Aristotle and the Driving Instructor

You might well be wondering what a man who lived more than 2000 years ago can offer to driving instructors. My answer to that is quite a lot.

As driving instructors, part of our tasks is that of persuasion. This art of persuasion can be called rhetoric. We can tell some to do something and more than likely for the purposes of passing a driving test they will.

But what about beyond the test. We, our friends and our families will be sharing the road with our pupils and the pupils of other instructors. This should mean that we are aiming beyond the test. Dare I say it, but ‘safe driving for life’.

For Aristotle the rhetorical means of doing this was made up of three things:

• Ethos
• Pathos
• Logos

Ethos

For ‘Ethos’ Aristotle says to be able to persuade people we need to establish credibility. We should do this in a number of ways:

• Good sense
• Good morals
• Good will

Good Sense

This is our technical knowledge, it’s knowing what we are talking about. If you start to look at how a Part 3 or a Standards Check is marked you will see that this is most important.

There is a whole competency that covers that. ‘Was the technical information given comprehensive, appropriate and accurate.’ But have a read through and see which other competencies could be covered by that.

Our pupils are getting information from other sources besides yourself. Friends or family. This could be someone working with the law, a car mechanic or something to do with the road.

If you have said the only time you can cross a solid white line is to overtake a bicycle doing less than 10 mph, a read of HC rule 129 will tell you otherwise. My point here being that your credibility could be compromised. In this case that could be your pupils dad being a traffic policeman or a road maintenance worker who both would know different.

Are you able to explain to your pupil in simple terms that are understandable to the pupil. This is a good knowledge of both subject and pupil.

Good Morals

This is covered in a number of ways. Firstly the DVSA will subject you to a DBS and some other checks to make sure that you are a fit and proper person. But when doing the job are you trustworthy. What’s your attitude to others.

Let’s look at the Part 3 and Standards Check again. ‘Did the trainer maintain an appropriate non-discriminatory manner throughout the session’. If a member of your pupils family is a taxi driver, comments about taxi drivers could undermine your standing with that pupil.

Are you prepared to give an answer to any questions regardless, on the basis of your superior knowledge. Or do you check what you are not sure of.

Are cyclists vermin or do they have a right to the road. Your pupils’ mums may ride her bicycle to work each day. Would that mean that your pupil’s mum is vermin as well.

Good will

Do you want the best for your pupil. They will sense when you do and be aware of when you put your interests over their interests.

There is a new PDI who when taking his first pupil to test asks for some advice from the three more experienced ADI’s he meets in the waiting room.

The first one has been instructing for a while now and is lucky to be alive. The roads are full of morons and retards. His pupils are barely literate and hardly talk. None of them know left from right, their mums deal with him all the time because the little darlings have no social skills. You the reader will probably have seen some of his stuff on social media.

The second one he talks to is doing very nicely thank you. He’s one of the most expensive in the area. At £40+ an hour and over 40 hours a week he’s living the dream. Because of his brilliant pass rate he’s always fully booked with a six month waiting list. The job is basically easy and he could do it standing on his head. He has it pretty well weighed off and got a 50 on his standards check, the examiner told him as a matter of principle he doesn’t give 51’s. The game has been good to him.

The third one is changing people’s lives by helping them achieve their goals. She is helping them get jobs and make things better for their families. The roads are a safer place because of the way she teaches. Even if she stops one person from having an accident, all her work will have been worthwhile. There is always something new to learn and it’s time well spent if she attends instructor meetings. She sees herself as adding value to people’s lives. For her it’s the best job in the world.

Which one of the three has the most credibility with their pupils. I know which one I like the most.

All of the above go to make up what Aristotle called Ethos. This is a greek word meaning “character” that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterise a community, nation, or ideology. It’s what we are as driving instructors.

Pathos

The next thing Aristotle talks about is ‘Pathos’. This is a reference to emotions or the needs of both the speaker and the people being spoken to, in our case the pupil.

This is seeing the pupils’ world the way that they see it, and to put your message across in their terms. Hopefully by now you are starting to see a competency from either the Part 3 or Standards Check.

I personally like ‘Was the teaching style suited to the pupil’s learning style and ability’. Are you reaching your students in a meaningful way.

Facts can be rather dull and a bit like dried biscuits. They need something to make you want to eat them. Our emotions and how we articulate them with the way we offer our facts to our pupils will make a difference.

A danger with emotions is overdoing it. I recently picked up a pupil from another instructor because she got tired of hearing how if she didn’t do something she might die. You can blow your credibility (ethos). Notice how this is starting to seem like how on a Part 3 or Standards Check one thing impacts on another.

Sometimes with stuff, while you can’t change it, you can change your attitude towards it. It’s all about thinking and we want to produce thinking drivers. This is a conversation between people who have a connection.

Logos

This is the logic and reasoning of what we do. We have something today and need to say it clearly. This is the purpose of your lesson.

Have a read of the Part 3 or Standards Check marking sheet and see how many competencies that can cover.

Writing as someone who will happily use a dozen long words when one short one will do, this is very relevant. I talked before about vivid description and how we want something to stick with a pupil. As instructors we are brilliant at this sort of thing. Lots of us use ‘BBC’ for ‘brake before clutch’ . It’s simple and to the point.

Your pupils’ questions will help you with this. You might have understood something but have you understood it in your pupils’ terms. Can you resolve it in your pupils’ terms. We looked before at reflection and how using this will increase our knowledge of what we do and how we do it.

What Does Aristotle Tell Us

We need to be credible and know our subject and think deeply about it.

There is an emotional content to what we do. We have to connect with the pupil in a meaningful way.

There should be a simple clear message, simply put. If we can’t justify what we say, how can we say it.

Notice all the above impact on one another just like a Part 3 or a Standards Check.

© Liam Greaney

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