Plato's Views On Education Analysis

The truth hurts, sometimes more than others, but this piercing two-edged sword is what shapes us into what we become in life; either good people, from learning and speaking truth or bad people from hiding the truth and speaking lies. One instance in my life, where seeing the truthful insight was disturbing, was when I, with the help of my family, saw that it was time to get out of an abusive relationship. It was like any destructive and worldly relationship, where one feels completely enveloped in a fog of that person and their manipulation; I felt like there was nothing outside of my own, self-made cave. I saw the shadows of what I thought were representations of love and trust, but it was only my imagination that took those shadows and

This example is what Plato calls putting the capacity of sight into your soul. (Chaffee, 2016, pg. 240). On the other hand, turning your whole soul toward reality, is where the teacher can learn from their students and does not teach just to spew out information. (Chaffee, 2016, pg. 240). Rather, the instructor teaches with the intent that every student learns in a different manner and has the ability to contribute to the class. Also, knowing that every student has the ability to contribute to the life and teaching style of the teacher themselves. One education experience I had, where I attempted to put the capacity of sight into my soul, was when I tried to cram Algebra into my brain without truly sitting down to have knowledge in the subject. I believed that with knowing all the terms and formulas I would be able to excel, this proved to be a wrong strategy. However, with the same subject, I turned my whole soul to reality and sat down to fully understand the subject, my grades improved exponentially due to this simple change in my view of

However, thinking about this phrase critically it does relate to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and more importantly, to our culture today. The danger comes in our culture, when people begin to become content with ignorance, and never seek for understanding beyond their own perception. This one fissure in a person’s, or even society’s, mindset can be the open door for a plethora of evil. Even one of the deadliest dictators in history, Adolf Hitler, revealed how this weakness is taken advantage of, “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” (Hitler). Specifically, social media and the media itself are partaking in shaping the prisoners’ mindsets by releasing half-truths or shadows onto the wall of people’s minds. The restraints are partially set by cultural standards, such as political correctness, and also partially set by the person’s own will to not think beyond the words they see on a social media or a media outlet page. Many people only live moment by moment and believe that they do not have time to reflect and think for themselves. Then, these people, only rely on what others say they should think about different topics. This viscous cycle is what has engulfed our culture today and the sad part of the story is that some people in our culture are willingly ignorant, and only a few will be able to see the light of truth. If the culture cannot bear the light of truth