5.3. Paths of Judgment: the revival of practical wisdom r. Smith, uk

Among the things that we must be alert to is language. The teacher implicitly reasons; it is important to be firm with recalcitrant pupils, and here is a recalcitrant pupil. But recalcitrance, high spirits, independent-mindness and a host of other conditions keep close company and discrimination requires linguistic resources as well as resources of other kinds. Consider the importance of the words that teachers use to talk of their less able pupils. The prevailing language; of education (standards, competencies, time on task, quality, modules to be delivered) may betray our best efforts in practical judgment unless we are prepared to challenge it. We need both to seek more responsible language and to come at education through different genres of language (poetry and novel, for example). The dreary jar­gon of official documents and the mind-numbing paperwork generated in the proper desire to guarantee accountability and other goods may prevent us from attending to the features of our experience which they cannot express, in the end causing that experience to be less available to us. A great deal of the work of practical judgment occurs precisely at the point where particular forms of words are settled upon (this is a lazy pupil rather than one without the confidence to commit herself, say) and the outcome of the process of reasoning is thus largely pre-empted. This again is why talk of practical judgement often seems more helpful than talk of practical reason.

The importance of being alert and attentive to the particular case, which analysis of practical judgment foregrounds, must not, however, persuade us that there is no place for general principles, even for technical rules. One of the mistakes of defenders of practical judgement is to set up an opposition between "moral and aesthetic judgements" and the "technical" rule-governed rationality of sense. We cannot be exercising practical judgment reflectively and sensitively without rules. Professions and organizations properly set out procedures for various exigencies. The teacher to whom a child discloses abuse knows, or should know, what steps to follow; the lec­turer whose student repeatedly misses tutorial sets established wheels in motion, and Teaching Quality assessors rightly expect to see such a procedure set out and communicated to students at the be­ginning of a course. Such rules and procedures give us the time and room to exercise practical reason where it really matters.

True though this is, it enables us to reassert the credentials of practical judgment on two grounds. First, judgment is needed to decide if this is a case for the application of the procedures We hesitate, for example, over the child's reluctance to go home "because Uncle Bob is there tonight”, perhaps unsure whether this is a case where we should gently press a line of questioning. A high degree of sensitivity to this particular child seems essential if we are to know whether the rules and procedures are relevant. Second, judgment needs to be brought to beat on the rules and institutions themselves. From time to time they need to be challenged, revised and reorganised, and often that will be in the light of our awareness of particular causes for which they are inadequate.

Assignment:

1. What is the principal message of the portion?

2. What does it signal if recalcitrance "keeps company" with the features mentioned?

3. What is the role of the language?

4. What is the difference between “practical judgment” and “practical reason”?

Render the texts.