Speaking Out: Debating Skills Matter
Keith Budge, headmaster of Bedales School in Hampshire, says a liberal arts curriculum is a good foundation for learning how to debate
Should you find yourself listening to an episode of Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4) on which the broadcaster Gyles Brandreth is a guest, you may well wonder at his ability to say so much about so little for so long, and in such an entertaining way.
  What you are listening to is the fruit of  a tradition of liberal arts education that stretches back for millennia, and can be found alive and well today at Bedales, where Brandreth was a student.
Skills for life
The liberal arts education tradition has long roots. In the classical context, the focus was on the subjects and skills deemed essential if one was to take an active part in civic life ? for example, public debate. Essential to a classical education were the disciplines of grammar, logic and rhetoric ? the art of speaking persuasively.
Cicero, the Roman lawyer, philosopher and politician, was famed for his rhetoric. He believed that the ability to speak well was the very basis of civilisation, and was inextricably bound up with the development of a virtuous character.
A love for learning
Nowadays, a liberal arts school education is a relatively rare beast, although Bedales is devoted to such an offering. Through an arts and humanities-heavy curriculum, we seek to develop inquisitive, creative and critical thinkers who cherish independent thought. We celebrate individuality, alt...
Source:
independentschoolparent
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http://www.independentschoolparent.com/
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