Dialogue

Reflection on Eisner
In this article, Eisner says that “the mind is conceived of as a collection of relatively independent faculties and aptitudes. I completely agree with this statement, the only thing that I have against it is that he does not state that these aptitudes are different for everyone. I believe that it is these differences in aptitudes that make everyone think differently. Nobody thinks the same way, everyone answers questions differently and that is because of these aptitudes. This can be illustrated with the age old question of whether the bottle is half full or half empty. Someone who thinks more logically than otherwise would say that it depends whether the bottle is being filled up or being emptied. Someone who thinks philosophically might ask “what bottle?” Every question can have a different answer, the way it is answered depends on the person, just like each one of us in this class reads the same articles and talks about different things. It is because everyone has different aptitudes that this happens.
Reflection on Giroux
In the first few sentences of this article, Giroux talks about the idea of teaching teachers. This is something that has always interested me, how do you educate someone in such a way that this person then becomes a good teacher. More interestingly though is how do two people who go through the exact same University training become different types of teachers. One could be arguably good and the other one bad. This means that there must be more to it than simply the education process. Sociologically speaking, everything that happens to us shapes us as human beings, it shapes our personality and just about everything that we do. This does not mean however that having bad teachers throughout our life will turn us into a bad teacher as well, more likely it would mean that it drove you to be a good teacher, to teach in a way that you would have liked to be taught. This leads me to wonder if the educational process really has anything to do with what type of teacher we become, is this all determined sociologically? Do Universities simply give us more knowledge and does not really teach us how to be better teachers? Does this apply to other fields as well? Does the quality of a physiotherapist simply rely on his education or does it depend on the type of person he or she is? In my mind, it is not the education that makes a person, it is what this person goes through, this determines what types of person they are and ultimately whether or not this person will have success in their field of work.
Reflection on Nussbaum
In his article, Nussbaum states that Mr gangrid is right, literature and imagination are subversive. The online Merriam Webster dictionary defines being subversive as “a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly within”. To state that all literature is out to get the government is absurd. How could children’s literature be out to get the government? I’m sure that there are plenty of pieces of literature stating that capitalism is a rotten political system and that communism is much better. I can see how someone would think that this type of article or piece of literature is out aimed to destroy the government, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn’t. For a piece of literature to really have an impact and threaten the government, it would have to be read by the masses, not only a few political science majors, it would have to be as big and even more controversial than let’s say, the Harry Potter franchise. But then again, a book like that most likely wouldn’t get anywhere near as popular.
Reflection on Chinnery
In this essay, the author recalls a story where a mother banned all books from her child except for the bible and five other books about the bible because of the fear that it would shape her daughter’s moral compass negatively. The article goes on to explore the idea of literature shaping our moral values. This idea reminds me of the last article that we read, written by Nussbaum except this time the author isn’t saying that literature has a hidden agenda. I completely agree with the statement that the books we read can shape us morally but then again so does everything in our lives, an introductory sociology course would teach you that. Whether it’s for the worse or the best is up for debate, this depends on your point of view on things. It is certainly not shocking that a person with great faith in religion would want to avoid letting their children read things that disagree with the church’s views and therefore their own views. Taking away books from children, to protect them is preventing them from forming their own opinions and essentially preventing them from becoming their own person.
Reflection on Bai
A very interesting point that Bai brings up in this article is that “even today how democracy struggles everywhere to manifest itself properly”. I feel as though this is a very bold statement, the truth that lies within it is what makes it so bold. With the political revolutions that have happened in Egypt and Libya recently It is clear that this statement is true. The interesting thing though is that this article was written over 10 years ago, long before these revolutions happened. Looking back to 2001 when this was written and think of democratic issues, you think of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. In this time, saying that there was democratic turmoil is an understatement. Another interesting point about that statement is that it is essentially timeless, these types of issues seem to be constantly present. Has there ever been a time in human history where the world was at peace, even if it was for a second? Are we free of these turmoils in Canada? Most certainly not, we have had a few more elections than normal, not that this is anything even remotely comparable to what has happened in Egypt and Libya but nonetheless, it is turmoil. The reason behind the protests and the multiple elections were the same everywhere. The people did not trust their representatives. Our methods of handling this were quite different, but then again we are not being governed by dictators.
