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Quinta-feira, 12/12/2002
Teaching students not to think
Eduardo Carvalho

Como chegar lá

Os melhores alunos não são necessariamente os melhores - e provavelmente, como sugere Andrew Conway na Spectator, nem sejam bons o suficiente. Isso, vale lembrar, na Inglaterra. Por causa, basicamente, de dois motivos: da falta de curiosidade dos alunos, e da postura politicamente correta que são obrigados a assumir. Conclusão: não acumulam conhecimento além do que lhes é cobrado, e, sem desconfiar do que o professor ensina, não conseguem pensar sozinhos. Repito: isso na Inglaterra, onde existe debate sobre o assunto, e espaço, como na Spectator, para um professor universitário escrever sobre o assunto. E, vá lá, escrever como gente, e não como professor universitário. Acompanhe, a seguir, os imperdíveis melhores momentos:

There is only one problem - they lack even the slightest spark of initiative or intellectual curiosity.

The attitude of most students, as far as I can tell, is one of good-humoured resignation; they have learnt not to question what their teachers tell them - an attitude which, in many ways, I find more depressing than the plagiarism itself.

Of course one shouldn't get too nostalgic for the good old days. Correlli Barnett and others have argued that the effect of the old public-school-and-Oxbridge education was to instil a deadening Civil-Service mentality - the familiar 'on the one hand ...on the other hand' habit (or, as my A-level history teacher told me, 'Always use the word "whereas" at least once in each paragraph') - which left the nation's finest minds incapable of making firm decisions.

Today's students are terrified of taking a point of view, in case it turns out to be wrong. Confronted with a direct question - 'Was the Protestant Reformation a success?' - they will twist and turn to avoid giving a direct answer. 'In conclusion' - this, by the way, is a genuine quotation from a first-year essay, not my own invention - 'it is clear that while some have regarded the Reformation as a success, others have regarded it as a failure, and we may therefore say with confidence that it is a very complex matter.'

Eduardo Carvalho
12/12/2002 às 17h41

 

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