Substantive texts also help students explore their relations with others and gain intellectual and emotional maturity. This process by no means guarantees instantaneous respect for others, nor does it eliminate the conflict that is all too common in schools these days. It does, however, guide students to develop more respectful, tactful, and kinder attitudes and behaviors. Through the process of active learning and cooperation, Socratic seminars also help build self-esteem. Literacy and Ethics As adults, we know that the kind of moral decisions that engage students and the kind we encounter regularly are not always clear-cut.
Most decisions require choices among competing values.
A seminar is an important occasion for students to confront such conflicts and actively work out solutions, testing their ideas against writers and their peers. Of course, textual evidence was central in clarifying students', understanding of motives. They talked about how the problem could have been avoided and who should have exerted leadership to see that it was. In some classes, however, students pondered other hypothetical situations, including whether the outcome would have changed if girls had been in the same situation. Some might argue that it is the teacher's responsibility to state categorically what is right and what is wrong.