What Makes A Question Good?
A few years ago (like 25) a professor at the "cow college" I was attending in my quest for a BA asked the class the question "Was Adolph Hitler a Good Public Speaker?" and received a response in the affirmative from almost everyone who actually spoke up. I was the lone dissenter, with a rhetorical question you would've inferred a "No." from.
"Doesn't the ultimate effect, or the speaker's intent, have any influence on how a speaker is judged?" I asked. The aging instructor suddenly looked like he was interested in the course, and gestured at me to go on. Carrying on, I offered that Hitler's undeniably powerful speaking had eventually led to the deaths of many millions of people, and wreaked havoc on much of Europe. This, I continued, called into question the analysis that Hitler was a "good" speaker.
My slacker classmates, while appearing to decide that I was clearly very uncool to correct them, decided that I was "right," they had gotten the question "wrong," and decided to agree with me, that Hitler was a bad speaker. This seemed to cause my teacher's shoulders to slump, and I think the reason was simply that he thought he had found a good question. I still marvel at the idea that college age students might accept the idea that there are right or wrong opinions, and I think the sudden clarification of that fact about this particular group of numbskulls is part of what caused the Professor's attitude to slack off abruptly.
Imo, he had indeed found a good question, but at this late date I do not recall if he pursued it any further. It seems to me that the speed with which the others abandoned their first response caused him to give up on getting any sort of real discussion going, and so he moved on.
To me, a good question is one that provokes thought, and this good man, since deceased I think, recognized that this room full of students had in them the capacity for thought, and came dangerously close to using it that day.
Had we all been up for it, I think we might have had a lively discussion that day, and to some extent I think we did, but I don't think we ever got anywhere near as deep into the question as we might have. Which is a shame. Some of those students seemed like they had never truly been challenged to do any independant thinking prior to that day. That seems to me to be a big part of what is wrong with our nation and world today. Maybe if more teachers pushed back a bit more on their students intellects, we wouldn't have this particular group of buffoons in the nation's various different capitol buildings, selling the nation's interests to the highest bidders and engaging in various other questionable practices.
A more specific "good" question is this one that defies an answer: Who will be in the White House in 2009? Good question. There is no provable answer yet.
More immediately, some of us are asking "How will the Democrats manage to boot this election in a few weeks?" With the Foley scandal only a bit less of a debacle today than it was when it first broke, the Iraq war continuing to deteriorate, more Republicans headed to court to face charges in addition to the ones already serving time, and various other bits and pieces of scandal or bad news sticking to the RNC and friends, it is difficult to imagine that the DNC won't be dancing in the halls of Congress in greater numbers in January. How indeed?
That's a good question, but one that the Dems have managed to answer with blunders and bad design in every recent election. On the other hand, given how badly the current administration has run the nation for the past 5 and a half years, and the Republican Congress the 6 years prior to that, maybe it's a bad good question. From what the polls are all saying, even the citizen's of this sleepy naiton may be waking up a bit. While I doubt the polls are accurate, I do hope that there will be a shakeup in the nation's capitols this November.
How do you think the Democrats will blow it in November?
Maybe this link to Tom's Dispatch will bring back some memories for you.
Don't forget to get your lazy ass to the polls
neener neener neener, I already voted :p
Dateline -- Los Angeles, CA October 19, 2006
A few years ago (like 25) a professor at the "cow college" I was attending in my quest for a BA asked the class the question "Was Adolph Hitler a Good Public Speaker?" and received a response in the affirmative from almost everyone who actually spoke up. I was the lone dissenter, with a rhetorical question you would've inferred a "No." from.
"Doesn't the ultimate effect, or the speaker's intent, have any influence on how a speaker is judged?" I asked. The aging instructor suddenly looked like he was interested in the course, and gestured at me to go on. Carrying on, I offered that Hitler's undeniably powerful speaking had eventually led to the deaths of many millions of people, and wreaked havoc on much of Europe. This, I continued, called into question the analysis that Hitler was a "good" speaker.
My slacker classmates, while appearing to decide that I was clearly very uncool to correct them, decided that I was "right," they had gotten the question "wrong," and decided to agree with me, that Hitler was a bad speaker. This seemed to cause my teacher's shoulders to slump, and I think the reason was simply that he thought he had found a good question. I still marvel at the idea that college age students might accept the idea that there are right or wrong opinions, and I think the sudden clarification of that fact about this particular group of numbskulls is part of what caused the Professor's attitude to slack off abruptly.
Imo, he had indeed found a good question, but at this late date I do not recall if he pursued it any further. It seems to me that the speed with which the others abandoned their first response caused him to give up on getting any sort of real discussion going, and so he moved on.
To me, a good question is one that provokes thought, and this good man, since deceased I think, recognized that this room full of students had in them the capacity for thought, and came dangerously close to using it that day.
Had we all been up for it, I think we might have had a lively discussion that day, and to some extent I think we did, but I don't think we ever got anywhere near as deep into the question as we might have. Which is a shame. Some of those students seemed like they had never truly been challenged to do any independant thinking prior to that day. That seems to me to be a big part of what is wrong with our nation and world today. Maybe if more teachers pushed back a bit more on their students intellects, we wouldn't have this particular group of buffoons in the nation's various different capitol buildings, selling the nation's interests to the highest bidders and engaging in various other questionable practices.
A more specific "good" question is this one that defies an answer: Who will be in the White House in 2009? Good question. There is no provable answer yet.
More immediately, some of us are asking "How will the Democrats manage to boot this election in a few weeks?" With the Foley scandal only a bit less of a debacle today than it was when it first broke, the Iraq war continuing to deteriorate, more Republicans headed to court to face charges in addition to the ones already serving time, and various other bits and pieces of scandal or bad news sticking to the RNC and friends, it is difficult to imagine that the DNC won't be dancing in the halls of Congress in greater numbers in January. How indeed?
That's a good question, but one that the Dems have managed to answer with blunders and bad design in every recent election. On the other hand, given how badly the current administration has run the nation for the past 5 and a half years, and the Republican Congress the 6 years prior to that, maybe it's a bad good question. From what the polls are all saying, even the citizen's of this sleepy naiton may be waking up a bit. While I doubt the polls are accurate, I do hope that there will be a shakeup in the nation's capitols this November.
How do you think the Democrats will blow it in November?
Maybe this link to Tom's Dispatch will bring back some memories for you.
Don't forget to get your lazy ass to the polls
neener neener neener, I already voted :p
posted by Fuzzy2k at 10/19/2006 08:57:00 AM
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