Essential factual drill is indispensable at some educational stages

Evidence

It is noticeable that the new pedagogy has concentrated its fire on “dogmatism” in the field of instruction and the learning of concrete facts—i.e. precisely in the field in which a certain dogmatism is practically indispensable and can be reabsorbed and dissolved only in the whole cycle of the educational process (historical grammar could not be taught in liceo classes). On the other hand, it has been forced to accept the introduction of dogmatism par excellence in the field of religious thought, with the result that the whole history of philosophy is now implicitly seen as a succession of ravings and delusions. … Descriptive, definitional philosophy may be a dogmatic abstraction, just as grammar and mathematics are, but it is an educational and didactive necessity. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 367

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what Gramsci means by ‘dogmatism’ as a legitimate, stage-specific educational tool.