James Hagen's List: Socratic method

• Students tend to scoff at the word “participation,” especially when it’s written on a syllabus with a big percentage of their grade. But it is, in math, English, language, biology and chemistry, a profoundly good thing. We have a tendency, we freshmen, to disparage it, perhaps because we feel just a touch too self-assured, too comfortable in the belief that we already have the material under control. Participation is often written off as useless, an unnecessary accessory. Why do we need to talk if we can simply learn this on our own? We can all pass the tests, get the grades and get degrees without paying lip service to professors.

• When we lend our voices into class, to question or raise concerns, to poke holes in an argument or force teachers to justify their studies, we exercise a muscle that will serve us our entire lives long. What critical participation does is hone systems for processing information and, from it, creating belief. Instead of just being a vessel for test- and essay-applicable knowledge, engaging with material critically allows you to not only individualize the message you get from it, but ensure it is one that fits in your own worldview. If it doesn’t, and it often won’t, it will help you improve and expand your perspective. It’s this sort of critical participation that, in written form, is the Socratic dialogue that scholarship exists in.

• Jacob Bronowski, a famous mathematician, said, “It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; They are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.” This attitude, that of the critical participant, is one that we should take beyond the classroom. Do not be a bystander, or worse, a sycophant to convention.
• The accusation that we don’t care about much other than material goods and transparent, selfish philanthropy is often leveled at our generation. We should strive to be principled, and not just when we’re talking about human rights abroad or obvious inequities in far-flung countries. Don’t instinctively move your critical tendencies to obvious, unambiguous targets. Use them in everyday life. We need to bring our ideals home, and that’s most important when they’re controversial.

• Now that I’ve made all you young people iconoclasts, there should be no shame in challenging existing ideas. That’s how political systems improve. Even when you agree with an idea or a party, don’t be afraid to question it and make people explain themselves. Don’t let politeness get in the way of pursuing the right, and never accept a policy or stance that isn’t justified.

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