Plato’s Apology Essay -- essays research papers

Plato’s Apology Socrates was a very simple man who did not have many material possessions and spoke in a plain, conversational manner. Acknowledging his own ignorance, he engaged in conversations with people claiming to be experts, usually in ethical matters. By asking simple questions, Socrates gradually revealed that these people were in fact very confused and did not actually know anything about the matters about which they claimed to be an expert. Socrates felt that the quest for wisdom and the instruction of others through dialogue and inquiry were the highest aims in life. He felt that "The unexamined life is not worth living." Plato's Apology is the speech Socrates made at his trial. Socrates was charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by the state and corrupting the youth of Athens. In The Apology, Socrates attempted to defend himself. He spoke in a very simple, uncomplicated manner. He explained that he had no experience with the law and courts and that he would just use honesty and directness. He also explained that he behaved in the way that he did because of a prophecy by the oracle at Delphi, which claimed that he was the wisest of all men. Recognizing that he was ignorant in most things, Socrates concluded that he must be wiser than other men only in that he knew that he knew nothing. Socrates explained that he considered it his duty to question people in order to expose their false wisdom as ignorance. By doing this, the youth of Athens bega...

Are Computers Compromising Education?

Language Analysis – â€Å"Are Computers Compromising Education? † In the letter â€Å"Are Computers Compromising Education? †, A. Jones, the principal of Hightower College, explains his reasons for banning the use of computers in classrooms, informing parents of the many issues that it would have imposed on students. Jones addresses the issue in a very reasoned but concerned tone, which gradually becomes more assertive as he attempts to completely convince parents to agree with his contention, that Australia’s â€Å"computer-based ‘education revolution’ represents a false promise to the Australian public†, as it inflicts a variety of health hazards on students and is preventing them from learning â€Å"the essential social and intellectual skills that they need to flourish in the adult world†. With a formal and carefully structured, yet at times quite emotive style of writing, Jones effectively uses a variety of persuasive language techniques to justify the rationality of his decision, and to make it clear to parents that the negatives of having laptops in classrooms â€Å"far outweigh the potential benefits†. Jones appeals to the reader’s common sense through the use of seemingly logical statements, which make it seem as though his point of view is the only reasonable one, and that it should be obvious that students should not be allowed laptops in class due to the â€Å"obviously unhealthy† effects it has on not only their education, but their social lives as well. Also, in case his position as principal doesn’t give him enough credibility amongst the parents of his college, Jones appeals to the authority of Todd Oppenheimer, a leading social theorist in the US, who states that a computer-centred classroom means â€Å"downplaying the importance of conversation, of careful listening, and of expressing oneself in person†. This use of reliable evidence works with reason and logic to convince parents that Jones arguments are accurate and sensible, and that â€Å"students’ brains are becoming deadened† as they are â€Å"sadly being lost in today’s technological age†, which is stifling vital qualities in them and â€Å"fostering negative traits†. The image which was sent along with the letter to parents, shows a