Scholasticism In The United States

Regression to the Middle Ages: The Propagation of Scholasticism in the United States

Until the Renaissance, European education was dominated by the theory of scholasticism which was endorsed by the Catholic Church, the most powerful secular body at the time. This system revolved around teaching students how to regurgitate information rather than having them think critically; in fact, it was common for university students to simply memorize their professors’ lectures for assessments. The Church was fond of this method because scholasticism created docile subjects who were unwilling to question religious and social doctrine. In the 15th century, Francesco Petrarch challenged the system with his theory of humanistic education dedicated to critical

For the answer, look to the Church in the first age of scholasticism: a body with complete control and subjects who would not dare challenge it. Analyze the political trends in the US over the past thirty years. The media’s alarming effect on the political opinions of young people is glaringly obvious, and the government’s reins on society have grown increasingly taut. Though under a modern facade, scholasticism is engulfing education in the United States, and as a result, young Americans are politically disinterested, hypoactive, and vulnerable to manipulation, undermining the essential principles of

Standardized education indoctrinates students with the idea of one right answer, of one solution to a complex problem on a multiple choice test. In fact, choose the BEST answer is commonly seen on such exams; even though there is more than one correct answer, students are shown that there is no compromise on solutions. Meanwhile, humanistic topics provide a quite different view. Philosophy teaches us that there are innumerable valid perspectives; psychology shows the cooperation of many ideas to form cohesive theories. History demonstrates that one group is almost never completely right or wrong. With so much evidence to support more than one solution to nearly every problem, where is the logic in consistently endorsing a system of education that incessantly conveys the idea of a solitary right answer? The conditioning of students to see from isolated perspectives has seeped into the political atmosphere, and it will only propagate partisan paralysis. Republicans are shutting down the government to stop Democratic policies; candidates on both sides are self-radicalizing and refusing to cooperate across the aisle in order to win the candidacy, even when their moral compasses disagree with their public positions. By encouraging students to cling to one right answer rather than