My Take on "Discussion in a Democratic Society" Chapter 1

Hello Readers.

For those of you who plan to become teachers or those of you who plan to improve their communication or analyzing skills I strongly recommend Discussion in a Democratic Society. Namely for those readers who aspire to become teachers, this chapter focuses on discussion and how teachers can facilitate good and bad discussion. To me, this chapter helped me understand how personal bias can get in the way of good discussion. As teachers, we must be in control of the room - classroom management - in order for our students to stay on task. What this chapter is helping new or experienced teachers with is the art of allowing discussion to control the room in a positive way so that students can increase their own understandings of the topic(s) at hand. "[Discussion] is a valuable and inspiring means for revealing the diversity of opinion that lies just below the surface of almost any complex issue". This quote really struck me while reading this chapter because I feel that it's right-on-point with what we as people forget. People allow their emotions to interfere with their reason which diminishes the discussion and leads to a limitation of growth. John Dewey discusses - no pun intended - the importance of growth, "the development of an ever-increasing capacity for learning and an appreciation of and sensitivity to learning undertaken by others. What I gathered from this was that growth can only happen if the conversation allows for the discussion to grow in concentration and complexity. A way for this to happen is for the teacher to be on his/her toes so to speak. As the conversation gets off the rails, it's up to the teacher to ask open-ended questions to shift the students thoughts away from the off-topic rant to a much more appropriate thought on the topic at hand. To me, this calls for tremendous responsibility. If we define discussion as a main foundation to success and learning within the classroom, as teachers we need to be on-top of the situation at hand and try to predict how the conversation will go after every question is stated. And you thought open-heart surgery was difficult?!? As readers, we mustn't forget what lies in the title of the chapter "Democratic".  As I said previously about classroom management, that's ONE key component. As teachers we must allow for discussion to become democratic allowing multiple opinions arise and multiple ways of viewing the world to arise. Not one person has the right answer all the time, it may lie within the student(s) who are afraid of speaking in a public manner. I'd like to point-out that what I've just discussed is only the tip of the iceberg so-to-speak when it comes to this chapter. Give it a good read, you'll enjoy it! 

Cheers.
Ryan