"Is Socrates Sour Grapes?", 1990-12-5
Title
"Is Socrates Sour Grapes?", 1990-12-5
Description
A letter from Gloria Kaufman to all other IUSB Faculty members.
This letter points out that men and women have been shown to have different learning styles. Competitive and confrontational classroom environments are not the best route of learning for women, so professors should incorporate cooperation and collaborative learning at some level into their classes.
This letter points out that men and women have been shown to have different learning styles. Competitive and confrontational classroom environments are not the best route of learning for women, so professors should incorporate cooperation and collaborative learning at some level into their classes.
Creator
Gloria Kaufman
Source
Gloria Kaufman Papers, Indiana University South Bend Archives and Special Collections
Date
1990-12-5
Rights
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Identifier
Kaufman_Box1_Folder41_K038
Text
INDIANA UNIVERSITY/IUSB
Interdepartmental Communication
TO: IUSB Faculty ROM: Gloria Kaufman
· Directorof Women's Studies DATE: December 5, 1990
Is Socrates Sour Grapes?
Mail Codes II & III
Women's Ways of Knowing (M.F. Belenky et al., Basic Books, 1986) which is both in our library and in our bookstore (under CORE BOOKS, WOMEN'S STUDIES} gathers together several years of research and pedagogy and makes a convincing case that women and men in the U.S. learn optimally under quite different conditions. Whereas male students generally accommodate adversarial confrontation, Socratic probing, and competition, female students generally learn more efficiently in cooperative and collaborative environments. Because Women's Studies students have been exposed to non-traditional classes at IUSB and to a plethora of studies on new pedagogies at Women's Studies conferences (14 of them attended national meetings in June, 1990, at the University of Akron), some of them seem to be losing patience with (or worse yet, perspective on) traditional classes.
I have fielded an alarming number of complaints this fall about professors who were rigid, antagonistic, concerned with promoting only their own viewpoints, etc. My response has been carefully to explain that for two millennia Socratic confrontation has been used as a device to open students' minds and that the method shows concern for improving students rather than the antagonism they mistakenly feel. In every case I have succeeded in dissipating the student's anger and frustration, but the number of hours I have spent ironically defending Socrates leads me to suspect we have a growing problem. I have a few suggestions.
In freshman orientation, it might be pointed out that at the university there are a variety of teaching methods, ranging from adversarial to collaborative, and that the Socratic method is regarded by those who use it as a good device for clarifying issues, that it is NOT a personal attack and should not be so construed. It is rather based upon respect for students' intellectual capabilities. It might also be helpful if those who question students with Socratic intensity would explain their method at the beginning of the semester. (In some cases, of course, that might not be possible or might be self-defeating. But in other cases, it could avoid the painful kind of misunderstandings that are unfortunately on the rise.)
The work of Belenky et al. is already having profound impact around the country, in Canada, England, and Australia. Because adversarial teaching methods have such negative effects on many women (they have to work to restore self-esteem), it is likely that university educators will be suggesting some serious changes in the 1990s.
Since our faculty is so intellectually vital, I thought many of you would like to know about the recent work in Women's Studies -- work that might explain some problems we have sensed in our own classrooms.
Since women are generally socialized to cooperate while men are generally socialized to compete, as long as the rewards of learning go to the most competitive students, women are disadvantaged.
Is Socrates sour grapes? No! Yes! Maybe.
NO! We must continue to be allowed to present students with challenging questions. That is too valuable (and successful) a technique to abandon.
YES! Challenging is one thing. Ripping apart everything students offer and finding nothing of value in their presentations sometimes so demolishes their confidence that they no longer clearly hear what we say. (Some even drop our classes.)
Maybe. Maybe not. There are certainly ways of posing questions that are affirming and encouraging as well as probing. There are certainly times when a complacent class could use a healthy Socratic jolt. All the current talk about cooperation and collaborative learning raises serious logistical problems. Where will it go? No one knows.
Finally, our best teaching generally emerges when we are most ourselves, and whatever the talk in pedagogical circles, at the university we should continue to support the rich variety of teaching approaches that we have been nourishing at IUSB.
Interdepartmental Communication
TO: IUSB Faculty ROM: Gloria Kaufman
· Directorof Women's Studies DATE: December 5, 1990
Is Socrates Sour Grapes?
Mail Codes II & III
Women's Ways of Knowing (M.F. Belenky et al., Basic Books, 1986) which is both in our library and in our bookstore (under CORE BOOKS, WOMEN'S STUDIES} gathers together several years of research and pedagogy and makes a convincing case that women and men in the U.S. learn optimally under quite different conditions. Whereas male students generally accommodate adversarial confrontation, Socratic probing, and competition, female students generally learn more efficiently in cooperative and collaborative environments. Because Women's Studies students have been exposed to non-traditional classes at IUSB and to a plethora of studies on new pedagogies at Women's Studies conferences (14 of them attended national meetings in June, 1990, at the University of Akron), some of them seem to be losing patience with (or worse yet, perspective on) traditional classes.
I have fielded an alarming number of complaints this fall about professors who were rigid, antagonistic, concerned with promoting only their own viewpoints, etc. My response has been carefully to explain that for two millennia Socratic confrontation has been used as a device to open students' minds and that the method shows concern for improving students rather than the antagonism they mistakenly feel. In every case I have succeeded in dissipating the student's anger and frustration, but the number of hours I have spent ironically defending Socrates leads me to suspect we have a growing problem. I have a few suggestions.
In freshman orientation, it might be pointed out that at the university there are a variety of teaching methods, ranging from adversarial to collaborative, and that the Socratic method is regarded by those who use it as a good device for clarifying issues, that it is NOT a personal attack and should not be so construed. It is rather based upon respect for students' intellectual capabilities. It might also be helpful if those who question students with Socratic intensity would explain their method at the beginning of the semester. (In some cases, of course, that might not be possible or might be self-defeating. But in other cases, it could avoid the painful kind of misunderstandings that are unfortunately on the rise.)
The work of Belenky et al. is already having profound impact around the country, in Canada, England, and Australia. Because adversarial teaching methods have such negative effects on many women (they have to work to restore self-esteem), it is likely that university educators will be suggesting some serious changes in the 1990s.
Since our faculty is so intellectually vital, I thought many of you would like to know about the recent work in Women's Studies -- work that might explain some problems we have sensed in our own classrooms.
Since women are generally socialized to cooperate while men are generally socialized to compete, as long as the rewards of learning go to the most competitive students, women are disadvantaged.
Is Socrates sour grapes? No! Yes! Maybe.
NO! We must continue to be allowed to present students with challenging questions. That is too valuable (and successful) a technique to abandon.
YES! Challenging is one thing. Ripping apart everything students offer and finding nothing of value in their presentations sometimes so demolishes their confidence that they no longer clearly hear what we say. (Some even drop our classes.)
Maybe. Maybe not. There are certainly ways of posing questions that are affirming and encouraging as well as probing. There are certainly times when a complacent class could use a healthy Socratic jolt. All the current talk about cooperation and collaborative learning raises serious logistical problems. Where will it go? No one knows.
Finally, our best teaching generally emerges when we are most ourselves, and whatever the talk in pedagogical circles, at the university we should continue to support the rich variety of teaching approaches that we have been nourishing at IUSB.
Collection
Citation
Gloria Kaufman, “"Is Socrates Sour Grapes?", 1990-12-5,” IU South Bend Archives Digital Collections, accessed May 6, 2024, https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/items/show/187.