From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 07:16:54 GMT
Dear Dustin,
I'm very sympathetic to your attempt to teach your students 'to decide for
themselves what is good and what is not good' (as you describe it 3 Feb 2003
23:26:33 -0500). That sounds more like 'teaching like Pirsig' (as described
in ZAMM) than like 'teaching Pirsig' (his ideas), which I understood your
intent to be from what you wrote 2 Feb 2003 22:30:58 -0500. I tried to do so
too when I taught economics a few years ago to 13 - 16 year olds. I chose a
moment for going into education in which a new way of educating was (from
above...) imposed on (the 'higher' types of secondary) schools in which
self-activation and independence of students was stressed. Nevertheless my
ideas for teaching methods were not accepted by the colleagues with which I
had to co-operate (in these 'higher' of secondary school types). (A lot of
schools in the Netherlands combine under one roof 3 or even 4 different
school types for brighter and less bright students. School types have
different methods -read: books- for the same subject. Government prescribes
to a large degree what they've got to know and can to do at the end of
each school type.)
Maybe the USA has less a tradition of top-down prescription of methods and
content of education than the Netherlands and maybe being part of this
'program called Teach For America' guarantees that your introduction of new
ideas in education is easier accepted by your colleagues. I nevertheless be
very interested to read about how you (and others in the same program) fare.
Don't those who are already teaching in these 'most socioeconomically
challenged school districts' feel criticized by 'Teach for America' for
teaching in the wrong way?
Next year you will be teaching in the Missisippi Delta in this 'Teach for
America' program. Now you already 'giving [your] current students the option
of calling [you] Mr. Morrow or Phaedrus'. Does that mean that you are
already doing the same now ('teaching like Pirsig') on a less
'socioeconomically challenged' school? Is that an accepted way of teaching
there?
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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