Socrates Was A Bad Teacher Analysis

Todd Eckerson and coauthoring students’ Jamie Linz, Charles Lugton, Robbie Miller, Lauren Polo, and Morgan Stair’s ‘Socrates Was a Bad Teacher’ is an evaluation of the teaching methods of the late great Socrates with respect to his interlocutor Meno. The authors of this article deem Socrates to be a bad teacher for three primary reasons. The first being his lack of communication of the expectations of his interlocutor in their dialogue. The second fault of Socrates is his presumptive judgements of Meno and his treatment of Meno accordingly. Lastly, the third reason as to why the authors deem Socrates a bad teacher is his willingness to give up on students.
The authors draw this conclusion, that Socrates is a bad teacher, from Plato’s dialogue “Meno” which depicts two characters, Socrates and Meno.

The authors note that Learning specialist Grant Wiggins describes Meno as a "conventionally successful student … [whose currency is] thoughtless mastery” (84); the authors elaborate on this description to say that Meno is “incapable of original thought, totally dependent upon the ideas of others” (84). Alternatively, the prevailing scholarship holds Socrates to be “the wisest of men and the greatest of teachers” (84). Thus, Meno is historically left with to blame for the outcome of Plato’s “Meno”. The first reason as to why the authors deem Socrates a bad teacher is his lack of communication of his expectations. In the dialogue Socrates makes no clear objective for Meno to strive for. Socrates merely battles Meno’s responses leaving him confused and irritated. The authors refer to NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Secondary School Educators and reveal numerous errors on Socrates part. In fact, Socrates does not “maintain an environment that fosters respect” (84). Instead, Socrates belittles Meno and merely points out his