Supplementary Notes for Unit 7
The following is a brief summary of an article by Tweed and Lehman (2002), "Learning Considered Within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches". The article is relevant to our purposes as we explore stage theories of cognitive development, from the standpoint of the question of cultural universality vs. particularity.
The authors examine two approaches to teaching and learning, which they style "Confucian" and "Socratic" after two great educators, one from an Eastern cultural tradition, the other from a Western cultural tradition. Their interest is in cross-cultural educational practices, but toward the end of the article, they note correctly that both approaches play at least some role in the educational practices of most cultures. Thus they could be styled "appreciative" and "critical" approaches respectively; I will use those labels below.
Appreciative learning or thoughtful acquisition approaches include the following techniques, assumptions, and methods.
1. Effortful learning: Learning is the result of hard work (not innate ability).
2. Moral emphasis: A major purpose of learning is the cultivation of virtue, or the moral transformation of the individual.
3. Pragmatic emphasis: Learning for the sake of learning is a foreign idea. Learning is a means to an end (the application of knowledge in real-world contexts to solve problems), not an end in itself.
4. Acquisition of essentials: There is an emphasis on learning the basics or the foundational elements of a discipline, which often (though not always) means a relative emphasis on rote learning and memorization. These are not "mindless" techniques but are an essential means to the end of understanding and eventual application.
5. Respectful learning: A learning goal is to come to admire, respect, and value the great ideas and works of the past. A good way to learn is to find someone who is further along the path of knowledge and to emulate that person.
Critical learning or explorative inquiry approaches include the following techniques, assumptions, and methods.
1. Self-generated knowledge: Discovering truth for oneself is more valuable than memorizing the truths of others. Rote memorization often conceals a failure to understand at a deeper, more conceptual level.
2. Tendency to question: Learning comes from questioning established ideas (including one's own). The educated person is one who knows how little s/he really knows.
3. Evaluative thinking: Learning means not just knowing facts, but understanding the process by which those factual conclusions were drawn. It means being able to use those processes to generate new facts, ideas, and insights.
4. Focus on error: Knowing how to find flaws in others' (and one's own) thinking is a core intellectual skill. Rational skepticism is encouraged.
5. Theoretical focus: Concepts and ideas are valuable as ends in themselves, whether or not they correspond to objective reality (presuming there is such a thing). Mental curiosity and the thirst for "pure" knowledge are significant values and ideals.
Which approach to learning best characterizes you? Why?
The authors argue that a flexible approach to teaching and learning, that does not unduly emphasize either approach at the risk of missing valuable insights from the other, is best. An overly "Confucian" approach may become conformist and mindless; an overly "Socratic" approach may become disrespectful and blind to the value of the great ideas of history and culture.