(For information regarding my Shakespeare Lectures: georgewalllectures@gmail.com)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

One of the most dangerous things that can happen in a classroom is ideological indoctrination, and it happens a lot, and at every level. It's dangerous because it doesn't lead to creative thinking, only to intellectual submission, no matter how "good" are the perceived intentions of the instructor. Educators should keep in mind that their goal should be a search for truth, for both their students and themselves, and that even-handed consideration of every available viewpoint is the way to achieve it. Andre Gide once said it best, "Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it". All of this is another reason for keeping the study of Shakespeare central in education, because as literature, it never loses sight of these concepts. It raises all sorts of philosophical and moral questions without answering them. And what educators of experience, from Socrates to today, usually find is that raising them is all that is necessary. The student, or audience member, will do the rest.

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