Socrates Reformed Education Essay

Although Socrates’ proposal of a reformed education system is met with approval by Glaucon and Adeimantus as being capable of producing good guardians, it should have been dismissed in favor of a more radical and effective style—known as the Socratic method—due to its ability to inspire inquiry and handle counter-arguments. In their discussion of the city in speech, Glaucon, Socrates, and Adeimantus conclude that an exclusive class of warriors, known as guardians, are needed to protect the city and wage war. (1) As the guardians’ temperaments must be both gentle towards countrymen and cruel towards enemies, Socrates proposes a new, reformed education system in order to raise proper warriors. (2) This system begins by educating the guardians in “false speech,” which requires purging mythology, poetry, prose, and gospel of anything that can be misconstrued as evil. Furthermore, the reformed education system contains strict guidelines as to when imitation and originality in speech should …show more content…
The successes of this system are dramatically obvious within the Republic, as Socrates manages to convince initially unyielding opponents (most notable of which is Thrasymachus in Book 1) of his argument. The ability of the Socratic method to refute counter-arguments by dissecting them and questioning their premises is its greatest advantage over the reformed education system. A society—or at the very least, the class of guardians—taught through the Socratic method, encouraged to delve into true speech and founded arguments, would be more likely to accept a certain way of life, provided the teacher asked the right kind of questions. In essence, the Socratic method is more effective than the reformed education system and should have replaced the latter