Just the Facts, Ma’am: A Dragnet Approach
In the classic detective series Dragnet, Sergeant Friday would cut short interviews with witnesses to crimes with "Just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts." By "facts" he meant bare informational detail.
I call teaching that primarily emphasizes isolated facts the "dragnet approach." I recommend a dragnet alternative: a process whereby total learning builds from facts to concepts and then connects with life.
Educators who hold to what they call traditional education emphasize information, frequently neglecting to teach concepts. Progressivist—or modern—theorists have done the reverse, seriously undervaluing masÂtery of facts. Postmodernists go still further, saying there are no facts and no possibility of knowing anything with certainty.
None of the levels of learning should be overlooked. Learning information is the basis for concept building and generalization. Sound learning is grounded in factual knowledge but reaches to the conceptual, and the highest learning moves on to put knowledge to personal use.
Take teaching paradox as an example. John Donne employs a paradox in his poem "Death Be Not Proud." The poem says, "Death, thou shalt die." It seems at first an impossible idea. But when we reflect on when "we wake eternally, ⁄ And death shall be no more," we see that the statement is indeed wonderfully true.
Donne’s paradox springs from the scriptural assurance of Christ’s ultimate victory and gives the reader joy and comfort. Identifying a paradox is factual; deriving the meaning from it is conceptual; but showing how that meaning gives a riveting example of God’s omnipotence and how it applies to life is teaching at the highest level.
Paradoxes are two-sided truths. They take us beyond the facts. They provide categories and ways of thinking about ideas. They help solve problems and order experience. The best paradoxes inspire spiritual understanding and growth.
In Scripture there are what appear to be contradictory instructions: to judge and not to judge. While being judgmental is condemned in Scripture, proper judging is commanded (Matt. 7:1; I Cor. 2:15; I Thess. 5:21; John 7:24). This paradox allows us to move on to a personal application. The spiritually immature person simply approves of what he likes and disapproves of what he dislikes. But the spiritually mature person is able to approve of some things he dislikes and disapprove of some things he is rather inclined to like. In the process of explaining a biblical paradox, a teacher is able to help students sharpen their moral categories.
Whenever such concepts rise naturally from our subject matter, we should seize the moment. It should not be only in a chapel service that our students receive insights that prepare them for life.
Dr. Horton is Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Bob Jones University