Dick Cavett and the Right Type of Interview

In the seventies, Dick Cavett used to host a three times a week, talk show; it was brilliant because he was an informed host and most of his topics were current events and not always discussions with the glitterati of Hollywood. Mr. Cavett speaks without mishap, his voice is always clear and he doesn't use "um" or "eh" in his conversation. The show was canceled and for a while ran on public television. The networks seemed to think his quality of show was too high brow for the general American audience. However, in this article, Mr. Cavett discusses Groucho Marx's view of Hollywood:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/whats-happened-to-cultural-discourse/

The idea is writers, poets and the like have something to say about the world, in general, and not just about themselves.

Discourse should motivate thought. Which, of course on this blog, leads to the quality of material children should use for developing their ability to think critically. Jessie Bauer and Susan Wise Bauer, mother-daughter authors of "The Well Trained Mind," believe in a scholastic approach to education; children should be early schooled in history and factual knowledge, the grammar period; develop connections between historical events and thoughts, the logic period; and then be able to make critical assessments of these connections, the rhetoric stage. It is an admirable guideline for teaching children at home. But what is the methodology in schools? Sometimes, like Dick Cavett, it seems if the material is difficult, the presumption will be students will not like it; it never seems to be they may rise to the challenge.