Over the past couple of weeks our students in the secondary group (ages 12-18) were asked to read and discuss the works of Apology and Crito by Plato. In these works, Socrates is on trial. “Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others.”, according to Plato. Basically, he was breaking molds or going against the status quo.
During the discussion group the following questions were brought up:
- Should an unjust law be obeyed?
- What can be done when a law is unjustly applied?
- What area citizens duties and responsibilities when a law is not duly made?
- Was Socrates justified in disobeying an explicit command, because it was unjust?
- How do you interpret the statement “The unexamined life is not worth living?”
Students were encouraged to bring out analogies to today’s current problems and by so doing are learning that human nature never changes and so to learn about it now in their life is valuable and gives them a great advantage going forward in whatever they do. Relational arguments were brought up regarding forced purchase of a product like the ACA (Obabmacare), laws forcing union members to pay for programs they don’t support and police seizing property and selling it when the owner broke no law.
This was the first of many exercises for these youths and it revealed an important fact. Our youth today will rise to the challenge when the bar is raised. To see the fire in their eyes during the discussion was exhilarating! Even those that are usually quiet spoke up and offered their own perspectives. We saw ideas and opinions being debated, respected and challenged to be backed up with facts and not just emotion. They were also challenged to not only bring forth a problem but to address it with solutions.
We saw decorum with a group of “teenagers” that you scarcely see today in adults but this is why we teach these skills at Cedar Academy, because we need a generation that knows how to find truth through reason, critical thinking and different perspectives. The goal was not to be right but to find the truth and the best answer to a problem, though it may not be perfect.
They also discovered in themselves that they are capable of doing great things and perhaps you are living a better life when things are examined.
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