group of students â€Å"being nourished by traditional texts† and being aided with their work by a teacher. It highlights the importance of teacher to student learning and the essential social skills that kids can acquire through constant human interaction and direct communication, as opposed to computer-based learning and instant messaging. This image helps to support the principal’s arguments, because after parents recognise the necessity of teacher to student learning from the image, hearing that the quality of teachers declines with â€Å"every dollar spent on the purchase and maintenance of a computer† causes them to feel morally obliged to agree with Jones in the fear that they would otherwise be compromising their children’s education. The image also combines with Jones’ use of hyperbole and emotive language when he states that â€Å"by short-changing our teachers, we rob our children of a future† to give the cumulative effect of both evoking an emotional response from parents before their basic reason and logic comes into play, and shocking them into accepting his point of view that â€Å"the real world is inhabited by people, not machines, and our classrooms should reflect this reality† by ditching the idea of having laptops in classrooms, and encouraging more interaction among students and teachers in order to prepare our kids for the future. In addition to the array of emotional appeals and hyperbolic statements the writer applies throughout the letter, Jones appeals to the parent’s hip-pocket nerve by bringing to light the fact that â€Å"the cost of ‘down time’ – where the computer is being repaired – far exceeds the initial purchase cost of the unit†. Since money is one of the main driving forces in everyone’s lives, this use of persuasive language effectively influences parents to approve of the principals decision solely through their desire to be financially secure. Jones eliminates any reason for parents to oppose his views through appeals to their sense of fear and their morals and values, by referring to this issue as a â€Å"worrying phenomenon† and claiming that the constant use of computers has â€Å"a detrimental effect on children’s learning abilities†¦ and could have other damaging effects on the brain†. The negative connotations in words like ‘detrimental’ and ‘worrying’ add to his alarming tone in order to arouse fear and anxiety in parents by suggesting that if they push for laptops to be made available in classrooms, they would be doing a great deal of harm to their own children. This compels the parents of students at Hightower College to share in the principal’s point of view that the school should not be â€Å"prepared to compromise the learning abilities of students in support of a fad†. Throughout his letter, Jones relies on his concerned, yet assertive tone and use of reason and logic, to really sway the parents of Hightower College to believe that his decision to ban the use of computers in classrooms is obviously the right thing to do. The inclusion of evidence from an authoritative position, even higher than his position of principal, adds extra legitimacy to his arguments by presenting parents with a credible point of view. Jones also constantly plays with the parent’s emotions and morals while appealing to their sense of fear, because as parents they would never want to â€Å"compromise [their] children’s ability to learn† or cause any â€Å"damaging effects [to] the brains† of their kids. Jones’ application of a variety of persuasive language techniques allows him to effectively convey his arguments, and the cumulative effect that they give helps to convince parents of his point of view, that â€Å"we need to resist the temptation to dumb down the classroom, and reinstate a more responsible and human environment for our children†.

