had in a discussion group than any where else in the school system. These often painful but seldom experiences,

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lasting educative effect of value, both to the individ unparalleled as it is ual and to our society, torn by irrational prejudices and provincial myo 6. In short, the discussion method is, I believe, of unrivaled efficacy in promot liberal education in the ing authentic hearts and minds of students?It is in it seldom functions deed no panacea; with maximum efficiency; it, too, is sub to it is expensive; ject multiple abuses; above all, it calls for more native gifts and more skills on the teach acquirable er s part than any other type of instruc tion. It is, moreover, not self-sufficient, nor is it a substitute for all other forms of instruction. Its values and its applicabil ity, however great, are limited. But it is also safe to say that thismeth as od is not as being used nearly widely it might and should be. Its cost is not prohibitive. It does not require teachers who are geniuses, nor need it be re stricted merely to the very able student. It can and should, I firmly believe, be the standard core of all liberal arts instruc tion in all liberal arts colleges and uni core of versities and an ever expanding
pias.

such instruction at the high-school level. a lot of money America today spends on education, but less than it does on or tobacco, cars or refrigerators. liquor We are not really persuaded, as a nation, of the absolutely essential role of educa or tion for the good life of the individual the strength of our democracy. And, in the whole field of education, vocational training is booming and liberal educa tion, upon which our democratic hopes rest, tends to be neglected. And, within liberal education at all levels, those devices which are less effec pedagogical tive in really liberalizing the individual for personal maturity and responsible are most in vogue, whereas citizenship the discussion method, so ideally quali fied tomeet our major educational needs, is least often and least effectively used inmost of our schools, colleges, and uni versities. As America awakens to the real our times, I challenge of prophesy that she will gradually come to assess the in our place of education body politic more I also wisely. prophesy that the years ahead will see a rapid and impres sive extension of the discussion method our land. throughout