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“The Four Skills Discussion” 

Poem: “Listening” by D.H. Lawrence 

Statement of the Whole:  In educational world that seems so complex, is there a way to boil it all down to a bare minimum?  Steve and Jason discuss the basics of education, noting the difference between an Art and a Skill, and how almost all of education can be summarized as reading, speaking, listening, and writing; or in short: thinking.  Listen in as these guys make it simpler than it may seem. 

1. First Things First: What is the Difference between an Art and a Skill? 
   1. The difference is subtle to be sure 
   2. Seems to be rooted in purpose – for what end are you learning to do this thing 
      1. Older “arts” were learning how to live within the nature of this world – handling words, numbers, materials, etc in a way that kept them within the nature of themselves 
      2. The notion of “skills” coming down from Dewey seems rather to be the learning of how to bend nature to our ends.   
   3. At the heart of this distinction, then, is a discussion of why we would listen, or speak, etc., this is the classic argument between true rhetoric and sophistry. 
      1. If these four things are aimed at living with nature, loving the true, good, and beautiful, then they are arts and incredibly central to a well lived life. 
      2. If these four things are being mastered so that other souls can be mastered, the art of manipulation has thus transformed what were arts of love into skills of warfare or at least tools of getting out of nature what we want 
2. Is reading, writing, listening, and speaking all you really need? 
   1. If the heart of education is wisdom and virtue, then basically yes 
   2. If the heart of education is preparing to make as much money as I can, or grab all the power I can get, then emphatically yes. 
   3. Either way, these four actions, summarized by the ability to think, are at the center of what both sides perceive as the bare minimum of education 
3. Intellectual Coaching – teaching the student to teach himself 
   1. These four things are basic to all learning, and thus what permanently impacts the life-long learning of our students 
      1. If we fail to pass on some specific information about a subject, they can fill in the gaps 
      2. But if we fail to instill in them how to listen, speak, read, and write well, they will struggle until they gain these 
      3. And they harder to master the older we get. 
   2. Because these are human activities, they can be learned and mastered as all arts can be: through imitation and apprenticeship. 
   3. So the teacher, according to a guy like Morty Adler, should spend a large amount of time seeking to “show” his students how to do these things well as these will last a lifetime, as opposed to passing on information that is temporal. 
4. So what kinds of things bring this to pass? 
   1. Reading – duh, reading, but reading deeply, well, at all levels, and material that is beyond the reader’s grasp 
   2. Listening – not just lecture here.  Learning to listen to poetry is a good thing.  Learning to listen to another’s arguments (why conversation is so important) 
   3. Speaking – with art, with compassion, speaking the Truth in love, with humility 
   4. Writing  
      1. Way more than two minutes can do here, but this is the apex of intellectual skill 
      2. If you can write well, you can think well.