Panel Studies Teaching by Discussion

Three professors told an audience of tutors and teaching fellows yesterday that there is no such thing as a perfect class discussion.

Stanley Cavell, Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value; Edward L. Keenan, professor of History and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and Richard Sieburth, assistant professor of French and Comparative Literature, spoke as part of a four-week series on teaching techniques, sponsored by the Harvard-Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning.

Sieburth advised his audience to challenge students and earn respect right from the beginning, noting that a section leaders gets or loses a section in the first three weeks.

Cavell told listeners that not everybody is good at leading discussions. "Decide whether or not you're good at it, and if not, enter the equally noble art of lecturing," he said.

The professors agreed that the ideal discussion is an unrealizable utopia because it presupposes equality among the students, which does not exist and implies equal status of teacher and student, which is impossible if the teacher is grading the class.

The only "really good dialogues" are classical dialogues in which both sides are written by the same person, Keenan said, adding that the leader must be careful not to write the student's half, since his job is to stimulate the student to think. Every group means a different experience which must be "played by ear," he said.

It is important that students feel confident and comfortable in a discussion. Keenan said, adding that a section leader should start a discussion with a text or a mini-lecture. Students need something to which they can refer to get them going, he said.

Cavell said that knowing how to discuss a subject using a text is becoming an "increasingly neglected skill," which must be preserved. He added, "Reading texts is the source of all humanistic education."

"Don't get into a discussion with anyone if you can't say you're wrong," Cavell said, adding that discussion is a dialogue in which the teacher must learn as much as the students.