Review of Related Literature

The Socratic method is one of the most famous teaching and

conversation practices. The primary focus of this method is on the original

thinking of the respondent as they try to answer these questions. He only

wanted to focus on the respondents own thinking. Through the respondent's

process of answering these questions, the respondents experienced their

own original thinking in the context of examining their own ideas and

themselves. The brilliance of the Socratic Method is in the character

developing power it has through the exercise of a person's love of asking

and answering questions in the pursuit of knowledge. The approach to

questioning is based on the practice of disciplined and thoughtful dialogue,

to enable the student to examine ideas logically and to determine the

validity of those ideas.

Benefits of Socratic Method

Professor Stone has identified a number of virtues in its use in legal

education as it aims "to develop crucial legal analytic skills, to accustom the

student to the lawyer's adversary style of exchange, and to provide a forum

in which the student speaks in public." Scheider argues that the Socratic

method is vital to American legal education it is the best way of teaching a

student to think like a lawyer. A lawyer that is keen, creative and problem-

solving. Professor Stropus said that this teaching method will foster
analytical skills, encourage independent learning and provide students with

the opportunity to practice and refine verbal and rhetorical skills. Socratic

method helps students to think on their feet, engage in intellectual rigor and

learn about the legal process and the lawyers role. According to Paul

Bateman that the following goals that the method seeks to develop are the

attitudes of inquiry that involve an ability to recognize the problem and an

acceptance of the general need for evidence to support, knowledge of the

nature of valid inferences or accuracy of different kinds of evidence are

logically determined, skills in employing and applying the above attitude and

knowledge, The ability to recognize stated and unstated assumptions, the

ability to draw conclusions validly and to judge the validity of it. The Socratic

professor ultimately trains students to assess the strength of legal

arguments on their own and with that it helps to develop analytical

strengths, forcing students to logically articulate their answers. According to

John Houseman, the film The Paper Chase, scares the pants off his Law

students by calling them at random. I ask you a question, and you answer

it, (Houseman, 1973) Socrates believed students could improve their

reasoning skills and ultimately move toward more rational thinking and ideas

more easily supported with logic. Copeland explains, By helping students

examine their premonitions and beliefs while at the same time accepting the

limitations of human thought. (Copeland, 2015) Garlikov reports that two

interesting "benefits of using the Socratic method are that it gives the
students a chance to experience the attendant joy and excitement of

discovering (often complex) ideas on their own. As a tactic and approach,

Socratic questioning is a highly disciplined process. However, it is not the

best teaching method in objective disciplines and the Socratic method of

teaching questions critical thinking by tearing down old ideas and replacing

them with new ones. For instance, instead of discussing how to apply justice

in diverse social settings, a group of students may discuss the basic concept

of justice itself. By talking about this concept through questions given to

them by a teacher engaged with the Socratic method, students get the

chance to discard their previous notions of justice and replace them with

something that is truly philosophically sound. The main difficulty with the

classic Socratic method is how to handle the diversity of responses that may

be given to any question.

Criticism of Socratic Method

The Socratic Method of teaching has been attacked as infantilizing,

demeaning, dehumanizing, sadistic, a tactic for promoting hostility and

competition among students, self-serving, and destructive of positive

ideological values. While the Socratic Method has been acclaimed for its

emphasis on critical thinking as opposed to role learning, some of the

criticisms of this method of teaching of critical skills. Professor Stropus has

summarized three areas of concern with the use of the use of the Socratic
Method in law schools: first, the method necessarily involves psychological

scarring; second, the method is overly formalistic and theoretical; and

finally, the methodology has adverse effects on an increasingly diverse law

school population. The Socratic method shakes things up, destroys the

casual patterning, and looks for a better more comprehensive and logically

consistent-pattern. That pattern is again examined with the same criteria

and may again be found wanting; the kaleidoscope is again shaken.

Philosophy is a search for the ideal architectonics of "all time and existence"

If anything is crystal clear; it is that Socratic questioning leads to further

questioning. According to Dewey, if we once start thinking no one can

guarantee where we shall come out except that many objects, ends and

institutions are doomed. The Socratic Method has been criticized and these

are the method discriminates against women, the method is ineffective and

the method that creates unnecessary psychological pressures. A number of

recent studies appear to demonstrate that there are some bias against

women in law school because the Socratic classrooms are male-oriented,

competitive in environments and more cooperative and communal styles of

learning. With these, women feel threatened and alienated in patriarchal and

hierarchical and they have nothing to contribute and their voices are

excluded from the debate. This fosters a sense of inadequacy among women

students which may cause them to underperform examinations. It is also

ineffective because it is a time consuming process. Still others note that the
effectiveness is largely dependent on the skill of the respondents. When

thrust into an active learning environment, they suffer significant culture

shock. . The Socratic method is unique in that it is both invasive and

evasive-invasive in that students knowledge/intelligence is publically

examined, and evasive in that the professor hides the ball from the

students. The intense pubic questioning can cause overwhelming anxiety,

particularly when the professor is intellectually assaulting deeply-held

beliefs. According to Ruta Stropus that the invasive and evasive nature of

the method causes students to adopt coping mechanisms needed to protect

their self-esteem. It is said that even proponents of the Socratic Method

realize that the method can be abused by instructors. In addition, various

studies suggest the Socratic Method has a negative impact on women and

minorities. The argument is also made that this form of teaching is

culturally insensitive and inappropriate in light of an increasingly

diverse and global student body. Furthermore, it has been criticized as

a hindrance to students with different learning styles and an ineffective

means of teaching any form of practical skills. While an instructor may

display biases based on race or gender, criticize student comments, or

conduct class in a demeaning manner, the possibility for these occurrences

remains no matter what teaching style is employed. In addition, there is an

assortment of accommodations that can be employed to neutralize the

detrimental effects attributed to the Socratic Method. To counteract the

possible reticence of an individual student or segment of students towards

volunteering, an instructor could rely primarily on calling upon students.

Obviously it would be up to the instructor to ensure that his or her questions

are fielded appropriately among the students. For instance, the instructor

might decide to alternate between calling upon male and females students,

depending on the gender composition of the class. Furthermore, the

instructor should be cognizant of the types of questions he or she is posing,

to ensure an even distribution of questions with varying levels of difficulty to

all students. As with other teaching methods, it is vital that the Socratic

questioning be conducted in an encouraging and open manner. Positive

reinforcement should be given liberally when appropriate. This can be

achieved by complimenting students on their well-thought answers and their

insightful questions, and referring to such answers and questions later in the

discussion if applicable. Allowing students to confer with a classmate when

given a difficult question might mitigate student anxiety or trepidation of

being put on the spot. Finally, it is also important that the instructor explain

the thought-process behind conducting class in such a manner, encourage

student participation, and reassure them that the classroom is a place of

learning and not a place of antagonism. An approach utilizing these various

accommodations in the appropriate manner and context would allow for a

reduction in the oppressive Socratic atmosphere while, at the same time,

maintaining the intellectual inquiry that is the backbone of Socratic teaching.