A Very Good Beginning

Rising refreshed after Tuesday night’s excitement, students on the California High School Summer Program kicked off their Wednesday classes by presenting some more Euclid propositions before trying to make rational sense of irrational suffering in Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy.

While all of today’s theorems were exciting challenges for the budding geometers, one proved especially perplexing. Book I, Proposition 6 uses a form of argument known as reductio ad absurdum, “reduction to the absurd,” which indirectly proves one claim by directly proving that the opposite claim is impossible. After presenting the proposition on the board, sections pondered whether a reduction to the absurd is a valid form of argument. They will have an opportunity to revisit this question throughout the week, as Euclid deploys many more reductions throughout the Elements!

In their afternoon classes, students set aside the morning’s geometric entree for some metaphysical dessert, working through Boethius’s initial response to the “problem of evil,” the question at the center of The Consolation of Philosophy. Boethius insists on the irreducible role of reason in solving the problem, differing from both Kierkegaard and Pascal (whom students read last week). The latter authors opt for a “leap of faith” in the face of life’s paradoxes, but Boethius resorts to reason — even in his prison cell awaiting execution.

With students having now experienced the Discussion Method firsthand, they can appreciate the reflections which Dr. Brian Kelly, one of the Summer Program tutors, offered to his section. “The classroom setting is a great place to learn by doing. Every year I see high school students make very good progress,” he said. “But it’s just a beginning — a very good beginning, but I hope they make the next step and jump into it.”

After two substantial class discussions, students look forward to an afternoon of friendly competition (where watermelons just might play a creative role). Additionally, after dinner students will get to hear Rev. Sebastian Walshe, O. Praem. (’94), answer their anonymously submitted questions over root beer floats at “Chaplain on Tap.”

Come back to the Summer Program Blog tomorrow to read some of those students’ questions — and see just what those watermelons were doing!