Democracy literally means rule by the people. Yet in practice, democracy means that the important decisions within a society are made through public discussions, often among elected representatives. To play a productive role in political discussions, you need a set of skills that do not come naturally, which is why they have traditionally been taught in school. Unfortunately, our public schools in the United States are failing to teach these skills. Many people want to blame the students, the parents, or the teachers for this failure. Yet as I explain in Not Trivial: How Studying the Traditional Liberal Arts Can Set You Free, the public schools have been set up for failure, by policies made at a high level.
In this clip from the musical My Fair Lady, Professor Henry Higgins asks, “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” Many well‐meaning people oppose the teaching of grammar to children because they are afraid of reinforcing this kind of social prejudice:
Personally, I couldn’t care less whether people drop their aitches. Nor does it bother me when people say “I seen” instead of “I saw.” That sort of thing might mark one as being from a particular place or a particular social class, but it doesn’t actually impede communication. What bothers me is when people have such a poor grasp of the rules of English syntax that they can’t read anything written at above a fifth‐grade level and can’t express themselves coherently in writing.Photo by manitou2121
Recently, I wrote something that was copyedited by a poorly trained editor. She caught a few typos, for which I was grateful. However, she introduced more errors than she fixed. The most infuriating thing she did was to add the word therefore inappropriately in several places. If I had more than three statements in a paragraph, she’d often stick in therefore at the beginning of the last statement, just as you’d put the word and before the last item in a list that you’ve written out in a sentence. I asked her why she kept adding therefore. She said it was “for flow.” I started to explain why the added therefores made no sense, but then I realized that I was not talking with a Vulcan. It is probably pointless to try to reason with someone who is so illogical that she does not understand what therefore means.
Continue reading “What Does “Therefore” Mean?”
Logic is the study of arguments. By arguments, I don’t mean bickering. The word argument came from the Latin word argumentum, which meant evidence. An argument was originally the evidence you used to prove or disprove something. Logic is the study of how to use evidence to prove or disprove conclusions.
Before you can study logic, you need to know some basic grammatical concepts. That’s because grammar is the study of the structure of meaningful sentences, and arguments are made up of sentences. Yesterday, I gave a link to an excellent resource for studying English grammar. Today, I’m posting a link to an Internet resource for people who want to study logic. It’s from Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina. I strongly recommend that people go through the grammar review before they start studying logic!
Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut, has made an excellent Guide to Grammar and Writing available over the Internet: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm.
Most people in the United States were taught that it is impolite to talk about politics, religion, money, or sex in public. As a result, we don’t know how to talk politely about politics. Furthermore, most of our political discussions turn out to be impolite discussions about religion, money, or sex. After having listened to these impolite political discussions for many years, I think that the problem boils down to a basic failure of our educational system.
Why Conversations Get Ugly
Our schools are not teaching the skills that one needs in order to participate in rational, productive conversations. Our political conversations get ugly because people have never learned how to “use their words” to find truth and settle conflicts. The disciplines that help people learn how to do this are called the liberal arts. They were called the liberal arts because they were the kinds of skills that were considered appropriate for free people, as opposed to slaves. Slaves could be taught the mechanical arts or the servile arts to make them more valuable as workers. Instead of being taught how to find truth for themselves and advocate on their own behalf, they were given Noble Lies (propaganda) to keep them in line.