Burns And Plato Student Analysis

The dialogue between Burns and Plato discusses the importance of student and teacher relationships. Plato supposes that the physical presence of a teacher is essential for the reception of knowledge even though he does not believe the teacher can simply transfer the information to his or her student. A teacher’s presence is of upmost importance because the proximity of a student and teacher creates a spark of motivation for learning. Burn explains this phenomenon as how “people [can] learn from people they love and remember… things that arouse emotion” (172). A self-generating appreciation of understanding is present when a student interacts with a professor who is engaging and passionate of the subject, something that is unattainable through

Phaedrus believed “the building in question was not holy ground” (Pirsig,185). In comparison, the loss of accreditation from the university paralleled the repurposing of the church building; the university is not a group of buildings but is a “state of mind” (Pirsig, 186). The physical campus is not the real university, but the real university is the body of reason students and professors create in their minds. Phaedrus’s Church of Reason speech exemplifies Burns and Plato’s discussion of the student/teacher relationship. Phaedrus would argue that a student could generate the passion for knowledge independently from the physical presence of a teacher just as a university may exist without physical bounds. An online class is not the “legal corporation” that can “generate new knowledge or evaluate ideas” (Pirsig,187), however is is the student’s reason that is its own property and “continuing body” (Pirsig,186) that generates knowledge. A student does not need a physical representation of knowledge such as a teacher or educational institution to receive knowledge or the passion to

Emphasizing his Church of Reason speech, a student should be motivated to learn regardless of its external influences, either being location or motivations. As noticed through Phaedrus’ experiment, the same type of students who excelled with grades were able to motivate themselves in the grade-less atmosphere, similar to how the failing students kept failing regardless of their external environment. The same thing could be said with an online class. Students who excelled in class, surrounded by their motivated peers should have the same capability to excel when forced to manage their own class time and self-motivation. On the other hand, the less motivated students will not succeed in an online learning environment because they learn from having the immediate feedback of a teacher. Although they do not succeed in the classroom either, the student may be receiving a greater amount of knowledge than if they were trying to self-motivate themselves at home through an online