If there is a strident voice in the playground espousing unsavoury
thoughts on the eleven plus, then it may be politic, at times, to step back.
Do you remember Socrates? He used a teaching method by which
progress and understanding were preceded by sustained and directed questioning.
He used part of the correct answer to one of his questions – and then worried
away at the detail.
If the playground fanatic makes otherwise sane parents want
to ridicule or reject any unsubstantiated statements then it may be useful to
remember what happen to Socrates in the end. He refused to temper his teachings
and was finally executed by the Athenian state. (Some say he drank hemlock to
speed his death.)
Socrates raised questions along the lines of: what is
justice, what is knowledge, what is beauty? He then showed through the
questions and answers that there was seldom a clear understanding of the concepts
involved.
Imagine Socrates sitting in your school playground. A group
parents are gathered around. He then poses the question: “What is the eleven
plus?”
Socrates felt that true knowledge was being able to define something.
How many true eleven
plus answers would he receive?
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