The Socratic Experience: An Online School That Might Surprise You
I was teaching high school English at an international school in Nairobi during the shift to online pandemic school. We went online after spring break 2020, remained so for fall term, and shifted to in-person in winter 2021, with a return online for several weeks during the fourth quarter. Like most teachers and students, I found virtual learning to be a poor substitute for life together. We felt disconnected and unhappy. Teachers of younger children found them to be squirrely and unfocused, and teachers of older students saw them rapidly withdraw into passivity and silence. Parents panicked. We scrambled to reshape our curricula into forms that would be effective, but most things felt like poor substitutes. As my family transitioned back to the US during the 2021-22 school year, I’ve been out of the classroom for the first time in 17 years. I have missed it terribly. And I’ve heard from many teachers that, for a number of reasons, this school year has somehow been even more difficult. Among those reasons, many teens seemed to have habitualized that passivity, almost given up on connectedness.
* * * * *
Which is why I was so interested to check out an online school that claimed to engage in daily, thoughtful discussions. A mutual friend introduced me to Michael Strong, founder of The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grounded in the sort of Socratic discussion one finds at places like St. John’s College. (Not surprising, since Michael and several of the staff are St. John’s grads.) This appealed to me, since Socratic discussion has been a big part of my teaching since grad school and my first grade 1 classrooms. After getting acquainted, Michael invited me to sit in on some classes to see for myself. I did and was pleasantly surprised. I had assumed it would be better than our forced shift to online school during covid – mostly because these kids were choosing this format – but I wasn’t sure how much better it would be. But if I’ve learned anything during this year of exploration, it is to respect the power of student agency, so I was eager to learn.
In addition to a couple of art electives, I participated in three academic classes. The first was a grade 6 Humanities class engaged in reading Lord of the Flies, a text not usually read until high school. Before plunging into the lit discussion, though, the group engaged in a quirky conversation from a Reddit thread about a man digging an underground cave in his backyard. His girlfriend was feeling neglected. These less serious bantery discussions are purposeful. They feel more like the conversations kids (and adults) have over lunch, and they are intentionally built into the school day because humans need time to just hang out. That’s how we become friends. What surprised and impressed me was the depth that these 12-year-old students brought even to this oddball topic. I expected them to just judge the cave-builder as a weirdo and move on. Instead, they brought a level of analysis to the situation, turning it over in more ways than I typically would even now, much less than when I was their age. Several expressed empathy for the boyfriend. They understood his desire to dig.
I joined a high school class studying civics and history, reading Tom Hayden’s Port Huron Statement, the Students for a Democratic Society activist manifesto outlining their vision for a functioning democracy. I’ve never read this document and was impressed by its eloquence. I was also impressed by how the guide (TSE’s word for teacher) led the discussion. Though the text had a clear agenda, the guide only wanted his students to 1) understand the text’s meaning, and 2) wrestle through the merits of the argument. The discussion was the polar opposite of indoctrination. In such a politicized culture, we desperately need young people to develop the skills of deeper thinking and nuanced discussion; to support, with evidence, why they believe what they do; and to learn how to discuss and write about these things with clarity and persuasion.
The last class I joined was working their way through the prologue of
Yeah, not that easy, right? As we plunged in, my first thought was, “This is way over their heads. It’s just too dense. This text would be challenging for college students.” But as the guide patiently led them through it, the students teased out the core concepts and meaning. It reminded me of my experience watching Shakespeare plays. I am always a bit lost at first…but I’ve learned to trust that if I am patient, my ear becomes tuned to the language. And I’ve learned that I don’t need to get every single phrase to comprehend the broad strokes. Talking about this later with Michael, he said it is like solving a puzzle. TSE’s culture often presents students with texts that are a bit beyond them, but by design, crafts the experience as akin to solving puzzles. This makes sense as I reflect back on those class sessions. Students were taking on difficult texts, but they weren’t complaining or intimidated. It didn’t feel high stakes or pressured. Nobody was stressing out asking, “Will this would be on the test?!” It felt like a bunch of friends trying to solve an Escape Room. It also makes sense that this approach, while not feeling academically stressful, would certainly, as the TSE website states, help to increase SAT reading and writing scores.
* * * * *
A remaining question for me is the importance of in-person relationships and connection. The kids at TSE seem to genuinely like and appreciate one another. Most of us can point to people we’ve interacted with only online who we would describe as friends. I’ve met a number of people online that I wish lived in my city. I feel this way, I think, because our online friendship doesn’t feel quite satisfying. I am open to the idea that this is generational – that these kids CAN be real friends entirely online. But I am also skeptical that that is true. I am sympathetic to Sherry Turkle’s work, and her contention that IRL gives us things that the virtual world cannot. It should be pointed out that Michael agreed with this observation. He doesn’t strike me as a techno-evangelist who is all in on virtual as the full answer. What I appreciate most is that he is testing new models, adjusting as they go to bring more personal, humane connections to the virtual space.
There are a lot of things that excite me about The Socratic Experience, and again, this is a bit of a surprise to me. If you have school-aged children, you should check it out. Like all models, it isn’t perfect, but many, many children are suffering in school today, and this may be a solution that works for your child. We all have the sense, I think, that we’re clinging to the assembly-line education model not because we still think it works best, but maybe just out of inertia…or a lack of imagination. As folks like Michael Strong test promising new online approaches, I’d love to see us expand to experiment with hybrids. What if schools like TSE grew to the point where a number of kids in one city or town or region would attend? What if they came together a couple of days a week for that vital IRL connection? What if we regularly ventured out together on day trips to enjoy the rich culture of our towns and cities or the natural beauty of woods and mountains and waterways? And what if we organized annual school trips as often as possible to national parks, historic sites, and great cities?
I see TSE as an exciting model to build from and would love to work on ways of leveraging the best of virtual and in-person learning. This really seems like the most promising path forward and I want to be part of it.