[bpd1069]

It is also a wonderful way to teach your own children, and more importantly discuss issues that frustrate them.

Spitting out answers without having an question makes the answer a useless fact. Understanding is acquired. Understanding can never be forgotten.

I would never have gotten through my teenage daughter's high school years without it. I am a single father so relying on other traditional methods don't work as well as reasoning directly.

She earned a full scholarship to Dartmouth, was a Intel Semifinalist (genetic research), and is now studying Biology with a course concentration in Neuroscience.

I only taught her how to think about things, never facts.

[pbhjpbhj]

No facts at all?

I'm pretty Socratic in my approach but find it breaks down without elemental factual data to build the enquiry upon. Indeed I find it best for approaching assumed knowledge in order to build an ethos of enquiry.

Why does the moon 'shine' can be deduced by the student in part by the teacher first recalling associated facts; even if these are to be assumed true as part of the enquiry.

I was reading Laches recently - [Plato as] Socrates enquiring as to what children should be taught (fighting,duh!) - and Socrates destroys the others attempts to logically promote their views. Ultimately though they're left with nothing and have to come cap-in-hand and say 'alright bighead, how do you propose we educate our kids'. Sorry, I'm wittering ... I think the point is that I find it lacks as a constructive method, one needs experiment and axiomatically held data to support it.

[v0cab]

But couldn't her success be because you've gotten her used to dealing with the way Western education systems work?

I remember wanting to learn everything when I was younger, but was frustrated by teachers' attempts to 'make us think' about things, asking the class questions (most of which I knew the answer to already), and requiring tons of 'coursework'. I came to school to learn, not to work! If I want to design something, it'll be something useful for the world, not something that is being done at the same time by other students in my class, and likely by students in other classes and at other schools too.