Masonic Education Formats

Keeping it interesting

Our Masons say that they want to receive Masonic education in their Lodge, and I think that’s true. We want every Mason to leave a Lodge meeting with some little tidbit, something new for him to ponder. Doing so adds value to the time he spent in Lodge, and that’s really important if we want him to keep coming back.

But, I think we have to keep this education in Lodge interesting. If it isn’t interesting, it may well be worse than if it didn’t happen at all.

And I think that format is one of the ways to keep it interesting. Variations from time to time.

Photo by Beau Carpenter on Unsplash

I suppose that the straight up lecture, or the reading of a paper is the most traditional way this is done in our Lodges. And, having sat through an awful lot of them, I’ve got to say that they can be extremely interesting, and fun. They can certainly leave a fellow with a lot to think about after the Closing of the Lodge.

But to pull it off well, the topic needs to be at least a little bit interesting, and whomever is presenting it needs to do so well. Otherwise we’ll hear the guys snoring in the South. Honestly though, a good presentation is probably even more important than the choice of topic.

Another format, popular with quite a few Lodges where I live is an open discussion instead of a lecture. A topic or question will be thrown out and then it’ll be discussed by everyone in turn. I think that when I was in school the teacher’s called this a Round Robin.

A variation utilized by some Lodges is to leave the traditional stations of the Lodge, and pull the chairs in close to make the discussion more intimate.

Both of these are good formats for inspiring thought, and generally lead to something interesting for the participants to take home. My Lodge has been hosting at least one of these a month for some time now.

But, to pull this off well, a pretty good moderator is needed. Someone who can make everyone feel at ease and comfortable sharing. The more open everyone is, the more successful the discussion can be. Without that comfort, men won’t feel eager to participate.

But what I’ve never seen in a Lodge setting is a debate.

The Rubicon Masonic Society in Lexington, Kentucky hosts debates. (I’ve never been able to attend one, as they occur in conflict with the meetings of my home Lodge.)

And I have to wonder if our Lodges shouldn’t consider doing the same, from time to time. I have to believe that hosting occasional debates would add interest and excitement to a Lodge’s educational program.

At the next Rubicon conference they are going to be holding two debates.

The first:

“Resolved, that the practice of holding One-Day Classes — in which men are initiated as Entered Apprentices, passed to Fellow Crafts, and raised as Master Masons in a single day — is beneficial to the Masonic Fraternity and should be utilized when it is expedient to do so.”

The second:

“Resolved, that membership in the several appendant bodies of Freemasonry is beneficial to the individual Freemason, and such appendant body membership should be encouraged among the members of the Craft.”

Each of these topics will be debated by four Masons, two arguing in the affirmative, two in the negative.

It seems to me that for a debate to be interesting and valuable in a Lodge the topic under debate would need to be interesting, probably a bit controversial, and the debaters well prepared.

But assuming those simple criteria were met, I have to believe that our Brothers in Lodge would find some quality Masonic education, perhaps challenging education, if we were to add an occasional debate into our program of Lodge education.

And that’s important. The same thing every time can put us into a rut, so I think we do very well changing things up from time to time.

But I’m really curious what you think?

Would an occasional debate on some Masonic topic in your Lodge be interesting to you?

Would including something like that, from time to time, improve your Lodge experience?

Let’s chat about it…

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And if you’d like to learn about the Rubicon Society, you can find them at the link:

Rubicon Masonic Society

Maybe someday my Lodge will change its meeting night and I’ll get to attend!

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Everything I wrote last week is here on my LinkThing.

But more than that, if you scroll down a bit to where it says “In Real Life” you’ll find links for the really awesome Cowboy Degree in Naches, the superb Starlight Fellowcraft Degree in Quilcene, our annual Masonic BBQ Contest, also in Quilcene, and a camping trip in Lewis County that should be really great. Hit those links so you don’t miss out on the fun!