Re: Anyone feeling daring?
- From: Jacey Bedford <lookinsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 02:27:00 +0000
In message <1207e8bjj4ab9c9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Pat Bowne <pbowne@xxxxxxxxxx> writes
"Jacey Bedford" <lookinsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
I guess it's culture shock for both my son and the prof.
I hadn't realized that arguing about everything was a UK thing. I had to
deal with it once, but I thought it was a class thing.
How would it be a class thing? And if so which class would you envision it applying to?
I think good UK education encourages students to ask questions, to reason for themselves (and to question authority if they have a good reason for doing so). They are not marked down for disagreeing with the teacher/lecturer if they can give a good reasoned answer as to why they disagree and show that they've thoroughly researched the subject.
In my world that would be the ideal of good education - to produce students who were one step ahead of churning out the right answers because they'd learned them by rote. I'd rather students delivered the right answers because they'd researched the subject for themselves (with guidance) and been shown how to ask the right questions.
Not meaning to comment on your son's situation, but when I had to deal with
it it drove me nuts. We began to just give up the minute the person who did
it started to argue, because it was the only way to make the dispute stop so
we could get our work done (until said person discovered something *else* to
argue about).
I guess it depends if said person had a valid point or not. It does take up time to answer questions and direct reasoned argument, and if staff are pushed to breaking point then it's easier if students act like sponges and soak up knowledge as delivered. Better for the profs not to have to deal with students who have ideas, however the ones who ask 'Why?' are the kids I like.
When someone in authority is obviously being stubborn for the sake of it rather than providing a good reason to back up what they are doing they deserve all the argument they get. 'Because I can...' is not always a good reason for making someone do something.
When I was six I had a crush on my teacher at primary school (her name was Miss Mosby and I thought she was the bee's knees). One day a friend, Gaynor, and I were waiting to have our work books perused and Miss Mosby crossed out something Gaynor had written. Gaynor had the effrontery to tell Miss Mosby that she was wrong. I immediately stepped up to defend my idol. 'Don't be silly, Gaynor, she's a teacher. Teachers aren't wrong.'
'Oh yes, sometimes we are,' Miss Mosby said, thereby both shattering my illusions and teaching me the most valuable lesson of my primary years. Several lessons, actually:
a) The person in charge is not always right just because they are in charge
b) Human beings are not infallible
c) It's all right to be wrong sometimes
d) It's all right to admit that you're wrong when you are
e) If you think you are right it's all right to say so even if you are the subordinate (as long as you do it politely)
Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford
jacey at artisan hyphen harmony dot com
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Whose Metaphor is it anyway?
- Next by Date: Re: Anyone feeling daring?
- Previous by thread: Re: Whose Metaphor is it anyway?
- Next by thread: Re: Anyone feeling daring?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