Response to reflection on Eisner by Yue Wang
I do agree that in high school there was not much focus on addressing specific issue in society but I feel as though this involves a great deal of critical thinking to truly discuss these kinds of topics. In my experience, this type of class discussion began while I was in CEGEP but this does not exist in BC. A problem with class discussions is that it is always the same people who talk. Getting people who do not participate normally to bring something to the conversation is quite difficult. I have seen teachers try to pry just a few words out of people and they just sat there, staring blankly. I myself have not always been the most talkative in class but over time I got more comfortable with sharing my thoughts with the rest of the class. I believe that one of the reasons why it is so hard to get students to participate is because of the fear they have of the pending social backlash that may or may not happen. It is a shame that people have this fear but what is even more shameful is that others actually judge people for sharing their point of view.
Response to Reflection on Apple by Yue Wang
I do enjoy the thought that textbook productions are driven by various agendas such as political and economic. It seems as though textbooks are the bane of the University student’s existence; understandably so. New editions, high price tags, monotone writing, unclear examples, intimidating size, all these factors add up to really make things hard for students. It would be unfair to say that all textbooks do this but it seems as though it is a trend amongst them. One of the problems is that teachers demand the newest editions when they are basically the same as the previous one but for some reason, they aren’t good enough. The source of this problem is also the publishers are the ones who have the say and make most of the money from sales. The author(s) is really the one who is invested in people learning since they have such a great passion for the subject where as the publisher is in it for the money and has all the control once the book is written. The new editions are really what make it difficult for students, this is what makes it hard for students to sell their books back, if the edition changes every year or so, it is practically impossible for students to sell back their books since the new students in the classes will want to get the newer editions.
Response to reflection on Nussbaum by Ji-Hye Lee
Something that I never understood why teachers did was bombard their students with work during breaks. They are breaks for a reason, students need these to relax and let their body and minds take a break. Coaches are also infamous for doing this, whether it is spring break, easter break, Christmas break, whatever it is, it means cramming in as many practices as possible in the period of time you have off. Now imagine having a large amount of homework to do when you have to spend three hours at the pool starting at 6:00am and then another three hours in the evening. You can imagine how difficult it would be to do all of this in the same amount of time as everyone else. One of the problems with extra work during breaks is that teachers do not communicate between each other most of the time, this results in the unrealistic amount of work expected during breaks. Especially in high school, I believe that there needs to be a higher amount of communication between teachers, they all know each other and therefore should be able to arrange it so that they don’t overload the students with work and or exams. They could possibly post a schedule in a common area this way you wouldn’t end up having three different e exams in a single week.
Response to reflection on Chinnery by Ming Chi Lai
I also agree that books can do things to us but this level of connection does not occur with everyone. Different books will appeal and affect other in different ways of course but something that has always puzzled me is that sometimes English teachers read so far into a novel that the connection to the story gets lost on me. I stumble onto a Venn diagram with the sentence “The curtain was blue” as a title and then there were two circles with the tiniest overlap, one of them entitled “what the author meant” and the other was entitled “what your English teacher thinks the author meant”. I am sure that for the most part, teachers are right about the subtext involved in novels that they require their classes to read but I have seen it a few times where I just could not possibly see the connection. One of my English teachers made us watch the film, the red violin, it is the story of what Stradivarius violin and each of its owners through hundreds of years. Before the movie started he told us to pay close attention to the numbers in the movie and that they were full of meaning. Once it was done, most of us had noticed that the number 36 recurred a few times but the significance of this was lost on us. As it turns out, the teacher had no idea what the significance was, he said “I don’t know what it means either” which really made me doubt him as an educator and lead me to question his marking even more. I fail to see a reason why you would point something out where you have no idea if it even has meaning at all.
Response to reflection on Bai by Jennifer Reedel
I also agree that books can do things to us but this level of connection does not occur with everyone. Different books will appeal and affect other in different ways of course but something that has always puzzled me is that sometimes English teachers read so far into a novel that the connection to the story gets lost on me. I stumble onto a Venn diagram with the sentence “The curtain was blue” as a title and then there were two circles with the tiniest overlap, one of them entitled “what the author meant” and the other was entitled “what your English teacher thinks the author meant”. I am sure that for the most part, teachers are right about the subtext involved in novels that they require their classes to read but I have seen it a few times where I just could not possibly see the connection. One of my English teachers made us watch the film, the red violin, it is the story of what Stradivarius violin and each of its owners through hundreds of years. Before the movie started he told us to pay close attention to the numbers in the movie and that they were full of meaning. Once it was done, most of us had noticed that the number 36 recurred a few times but the significance of this was lost on us. As it turns out, the teacher had no idea what the significance was, he said “I don’t know what it means either” which really made me doubt him as an educator and lead me to question his marking even more. I fail to see a reason why you would point something out where you have no idea if it even has meaning at all.