http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/~matlmc/Allegory_cave.pdf

I have read this in past for my first degree in Literature (unemployment). As future leaders in emergency services, it makes me happy to see this added to the curriculum. In a constantly developing trade, it is important to practice critical thinking in an academic sense.
Plato is using this metaphor to describe how people are educated. Everyone is taught to think in a special respect based on their upbringing. As described by the shadows on the wall being played by the marionettes or instructors, this is a metaphor on what people are taught to be true.
“I think I see a horse,” when in reality, the person is seeing a shadow of a horse. When the prisoner is released and views a real horse, he will have to test what he knows to be true.
How does this relate to the fire service? Emergency service is a growing trade that is continuing to evolve. It is a trade that is going from the technician level to the professional and clinician level. The ways we have progressed is creating professional studies that show the world what we do is back by proven sciences.
On the flip, we are a trade that has deep rooted traditions. With traditions also come attitudes that are reluctant to change. As future leaders in emergency service, we need to continue support positive change that continues to help us grow as a profession.

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