Philosophy

Educating Rita? I don't recall the exact dialogue, but at one point Micheal Caine (the teacher) asks Shirley McClaine (the student) in a quiz how she would produce some Checkov play. Her answer is a hurriedly scrawled, "Put it on the radio". He scolds her for the thoughtless answer and is chastised when she goes on to produce a quiet erudite support for it.

I've taught just a bit myself, and if a student wants to take that kind of attitude, they better be able to back it up. And in the case of the joke, they would have to prove they couldn't see the chair.

But I agree that any student willing to take that risk deserves a measure of latitude for creative thinking. One of the most time worn cliches in fine arts education is, "I see where you're going". You may have to have the right answer in mathematics, but potential is part of the grade in the fine arts. And chutzpah.

My own biases also inform my opinion as well obviously. I've known too many people who got into art because they thought they could bullshit their way through content. Art doesn't work like that. Hang a painting up and you're unzipping you fly to anybody who knows how to look at art. I sometimes wonder if some people get into philosophy for the same reason.