The question for Saturday, Feb. 15th, 1997
The following text has been paraphrased from Neil Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and blanks have been substituted for the explicit mentions of what Postman is talking about (Postman, N. "Amusing Ourselves to Death" Viking, New York: NY. 1985). Your task, should you accept it, is to fill in the blanks with that one word that is the subject of his argument.
"There are three commandments that form the philosophy of education that _________ offers.
Thou shalt have no prerequisites
Every program must be a package in itself. No previous knowledge is to be required. There must not even be a hint that learning is hierarchical, that it is an edifice constructed on a foundation. The learner must be allowed to enter at any point....In other words, in doing away with the idea of sequence and continuity in education, _________ undermines the idea that sequence and continuity have anything to do with thought itself.
Thou shalt induce no perplexity
A perplexed learner is one who will turn away. This means that there is nothing that has to be remembered, studied, applied or, worst of all, endured. It is assumed that any information, story or idea can be made immediately accessible, since contentment, not the growth, of the learner is paramount.
Thou shalt avoid exposition like the ten plagues visited on Egypt
Of all the enemies of _________ teaching, none is more formidable than exposition. Arguments, hypotheses, discussions, reasons, refutations or any of the traditional instruments of reasoned discourse turn _________ into third-rate printed matter. Thus, _________ teaching always takes the form of storytelling, conducted through dynamic images and supported by music.
The name we may properly give to an education without prerequisites, perplexity and exposition is entertainment. ...we cannot avoid the conclusion that reorientation toward learning is taking place. The consequences of this reorientation are to be observed not only in the decline of the potency of the classroom but, paradoxically, in the refashioning of the classroom into a place where both teaching and learning are intended to be vastly amusing activities."
The Question: What is the subject of Postman's commandments?
The Answer
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