Introduction:
In our previous essays and class discussions, we’ve examined how our personal circumstances (age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, etc.) all affect how we view the world around us. Similarly, the way in which we view the world, which we might generally refer to as our personal ideology, influences how we interact with the world, which in turn changes the world, albeit usually in relatively small ways; thus, our subjective view of reality and objective reality are interactive in nature, each altering the other in sometimes hard to predict ways.
For this module, we have read (or will have read) Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” (from The Republic), Marx’s The Communist Manifesto, and Newman’s The Idea of a University (selected passages). We have also watched The Matrix. Although we can discuss these works in a variety of contexts, each one touches upon the themes of education and indoctrination, either directly or indirectly.
Directions:
Keeping our readings/discussions from this module and the preceding paragraphs in mind—as well as your own experience as a student—respond to the following prompt:
In a well-developed, argumentative essay, examine the role of education in society. What role does education play in modern society? What distinctions do you draw between education and indoctrination? Does education always include an element of indoctrination? If not, how can one differentiate between the two? Explain.
For this essay, you must cite two of our three core readings from the education/indoctrination module of the class (Plato, Marx, and Newman); in addition, you must use the film The Matrix in a central way, probably as an allegorical representation of education and/or indoctrination.
Three Core Reading:
Plato:
Marx:
Newman: Full-text: “But I must bring these extracts to an end. To-day I have confined myself to saying that that training of the intellect, which is best for the individual himself, best enables him to discharge his duties to society. The Philosopher, indeed, and the man of the world differ in their very notion, but the methods, by which they are respectively formed, are pretty much the same. The Philosopher has the same command of matters of thought, which the true citizen and gentleman has of matters of business and conduct. If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world. It neither confines its views to particular professions on the one hand, nor creates heroes or inspires genius on the other. Works indeed of genius fall under no art; heroic minds come under no rule; a University is not a birthplace of poets or of immortal authors, of founders of schools, leaders of colonies, or conquerors of nations. It does not promise a generation of Aristotles or Newtons, of Napoleons or Washingtons, of Raphaels or Shakespeares, though such miracles of nature it has before now contained within its precincts. Nor is it content on the other hand with forming the critic or the experimentalist, the economist or the engineer, though such too it includes within its scope. But a University training is the great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at cultivating the public mind, at purifying the national taste, at supplying [178] true principles to popular enthusiasm and fixed aims to popular aspiration, at giving enlargement and sobriety to the ideas of the age, at facilitating the exercise of political power, and refining the intercourse of private life. It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they Knowledge Viewed In Relation To Professional Skill. 207 are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them. He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every class; he knows when to speak and when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to listen; he can ask a question pertinently, and gain a lesson seasonably, when he has nothing to impart himself; he is ever ready, yet never in the way; he is a pleasant companion, and a comrade you can depend upon; he knows when to be serious and when to trifle, and he has a sure tact which enables him to trifle with gracefulness and to be serious with effect. He has the repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it lives in the world, and which has resources for its happiness at home when it cannot go abroad. He has a gift which serves him in public, and supports him in retirement, without which good fortune is but vulgar, and with which failure and disappointment have a charm. The art which tends to make a man all this, is in the object which it pursues as useful as the art of wealth or the art of health, though it is less susceptible of method, and less tangible, less certain, less complete in its result.” (From: , Section: Discourse VII, part 10, pages 206 and 207)
Requirements:
Thesis-driven (explicit thesis statement as the controlling idea for your essay)
2 pages minimum length (works cited page does not count toward this requirement)
The argument must feature a close analysis of the required readings/film
Correct MLA style throughout, including complete and correct works, cited page (I won’t be making this one for you, sadly)
Paragraphs organized around your own ideas, with synthesized evidence from our sources
1 outside source from a peer-reviewed periodical (likely from one of our databases)
Demonstrated skill for essay #3: synthesis
