What is The Cave?

       It did not take long for me to settle on a title for this blog. The Cave focuses on education, technological tool use in a history class, and encouraging parents to be a part of the learning process. So where does the name "The Cave" come from?  Let's go back about 2400 years to the time of ancient Greece.  Around 400 BCE (Before the Common Era), a philosopher named Plato was beginning to make his mark on the evolution of western thought, and perhaps his greatest work was The Republic.  In this seminal work, Plato created what has come to be known as the allegory of the cave.  Lets look at an illustration:

      The idea is that human beings are prisoners to their own mental, intellectual limitations. We are all down in the cave and are seeing shadows projected onto the cave wall and we believe that is reality!  Plato says that there are a few who choose to look behind themselves- those who notice the fixed images and the performers who are placing these shadows in front of us.  These few then break their chains and leave the cave. They see sunlight; they see true reality and true knowledge.  The role of the educator, and the parent as well, is to go back into the cave and encourage those down there to see that what they think is real is just shadows dancing on the walls. Young adults and students are not always willing to leave the cave.  In fact, Plato is very clear that most will fight with us about the cave and do not want to leave.  But if we consider ourselves lovers of wisdom, truth, and enlightenment, we must do what is best for them, even when they are fighting us along the way ( I am sure you can relate to that sentiment parents). 
     So what I do in the classroom everyday is attempt to drag kids out of the cave and show them the world for what it is. I do this using history as my tool and technology as my medium. So what I need from you is to help me go into the cave and bring them out of the darkness and into the light.  They are ready for reality, but we have to help them.  So grab you spelunking gear and lets teach some young people about the world they are about to inherit.