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What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 10:37 pm
by Jenn

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 10:40 pm
by Leslie

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 23rd, 2004, 9:06 am
by Erekose
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Chapter 5 Back on This Side of the Door


Its when Peter and Susan are asking Digory's advice about Lucy's story.

'Nothing is more probable,' said the Professor, taking off his spectacles and beginning to polish them, while he muttered to himself, 'I wonder what they do teach them at these schools."



Ironically this is something I often wonder myself. An important thing to learn is HOW to learn. And around here the ability to think and reach conclusions based on events and things said is something that emost people and not just the children seem to lack.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 23rd, 2004, 2:02 pm
by Jenn

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 23rd, 2004, 7:50 pm
by a_hnau
I don't think there is any shortage of voices... Screwtape says somewhere that the devils have managed to get the sensible writers pretty much ignored. People say that Christians don't make their views known - hence we are in a way 'blamed' for the general prevalence of amoral values and so on. I disagree - having listened to BBC Radio 4 a lot recently, including some of Westminster Today, I have several times heard very explicitly and clearly, on national media and in the House of Commons, some views I would strongly agree with - pro-life, against unrestrained genetic experimentation, and so on. It's just that these views are 'unpopular' and derided. Well, people will think what they want to, but it's worse for them if truth has been plainly stated and they have chosen to disregard it.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 24th, 2004, 9:09 am
by john

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: October 24th, 2004, 2:55 pm
by Jenn

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 4th, 2004, 12:31 pm
by Larry W.
Perhaps that during the time The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe was set in --during the Second World War-- reading and studying fairy tales might not have been encouraged in the elementary schools. I recall reading that Lewis had some negative experiences with the schools as a child, and this may have been a comment relating to that, although I am not certain. At that time stories about other worlds would often have been frowned upon-- whether they were true or not. When the Narnia books were published, fantasy stories became more popular as imagination would then be considered to be more beneficial for children.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 4th, 2004, 6:14 pm
by loeee

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 5th, 2004, 4:15 am
by Larry W.
I'm not so sure that it isn't about fantasy. They are talking about the existence of other worlds. Although it is true that there is a certain logic in believing what Lucy says is true, as the Professor says, they are also talking the existence of Narnia outside this world. To grasp that such a world exists (have the imagination for it) one must read the right books, e.g. fairy tales. Remember Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, who had read only books about exports and drains but needed something more imaginative. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy also needed an understanding of fairy tales to help in knowing Narnia and later, Aslan. It is closer to a knowledge of the heart. This is something different than mathematical logic, which certainly would not be enough to comprehend Narnia and the Lion who made it.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 11th, 2004, 4:32 am
by Guest
Maybe it is about both fantasy and logic. Perhaps the point is that the two do not have to be seperate. Some things that we deem fantasy, like the existance of other worlds, are not logically impossible, but due to what is often taught in schools, we tend to think they are.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 11th, 2004, 11:36 am
by a_hnau
See also the bit in Perelandra where Lewis writes about the psychological effect of discovering that there are creatures (eldila) who fall across the distinction (now shown to be a false dichotomy) between material and incorporeal (I'm at work so can't dig out exactly how he expresses this).

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 11th, 2004, 3:00 pm
by Larry W.
I guess this is something like debating whether science or mathematics is closer to the truth. In math one deals with numbers (something I'm not very good at) but you always (or nearly always) can know if your answer is correct. It is almost a perfect logic. Scientists can explore hypothetical worlds based on what they know, but there is always a chance that something will be discovered and they will have to change their views. This is especially true in astronomy-- there are many things that astronomers know now that they were unaware of in Kepler's and Galileo's time.

But getting back to the topic, aren't fantasy stories or fairy tales set in a kind of similar hypothetical world which has its own logic? I don't think one can know them without understanding how their worlds work. For example, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Professor Kirke explained to the children that Narnia has its own time and, for the most part, its own rules. This logic was essential for Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy to know before entering that world.

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 13th, 2004, 2:23 pm
by Jenn

Re: What DO they teach them in the schools these days?

PostPosted: November 13th, 2004, 3:45 pm
by Stanley Anderson