Many schools focus on subjects like Math, Reading, and Writing. At Acton Academy, we expand this list to include things like Socratic Debate, public speaking, and using video and other forms of critique to help us do better at what we’re doing.
But these are still just tools and skills. Our goal is to equip our Eagles to make decisions and persuade others so they can change the world.
Our Goal this Session: To refine Socratic dialogue skills in questioning, discovery, argumentation and logic needed for rich communication and critical thinking on your journey.
The Eagles practiced making logical and emotional choices; researched inductive, deductive, and conductive arguments; asking questions to dig deeper into answers received; Logical fallacies; and many practice rounds of using these new skills.
We concluded with a mock trial for Socrates in which each Eagle wrote their own opening and closing statements, and then had to be prepared to answer questions fired at them by Socrates (she had some very thought-provoking questions!).
In the end, the public found Socrates not guilty. Most replied that it was his final question that pushed their vote in his direction of innocence: "A human life is precious, not to be discarded lightly. Do you believe that these men are completely honest in their accusations?"
