Communication, rhetoric and education

At a recent conference on Creative Strategies for Promoting Cultural Change (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome), I was struck by the many links between what are regarded as effective communication strategies and good teaching methods. Indeed, I would go so far as to suggest that teaching is the art of communication par excellence.

Good teaching takes places when a knowledgeable person communicates something about this knowledge to others in a coherent, systematic and lucid way. It is not the throwing of facts at a wall of students but involves the proper use of rhetoric.

The ancients knew much about rhetoric. It forms part of the classical trivium alongside grammar and dialectic. We urgently need to reclaim the art of rhetoric from those who regard it as mere manipulation of words or the soulless repetition of empty promises. On the contrary, rhetoric is about the nobility of learning, a means to ensure that traditions and cultural inheritances are preserved as living realities in the soul of a people. The teacher aware of rhetoric will grow in stature and enhance the dignity of the profession.

Faith, culture and ‘holy days’

It is the weekend of Easter. For many in the West these few days have become another ‘holiday weekend, a time to relax the body and mind—which, of course, is necessary—with apparently little thought of the deep significance of the events which Christians celebrate. This is another reminder of a chasm in contemporary culture: the loss of the connection between the feasts of the Christian calendar and the life of the traditionally Christian nations.

In educational terms, this seems to be another indicator of an increasingly illiberal individualism which tears people away from what is held in common towards overly-personalised constructions of values. Such an approach bears ‘fruit’ in the idolisation of choice—which is not a bad thing per se—but runs the risk of placing the individual against the community and hence reducing morality to a menu of choices.

Authentic liberal education should foster the ‘unity’ in the ‘unity-in-diversity’ which is one of the marks of a good society. Of course this leads inevitably to debates on what constitutes the bedrock of the sought-after unity. As we munch away contentedly at our Easter eggs and traditional Easter cakes, this question should not be far from our mind.

Happy Easter.

Very strong words from Pope Francis on education

In a speech (11 April) to a Delegation of the International Catholic Office of Children, Pope Francis gave one of the strongest critiques of some aspects of modern education that we have heard from any Pope in living memory:

I would like to express my rejection of all types of educational experiments with children. One cannot experiment with children and young people. They are not laboratory guinea-pigs. The horrors of educational manipulation that we experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the 20th century have not disappeared; they keep their currency under different clothing that, with the pretension of modernity, force children and young people to walk on the dictatorial path of the “single thought.” A great educator said to me just over a week ago:“ Sometimes one doesn’t know if with these projects – he was referring to concrete projects of education – you send a child to school or to a camp of re-education.

It would be good to ponder these words and ask the question: to which forms of education was he referring? Many teachers recognise the ideological pressures on them to conform to (and indeed promote in the classroom) the ‘new orthodoxy’ with regard to climate change, reproductive rights and reform of marriage laws. Similar pressure comes from those who see education in stark neo-liberal terms as a market-place where pupils are trained in the  skills necessary for a modern economy.

Those who thought that the papal interest in the ‘educational emergency’ had disappeared with Pope Benedict’s resignation better think again. Pope Francis has shown once again that he is 'in continuity' with Pope Benedict and the wider Catholic tradition: indeed, Pope Francis's use of language—and we can be sure that these were carefully chosen words—suggests that he wishes this debate to remain at the heart of the Catholic Church’s engagement with modern society.

Read the full speech here, courtesy of www.zenit.org: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-discourse-to-the-delegation-of-the-international-catholic-office-of-children

Ideas from the Institute of Ideas!

Here is a link to an interesting set of ideas for the reform of education from the Institute of Ideas education forum. They need no further comment.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/198574794/Inst-of-Ideas-SubjectCurriculum

Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Across the Christian world, the feast of St. John the Evangelist on December 27 is a timely moment to remember the famous opening of his Gospel: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

These famous lines, so often recited in grave tones in churches across the world, are one of the first signs of the Christian engagement with concepts arising from Greek philosophy. It is here that the roots of the partnership between faith and reason are found  - and from this dynamic partnership emerged the Catholic intellectual tradition which, as we know, is the foundation of western education.

Perhaps we can use these days of rest to reflect on the roots of our contemporary educational systems. This is not a call to remain fixed (or fixated) in the past but it is our duty as educators to become more and more familiar with the family tree of educational thought in order to plant the seeds for the future.

Once again, happy Christmas 2013.

Holidays and education

Education continues when schools are closed for holidays. This might be self-evident but we so often conflate education and schooling that we could be forgiven for thinking that education is a school-based endeavour.

At this time of the year education in the virtues is important, especially the virtue of detachment from a surfeit of materialism and the virtue of charity. Families and various community groups, including our schools, have a wonderful opportunity to demonstate these virtues by going to the aid of those in any kind of need.

In looking towards 'the other', we educate ourselves in detachment from our own needs by the practice of charity towards the needs of others. The exchange of gifts between friends and family is of little merit if we cannot give freely of our time and interest to at least one of the many social initiatives designed to promote human flourishing.

During this Christmas holiday, perhaps we can take some time to consider ways in which we will support some worthwhile project in 2014. Who knows, we might even decide to start up one of own!

A Reason Open to God

The election of Joseph Ratzinger in 2005 brought one of the foremost theologians of Catholic Church to the Papacy. As an academic, he had played a significant role in the Second Vatican Council. Afterwards he helped to found the influential journal Communio, a publication intended to ensure that the Council’s legacy remained faithful to the “Catholic intellectual tradition”. In the following decades, he interrogated the fertile fields of liturgy, the relationship between faith and culture and inter-faith dialogue, to name just three. 

Click here to see the full  review of A Reason Open to God on www.mercatornet.com