Independent Thinking In 'Learning By Heart' By Thomas Plummer

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Is thinking for one’s self worth potentially having the wrong answer? Would it be worth it for students to go through school without having to think for themselves? In the articles “Learning by Heart” by Susan Tanner and “Diagnosing and Treating the Ophelia Syndrome” by Thomas Plummer it examples how children were taught from a young age to answer questions routinely, the way the teacher prefers. The issue with this is that the student never develops the ability to think for themselves. The articles discuss the different advantages and disadvantages for developing this skill. They provide steps and resources for one to reach independent thinking. The articles explain the positive and negative advantages of memorizing and reciting past writings. These articles share that individual thinking and memorization will help students learn more efficiently.
Summary
In the article “Learning by Heart”, by Susan Tanner, who earned a degree in humanities persuades readers that “learning by the heart” can help readers to remember things better and help them to ponder and really understand what is being taught. She explains that “learning by heart” is to remember things so …show more content…

He uses an example of one of the characters from Hamlet, he states that she let’s others think for her. He explains that this is an issue for most of society and names it the Ophelia syndrome. In his article he discusses the positive and negative effects of overcoming the Ophelia syndrome. He uses six steps to help students to be able to think for themselves. He argues about the importance of overcoming the syndrome. He believes that people have this problem from prior education, people go to school and are taught what is important. This prevents people from ever learning to think for themselves or being

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