As educators, we absolutely need to teach students to understand and evaluate artificial intelligence, but we must begin with a more foundational question: What is truth?
Plato originally identified the core elements of being as truth, beauty, and goodness. Since that point, these three elements have shaped education, especially religious education. Unfortunately, the past century of progressive education has deconstructed each of these elements. We have created our own truth, redefined beauty, and discarded any standard of goodness. Consequently, we find ourselves in an epistemological, aesthetic, and moral mess.
Returning to those three core elements is the only way back, and educators must lead the way ... starting with teaching students to be truth discerners.
Build (back) a Foundation for Learning
The skills for learning have been decimated over the previous decades of progressive education. In order to teach students to become truth discerners, we need to ensure that a solid foundation exists, starting with getting back to the basics during the elementary years. Unfortunately, many upper school students need to relearn these elements before they can truly know truth.
Fear of the Lord -- Any conversation about building a foundation for learning must begin with faith in God, and this has not been a part of most of American education and educational philosophy. It is no wonder that our educational system is in decline. As Proverbs 9:10 states, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Obviously, Christian schools are at an advantage with this building block, but, sadly, many Christian school classrooms look too similar to public school classrooms, as many teachers are trained in state teacher education programs. If you want to find truth in education, start with fearing God and teaching Christianly. Make this integral to the educational process.
Teach Students How to Read -- Teaching students to read has been a pillar of education ever since there was the written word. As books and the printed word became more accessible, literacy became essential. In fact, shortly after Gutenberg's printing press, many pushed for universal education so that all students could learn to read (especially the Bible). Unfortunately, about fifty years ago educators changed the way they taught students how to read, even though research did not support this change; phonics and de-coding was replaced by whole language. This is still a literacy debate, and I encourage you to listen to the "Sold a Story" podcast series. In teaching students to be truth discerners, they must know how to read well ... don't miss this step.
Upper School Strategies
If students fear the Lord and know how to read, they have the building blocks to seek truth, but as students transition into upper levels, educators must continue to guide the process. Here are a few essential strategies.
Read Primary Sources and Take Your Time -- At some point in the relatively recent past, reading became hard and took too long (possibly tied to a point above), so curriculum writers and publishers shifted to abridged versions and secondary sources. The premise of abridgement is that every written work only has a few important paragraphs, so why would anyone read the entire work? However, if students only read abridged versions, they miss the author's full argument, context and richness of language, and, more damaging, curriculum writers are deciding what are the most important paragraphs to read rather than the teacher or student. Likewise, reading only secondary sources and summaries removes critical reading and analysis brain work. This is especially prevalent in academic research today; gone are the days of reading entire books (or even full articles) to gain the perspective of the author to add to a paper; instead, students grab quotes without context to support their point. We've lost the ability for critical reading, a key to truth seeking. Additionally, developing truth discernment requires reflection, contemplation, and discussion ... take the time. Yes, primary sources take longer and are more work, but they are essential tools in teaching students to be truth discerners.
Fact Check Everything -- Unfortunately due to lying politicians, statistical manipulation, and fake news, the new term in truth seeking is "fact checking." Verifying facts and triangulating reports used to be an expectation of a journalist with integrity; now, being the first to publish a story has pushed journalists to run with stories that have not been fully vetted. Walter Cronkite used to be "the most trusted man in America"; now, nobody trusts the news. This is actually a great lesson to use with students in writing essays, making arguments, and classroom discussions ... any statement that is made must be supported by facts (preferably from primary sources). This is part of the hard work of becoming a truth discerner ... and it is something that Christians have been doing since the early church. The Bereans were Christians of "noble character" who fact-checked Paul's sermons with the scriptures to make sure what he said was true (Acts 17:11). Imagine fact-checking the Apostle Paul (author of most of the New Testament)! If that is commended of the Bereans, we should also learn to fact-check ... but using the Bible as the ultimate truth. The Protestant Reformation used ad fontes (meaning "back to the fount" or "back to the source") as a battle cry encouraging Christians to go back to the Bible to check orthodoxy and orthopraxy. In fact, this is essentially Martin Luther's defense when he was being tried for excommunication at the diet of Worms; he stated that he would recant if they could show him his error based on scripture alone. He was trained well as a truth discerner and someone who used the ultimate primary source.
One of the best pedagogical principles a teacher can use to develop truth discerning is to require evidence from primary sources for every claim that is made by students. If they know that is the standard, students will rise to the challenge. Having students orally defend their paper is a powerful summative assessment (or celebration of learning) that helps to genuinely measure learning.
Test the Spirits of the Age -- Finally, truth discerning must have a philosophical foundation to analyze content based on a worldview. Students today do not study philosophy and have not been trained in literary criticism (which is typically reserved for upper level college courses in the humanities). High school students can handle literary criticism and philosophy, and this knowledge base will help them find truth. When I taught high school English, I always had my students analyze a short story from many different philosophical perspectives (e.g. Marxism, Feminism, Historical, etc.). This concept also comes from the Bible when the Apostle John warned Christians to "test the spirits of the age" (I John 4). Our melting pot world contains so many different philosophies and worldviews that philosophy and literary criticism are essential skills to truth discerning.
Of course, there are many more strategies to grow students in truth discernment, but these principles above will help educators begin.
Students today need to be strong truth discerners in a world that loudly proclaims that everyone creates his/her own truth. Objective truth is found in God's word, and that must be our starting point in education ... if that is where we start, our students will be well on their way to becoming truth discerners.
