Readings for Paideia Discussion #2 (Literature/Reading Section of Notebook)
Reading #1

King, Jr., Dr. Martin Luther.  "On Education." Scholastic Magazine  January 1988: 25.

At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose.  A great majority of the so-called education people do not think logically and scientifically.  Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths.  To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education.  Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from fiction.
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and critically.  But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society.   The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.
We must remember that intelligence is not enough.  Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education.  The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.  The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.

Reflective Questions: 1) What is King’s definition of true education? What do you think he means by “the accumulated experience of social living”?

Reading #2
Pope, Alexander.  Essay on Criticism.  Poetry and Prose of Alexander Pope. Ed. Aubrey Williams.  New York: Houghton Mifflin, 
1969.

Excerpt from Essay on Criticism:

215	A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
216	Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
217	There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain
218	And drinking largely sobers us again.

Reflective Questions: 1) Why is it dangerous to have just a little knowledge? 2) According to Pope, having  a little knowledge is like drinking what? And having much knowledge is like what?

Reading #3

Bacon, Francis.  “Of Studies.”  Essays, Civil and Moral. The Harvard Classics.  1909–14. Bartleby.com. 2010. 1 Sept. 2010. Web.

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. 
To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. 
Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. 
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. 
Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores [Studies pass into and influence manners]. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores [splitters of hairs]. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers’ cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

Reflective Questions: 1) What are the three purposes of studies according to Bacon? 2) According to Bacon, is too much study good? Why or Why not?

Reflective Questions for Groening Cartoons: What/who is Matt Groening poking fun of (satirizing) about American public education? What is Groneing suggesting are problems with our current education system, some teachers and the way they teach, some student attitudes?