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to work in this manner of committees without competition. Answering questions by consensus gives one answer, not necessarily the correct answer. Committee gave the society fire, yet, working alone, Prometheus invented the electric light.

From the beginning of western philosophy ideas have been tested, weighed, accepted and rejected by how well they fare in the marketplace of ideas. The Socratic Elenchus is nothing but competition of ideas embodied. To deprive our students of this foundational western method is to leave them ill-equipped to argue their ideas in the common square. Many ideas, with the best idea rising to the top through competition is the fail safe in a democracy. We are a nation of the codification of ideas, laws, not the the will of a single man or even the will of a group of people on a committee.

For, not all ideas are created equal. Not all products are created equal. A republic is better than an autocracy. How do we know this to be true? The past tells us so. Look at the innovation and inventive nature of the free market of the United States and the west versus the largely closed, government owned companies in Soviet Russia and the east.

Competition within the marketplace of ideas spurns invention and innovation. Since the only way to strive towards the normative perfection education is supposed to provide the foundation for, divorcing competition from the educational process is nothing short of ill-advised at best, and detrimental to the society at worst. Not all ideas are created equal, not all students are created equal and they both must compete in the marketplace of ideas if we are to move forward towards our goal.

Learn more about this author, James Griffin.
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