Questions for Discussion
1. I believe that the defining characteristics of an ideal education according to Emerson is a guiding way of education, having the teachers work with each student individually and have the teachers inspire the students to think for themselves by giving thought-provoking questions and encouraging them to support their own thoughts.
2. Ways that Emerson’s advice is appropriate to a child’s first teacher and his/her parents is the advice of a guiding route. Do not punish harshly, instead encourage a child to do things and help a child to think for himself.
3. Emerson believes that it is better to teach the child arithmetic and Latin grammar because they require exact and correct performance. This will teach a child how and why they learn, and it will teach them performance over knowledge.
4. It shows how the teachers are losing their enthusiasm to teach with the more students they have and it also shows how students lose their excitement for learning due to the educational system.
5. The natural method Emerson refers to is the method of learning from other students and when learning from others you experience more, have fun and get more out of the activity than you would just sitting in a desk. In other words, the natural method is more effective.
6. Emerson says that schools force you to learn and believe certain things, lose sight of what’s important and that they don’t inspire their students to become any better than they already are, they never say you could be a musician, golfer, genius etc. Schools don’t have inventive people, but they have smart tutors, who care about accuracy and preciseness. The student becomes more sensitive and when everything starts to be organized and the student can’t think for himself, it makes things more difficult for the student.
7. It makes it a little more understandable to me because I am a teenage boy but I don’t think it would make a difference at all for a woman to read this. It...