Wilkins in NYTimes’ ‘Room for Debate:’ Keep the method, not the focus

In today’s NY Times ‘Room for Debate’ online forum, Harvard Law School Professor David Wilkins ’80 writes on the topic of whether or not the Socratic method should still have a role in American legal education today.

Wilkins, the Lester Kissel professor of law and vice dean for global initiatives on the legal profession at HLS, has been director of the school’s Program on the Legal Profession since 1991.

Keep the Method, Not the Focus

Of all the important changes that ought to be made to legal education in the coming years—and let me be clear, I believe that there are many—eliminating the Socratic method is not one of them. The real question, therefore, is not whether students should be taught to think critically and self-reflectively, but instead what they should be thinking critically about. … Read more at NYTimes.com »