Page 196 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 196
šolsko polje, letnik xxx, številka 5–6
Petra Aczél
A ROAD TO RHETORICA: TEACHING RHETORIC AS SOCIAL
SENSITIVITY AND BEHAVIOUR
Rhetoric has been struggling for its academic and educational position
and credibility for several decades. The uniquely long, though turbu-
lent history of the ancient faculty – with fatal and more flourishing pe-
riods – has proven that rhetoric has the stamina to remain a discipline
that provides us with invigorating educational goals regarding the com-
municator as a social persona. The present paper aims to introduce the
definition of rhetoric as the study of social sensitivity and behaviour. By
addressing the state of rhetoric, it highlights the challenges that call for
such reconceptualization. Revising the presently domineering Hungari-
an and Central-European educational practices of rhetoric, I endeavour
to provide a new teaching program that has rhetorical sensitivity in its fo-
cus. A three-layered structure of teaching rhetoric is outlined that could
be applied to any level of education. These three layers respectively address
skills that are said to be most in need in the upcoming years of autom-
atization and robotization, that is, critical thinking, creativity and con-
necting/debating with others. Grounding this new frame and program –
which echoes the very ancient view of rhetoric as the universal science of
public life – the essay wishes to serve as a contribution to the renewal of
teaching rhetorical literacy.
Key words: rhetorical sensitivity, social behaviour, critical thinking, crea-
tivity, debate
POT DO RETORIKE: POUČEVANJE RETORIKE KOT DRUŽBENE
OBČUTLJIVOSTI IN VEDENJA
Retorika se že desetletja bori za ustrezen akademski in izobraževalni polo-
žaj ter verodostojnost. Izjemno dolga zgodovina starodavne veščine kljub
burnosti – tako usodnih kot cvetočih obdobij – dokazuje trdnost retori-
ke, da ostane disciplina, ki nam zagotavlja zanimive izobraževalne cilje,
povezane s sporočevalcem kot družbeno osebo. Namen prispevka je vpe-
ljati definicijo retorike kot preučevanje družbene občutljivosti in vedenja.
V prikazu stanja retorike izpostavljamo izzive, ki zahtevajo takšno rekon-
ceptualizacijo. Ob reviziji trenutno prevladujočih madžarskih in srednje-
evropskih izobraževalnih praks na področju retorike predstavljamo nov
izobraževalni program, ki se osredinja na retorično občutljivost in teme-
lji na triplastni strukturi poučevanja retorike, ki jo je mogoče uporabiti na
kateri koli stopnji izobraževanja. V okviru predlagane strukture so zasto-
pane ključne veščine, ki naj bi jih v prihodnjih letih avtomatizacije in ro-
194
Petra Aczél
A ROAD TO RHETORICA: TEACHING RHETORIC AS SOCIAL
SENSITIVITY AND BEHAVIOUR
Rhetoric has been struggling for its academic and educational position
and credibility for several decades. The uniquely long, though turbu-
lent history of the ancient faculty – with fatal and more flourishing pe-
riods – has proven that rhetoric has the stamina to remain a discipline
that provides us with invigorating educational goals regarding the com-
municator as a social persona. The present paper aims to introduce the
definition of rhetoric as the study of social sensitivity and behaviour. By
addressing the state of rhetoric, it highlights the challenges that call for
such reconceptualization. Revising the presently domineering Hungari-
an and Central-European educational practices of rhetoric, I endeavour
to provide a new teaching program that has rhetorical sensitivity in its fo-
cus. A three-layered structure of teaching rhetoric is outlined that could
be applied to any level of education. These three layers respectively address
skills that are said to be most in need in the upcoming years of autom-
atization and robotization, that is, critical thinking, creativity and con-
necting/debating with others. Grounding this new frame and program –
which echoes the very ancient view of rhetoric as the universal science of
public life – the essay wishes to serve as a contribution to the renewal of
teaching rhetorical literacy.
Key words: rhetorical sensitivity, social behaviour, critical thinking, crea-
tivity, debate
POT DO RETORIKE: POUČEVANJE RETORIKE KOT DRUŽBENE
OBČUTLJIVOSTI IN VEDENJA
Retorika se že desetletja bori za ustrezen akademski in izobraževalni polo-
žaj ter verodostojnost. Izjemno dolga zgodovina starodavne veščine kljub
burnosti – tako usodnih kot cvetočih obdobij – dokazuje trdnost retori-
ke, da ostane disciplina, ki nam zagotavlja zanimive izobraževalne cilje,
povezane s sporočevalcem kot družbeno osebo. Namen prispevka je vpe-
ljati definicijo retorike kot preučevanje družbene občutljivosti in vedenja.
V prikazu stanja retorike izpostavljamo izzive, ki zahtevajo takšno rekon-
ceptualizacijo. Ob reviziji trenutno prevladujočih madžarskih in srednje-
evropskih izobraževalnih praks na področju retorike predstavljamo nov
izobraževalni program, ki se osredinja na retorično občutljivost in teme-
lji na triplastni strukturi poučevanja retorike, ki jo je mogoče uporabiti na
kateri koli stopnji izobraževanja. V okviru predlagane strukture so zasto-
pane ključne veščine, ki naj bi jih v prihodnjih letih avtomatizacije in ro-
194
