Sandy Spring Friends School Beestblog

We’ve been reading Plato in class these days, several of the Dialogues thereof. One of the things I try to make clear when we do is that what he has to say is just as relevant today as it was 2500 years ago. Some of the language might have shifted meaning a bit – what he means by piety is not exactly what we mean – but what lies behind the word choices is every bit as important today as then. But it occurred to me that the old boy is probably better off dead. What would happen, I wondered, if we moved Socrates into the modern high school?

First, he probably would have gotten in trouble with the counselors for beating up on the students’ self-esteem. Never giving them an answer, just suggesting where their arguments fall down would have been a real problem for many. “If Euthyphro never experiences success, how can he ever come to understand piety? You need to ease up there, Soc.” Socrates’ was clearly not a student-centered classroom.

It’s pretty clear that Socrates was capable of dealing with only one type of learner; the learning specialists would be all over him for that. When Phaedo and he discuss the nature of the afterlife it’s equally clear that just discussing was very limiting; perhaps if Phaedo had been allowed to write a poem, create a mobile, or the front page of a newspaper that one might read when one gets…there, Socrates would have appealed to Phaedo’s multiple intelligences, and Phaedo could have “experienced success.”

Crito finds it difficult to accept Socrates’ definition of justice. It’s a strict one, and many would probably find it equally difficult. No problem says today’s advisor; just drop the dialogue. You don’t want it lowering your gpa, and you don’t need the dialogue to graduate.

Charmides and Socrates discuss the meaning of self-control. This one’s easy says the nurse; there is no such thing. Everything today is biological and Charmides can’t be held responsible for most of what he does. As soon as we get his medications figured out, maybe then. But not until. The counselor agrees. As does the learning specialist.

Timaeus would have been ready to continue his discussion on the nature of the physical world, but he has a paper due today, and a test tomorrow. Plus, those pesky college essays are hanging over his head, so his parents have called him in sick today. He will be in this afternoon for the game, though.

Meno has his college essays done, has no tests or papers coming soon, and is ready and eager to talk about the nature of virtue. But he has a field trip, so he’ll be gone all day. But it’s Tuesday, a “B day,” so Socrates’ class doesn’t meet anyhow. Maybe tomorrow? No – tomorrow Meno’s grade is meeting all day with the group from Spartan’s Are People Too. They’ll be breaking into small groups – maybe…? Nah.

Like I said – the old boy is better off dead. And I don’t know that we aren’t.

Who says you can’t go home again? Hair is playing at a theater downtown, there’s a big article about growing pot in the Post, and I’m just back from if not a protest march certainly a giant rally on the National Mall. I’m 22 again and taking it to the streets. Sticking it to the man. Or not.

Yea – I was there, trying to restore sanity (though truth to tell I was there to Keep Fear Alive; my wife and daughter were restoring sanity). I was ready; I had my McCarthy button on. We all did, as I have three and was able to share. Hey – I Cleaned For Gene; I earned my stripes. Buttons. Of course, riding down on the metro I was hoping somebody would notice the button and say something. But they never did.

We were ass to elbow in the metro cars; people were getting separated from their friends, and it was impossible to move. Not to worry though, as everyone was texting and phoning and globally positioning themselves so that no groups really got separated for long. I think I like the old days, where you early on lost your friends, but immediately hooked up with some strangers, with whom you spent the day, sharing…turkey sandwiches. Then later, when everything was over and you found your friends again you would all share stories of who had the best turkey sandwiches.

Now, I have to say – I was never at too many of those huge marches; people in Minneapolis were just not that pissed off. We weren’t protesting Nixon or Kissinger, for the most part; they never made it to Minnesota. We were there showing Secretary of Commerce Frederick B. Dent, say, what we thought. That’s not a man to draw a huge crowd, though. So when I got to the Mall and saw the people I panicked. I tried; I even climbed a fence to get in, saving myself all of two blocks walk and really sticking it to the man then. (It was a really low fence.) But I couldn’t stay. There were too many people. The music (Music? Hah!) was too loud. I lasted all of 20 minutes, then told my family I’d pick them up at the Metro and I left.

On the way back to the metro station I took off my McCarthy button. What really made me sad, though, was what I learned later. Now, I’m a guy who saw Janis, right up front, three times. I saw Cream, Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore West, the Doors; Jimi Hendrix bummed a cigarette from me. But when I was driving them home, both my wife and daughter said they were both wishing I had stayed, they knew I would have wanted to: “Tony Bennett sang America the Beautiful; you missed Tony Bennett!” They know I like Tony Bennett. It makes me sad to say this but they were right; I would have liked to have seen Tony Bennett. Tony damn Bennett. Don’t tell the Weather Underground.