There are different ways of exploring and examining the visual medium in the service and disservice of education. A discursive form rather than a visual medium is chosen in this attempt. Utilizing the conceptualizations of Suzanne Langer, Christine Nystrom observed that American symbolic environments have undergone a massive shift from discursive (rational, analytical, logical, and reflective) to nondiscursive (gestalt, appositional, emotional, and presentational). Currently, such a shift is widely regarded as a global phenomenon in modern social systems. Traditionally, classroom teaching was characterized by the control of visual stimuli and constant variation of speech. Being threatened by the accusation that classroom life is increasingly unattractive and irrelevant to the younger generation, many educators seek remedies in strengthening the visual medium in the learning process. In her polemic article written more than two decades ago, Nystrom addressed the virtue of traditional practice and the danger of modem trends in relation to education: through the control of visual stimuli, focused attention on the discursive mode can be attained as a principle. In this article, the author considers three rounds of discourse as particularly worthwhile: (1) Rudolf Arnheim's idea of visual thinking and its resonance; (2) Walter Benjamin's unfinished Arcades Project and his idea of materialist pedagogy; (3) and Henri Bergson's concept of intellectual effort and its implication for the development of the human mind. (Contains 37 notes and 3 figures.)