Essay Classroom Observation Report - 1698 Words

When thinking about the nature of students, I think about how the students behave. I believe that the behavior of students as a group reflects eclecticism meaning that every child behaves differently although every behavior can be integrated. While doing my observation in a second grade classroom, I have met students that are extremely social and active as well as students who are rather quiet and reserved. Usually when an extremely social child is seated with a quiet child, the quiet child will not say much so the extremely social child will not have anyone to talk to. Sometimes though when the extremely social and active child lines up near the quiet children the noise will start. There will either be a lot of talking or an†¦show more content†¦An example of this is that the teacher teaches the students to be honest. She allows the students to check their own work in class with a red pencil marking the ones that they answered correctly with a check mark and marking the answers they answered incorrectly with an X. She later looks through the papers to make sure that the students are being honest. One day when I went through the papers, I found that all of the students were honest. When I become a teacher I am going to make sure that the students are honest and that they treat each other with respect. I will encourage the students to strive towards moral excellence. Although I agree mainly with absolutism, I can also see the side of relativism. If you lie to protect someone from danger it can be morally acceptable to lie. This can be thought of as the Socratic method, meaning that in some situations you have to rethink your ideas, to come to a more clear idea of a philosophical idea of what is right or wrong according to the situation. Really, there is no correct nature of knowledge. The overall purpose of education is to enrich the lives of our youth so that they can one day be productive citizens in our society. The way I see today’s youth is that they are what the world’s future depends on. Children need a good education from the primary years so they will be able to maintain good academic knowledgeShow MoreRelatedObservation Report On Classroom Observation1883 Words   |  8 PagesData Report The following data was gathered while fulfilling duties as a principal intern at Theresa Bunker Elementary School. The data was observed during five to seven minutes of classroom observation as part of a walk-through in the spring of the current school year. My cooperating supervisor for my internship was able to go on these walk-throughs with me in order to have a productive reflection meeting afterwards. This elementary school has two of each grade level from Kindergarten to sixthRead MoreClassroom Observation Report Observation1759 Words   |  8 PagesTami Lesser June 4, 2017 Observation Report: I observed a girls second grade classroom in Arie Crown Hebrew Day School. The class had 28 students. There was one head teacher and one teacher’s assistant in the class. Bathrooms were located down the hall and students did not need to ask permission to use them, however, only one student could leave at a time. Students lockers were located right outside the classroom, they can leave their coats and boots there if need be. The room was quite large consideringRead MoreReport on Classroom Observation1945 Words   |  8 PagesREPORT on CLASS OBSERVATION Introduction Internship teaching is the culminating experience of the first degree program in education. It provides the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge on pedagogies in the actual classroom setting and gain the experience. The internees are exposed to an environment where they encounter learners for the first time and face them with multitude of ideas, approaches, techniques and processes. During the internship period I got ample opportunities to demonstrateRead MoreReport on Classroom Observation1932 Words   |  8 PagesREPORT on CLASS OBSERVATION Introduction Internship teaching is the culminating experience of the first degree program in education. It provides the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge on pedagogies in the actual classroom setting and gain the experience. The internees are exposed to an environment where they encounter learners for the first time and face them with multitude of ideas, approaches, techniques and processes. During the internship period I got ample opportunities to demonstrateRead MoreObservation Report On Classroom Observation1404 Words   |  6 PagesFor this observation, I observed in a fifth-grade elementary school classroom at Dunlap Elementary School in Yucaipa. The teacher, Mrs. Aldulaimi, of the classroom has been teaching full time for the past five years but has been substituting for twenty plus years. She has a class of about thirty so students but as of recently many of her students are moving away and changing school districts. She really seems to be passionate about teaching but may appea r overly strict with the children. The physicalRead MoreClassroom Observation Report944 Words   |  4 PagesGeneral Observation: As I entered into the science room, the students were being given a science â€Å"dipstick† labeled â€Å"Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems†. This â€Å"dipstick† sums up the unit that the students have been working on where they created their ecosystem posters and determined which animals belong in each ecosystem. The teacher explained to the students that she calls these â€Å"dipsticks† instead of â€Å"tests† because these documents are more focused on seeing what they took away from theRead MoreClassroom Observation Report1167 Words   |  5 Pageseighteen years of experience and she used technology consistently at home and in a classroom. She also worked in a computer related business. This particular class was an upper level reading class. They had to research information about an athlete. The first page of power point was a picture of the athlete and a portion of a report that they had found on the internet. The second page of the report consisted of using a digital camera in which the teacher took a picture of eachRead MoreObservation Report About Classroom Observation1630 Words   |  7 PagesI have visited the Cranbury Presbyterian Nursery School and have observed the classroom in great detail during my last three visits. In this preschool classroom, there are usually 8-10 students present whose ages are from 2 to 2  ½. There are also three adult staff present without including myself. This classroom consists of two rooms which are connected to each other. One room only has a large circle rug and a rectangular table. The other room adjacent to it is slightly larger and contains multipleRead MoreEssay on Classroom Observation Report2176 Words   |  9 Pagesteacher and her students in an observation I did in a false beginner English as Second Language (ESL) class at the University of Texas. The purpose of this report is to reflect on the teacher’s teaching strategies and class environment in relation with what I have learned in my Teaching Methods class. Throughout this paper, a variety of students’ and teacher’s behavior will be discussed that will be analyzed in the reflection section. II. Before the Observation After I arranged a dayRead MoreClassroom Observation Report Essay1592 Words   |  7 PagesClassroom Observation Memphis Intermediate School is located in the city of Memphis, TN. It is comprised of grades 3-5 with a total enrollment of 464 students and a student/teacher ratio of 20. Memphis has been in operation for only seven years and is a public school. The ethnicity of the student body is largely White at 86%, followed by Hispanic 6%