tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post6027920852893109261..comments2024-03-28T19:56:32.848-05:00Comments on Anecdotal Evidence: `Difficult Achievements'Patrick Kurphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08436175583386298032noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-14612493342566847662009-03-02T20:44:00.000-06:002009-03-02T20:44:00.000-06:00Hmmm..maybe the printed word evolved to make up fo...Hmmm..maybe the printed word evolved to make up for the deficiencies of the oral tradition. And maybe those deficiencies have been ameliorated by digital technology. And maybe your preferred technology is simply another of an endless shifting chain of technologies who's time has come and .. gone?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-12496710423460492532009-03-02T14:02:00.000-06:002009-03-02T14:02:00.000-06:00re: When expectations are minimal or non-existent,...re: <I>When expectations are minimal or non-existent, and self-esteem is judged more important than working after knowledge, it’s only human to be lazy, self-centered and contemptuous of learning, authority, tradition and civility.</I><BR/><BR/>Enjoying the Oakeshott and the commentary. As a teacher I have to admit that you have a point, but I also have a feeling that you're oversimplifying. It's interesting that you identified <I>Of Mice and Men</I> and <I>To Kill a Mockingbird</I> among the holes/swamps in our curricula, because my experience (although I teach mostly older kids now) is that those texts aren't the things that bog down our readers. In fact, many of them count those books among their favorites.<BR/><BR/>I'm more in line with your suggestion about the ironically deleterious effects of self-esteem and the concordant unwillingness to subordinate immediate desires to...well, anything. <BR/><BR/>Don't get me wrong -- I teach many, many terrific young people. But there is a shift that I think happens in middle school, and it's about the nature and pace of reading, not about the specific texts in place. Experimenting with self-definition tends not to be compatible with sitting still and processing intellectually, at least in our modern world.<BR/><BR/>When the post-modern era removed a big chunk of the locus of authority from society and placed it in the individual, that seems to have aided overall justice while simultaneously dooming many of the the things that our society actually used to do well. I love post-modernism, but it seems to have opened a Pandora's box.Rosinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12993180190170025711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-42121767702126396022009-03-02T10:13:00.000-06:002009-03-02T10:13:00.000-06:00The tantrum-throwing and whining on New York City ...The tantrum-throwing and whining on New York City streets are not to believe! But I spoke to an audience of Russians and Asians and their kids in a big school auditorium in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, last week, and they were very attentive. It could be that these recent emigres are our only hope!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-79325146010897667832009-03-02T09:14:00.000-06:002009-03-02T09:14:00.000-06:00Your observations about students remind me of one ...Your observations about students remind me of one reason why I teach at the university instead of in elementary or high school levels. For the most part (though it can be argued otherwise), students in the university classroom want to be there. Therefore, a teacher can begin by presuming certain levels of commitment and motivation. University instructors are not, I think, members of the mob against whom the students are culturally programmed to rebel. Having said that, every now and then a student in one of my classes will destroy my presumptions.<BR/>At any rate, I enjoy your blog, and must now dash off to the library since you have whetted my appetite for Oakeshott.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-80567878739305930292009-03-02T08:35:00.000-06:002009-03-02T08:35:00.000-06:00Always a pleasure to read you.Best,Leslie.Always a pleasure to read you.<BR/><BR/>Best,<BR/><BR/>Leslie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com