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I think what would teach not to trust authority is an explanation of why it's bad to trust authority. The story does not contain such an explanation. Secondari

I think what would teach not to trust authority is an explanation of why it's bad to trust authority. The story does not contain such an explanation. Secondarily, I think an example where people trusted authority and got burned would work. The story doesn't contain such an example. Thirdly, one could have an example where people refused to trust authority and got good results. The story doesn't have that either. What it does contain is students who did what their teacher wanted and got good results by going along with the authority's lessons.

driax 17y ago
I agree that the story does not explain WHY it is bad to trust authority. But it tells the story of HOW the author have learn to mistrust authority. It's one thing to know that you shouldn't trust authority, it's another thing to have practiced it. And this is exactly what the professor teaches: giving the students the tools and practice of constant skepticism toward even qualified authority.