What Students Learnd from their Piers

“living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning around their needs.”  In Plato’s words he is trying to word out that ever since our childhood we are grounded down in terms of the things we want to learn and we were only taught what was provided.  One idea that came across can be used to describe how elementary school kids would go to school and the teachers would teach them the things that lead them to believe to be true.  Teachers would be teaching the history about Thanksgiving and the students were taught at a young age to believe the American colonists aided the Native Americans and celebrated that day as a reminder of how Native Americans helped out the American colonists.  As students grow older and move on to the next grade such as middle school and high school, the restriction of them learning has been lifted and they are now able to learn that what they were told were not completely true.  The students would figure out that the things that they have learned from elementary school was a lie and what they learn from middle school was harder to believe because what they learned from elementary does not match up to the things they learned in middle school.  Plato explained that “At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck around and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him…” when people learn the truth about things they would find it harder to believe that it would be true like when a friend had died, it would be hard to believe that that person is dead because they have just seen him alive the other day.  Just like in school when the whole truth is revealed to students about Thanksgiving and how the American colonists fought and killed Native Americans to gain control their land and forced them into the reservations.  Students are surprised that the truth could be different from what they have learned in elementary and find it difficult to take in, because they were taught something different.  Eventually students will find out that most of Americans’ history are violent and later on accept that those are the actual facts.  It would be a shock to them at first but as they quickly learn they are enlightened and are able to see a clearer picture, and later they would no longer be surprised by what have happened but would be more open to gain a deeper understanding in the things around them.