Defending Against the Indesensible

Defending Against the Indefensible

1. The allusion is suitable for postman’s topic and thesis because

1. The difference between the traditional function of education and the potential function of education is that the traditional function requires educators to condition students to believe in what they are told, in the way the are told. The potential function of education involves educators teaching students to reach their full potential in school.

1. Semantic sophistication is when a person is open minded, willing to consider new ideas and new things; unprejudiced, until they are taught in school. For example, kids are a good example of semantic sophistication because they are happy, open minded positive until they are start learning things and start having biased opinions and negative thoughts and prejudice

1. The trivium was a system created in medieval times by educators which involved grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

1. Grammar logic and rhetoric are all meta-subjects. Meta-subjects are subjects of subjects for example,

1. Postman is trying to explain that students just knowing the language of a subject is not enough. He says that students and educators should know the definitions of answers; know how to ask questions and how to or when to use metaphors. Postman says that there is no enemy except our ignorance on how to proceed against it.

9.

1. The first principle is definition. Definition helps us achieve our goals. They do not have the power to stop us from achieving our purpose. Definitions will always be biased because men wrote them and not god. It is our job to spot out that bias and question who wrote the definition and for what purpose. The authority of definitions rest entirely on its usefulness and not its correctness. Who ever has the power to define is our master but who ever holds an alternate definition can never be his slave.
2. The second principle is questions. Question are what determines the answers we get. All knowledge comes from questions that have been asked in the past. They the most powerful intellectual tools we have. Students should be taught how to ask questions in general. They should be taught that when a vague question is asked, a vaguely formed answer will be received. The way we ask questions determine the answer; so we should all learn how to ask questions
3. The third principle is words. words especially the easy ones such as; right, correct, true or law are harder to understand. The larger words on the other side tend to be less confusing then the simple ones because the generally are able to be pinpointed to a definition. It is ideal for students and the society to know the truly difficult words in language.
4. The fourth principle is metaphors. They have a huge influence on the way we think about things. Students must realize how much metaphors are used in the English language. Students should be aware that metaphors shape arguments, organize perceptions and control feelings because If they don’t understand metaphors their thinking and understating become limited.
5.   The fifth principle is reification. Reification means confusing words with things. It is a thinking error with multiple manifestations, some which can be entertaining and some which can be harmful. Advertisers politicians and scholars all use alluring names to what is not there, which is reification. There should be a prominent place in our studies so that students will know how reification works and how it works them over.
6. The sixth principle is the style and tone of language.