Theory and practice. (RE: "Ideology")

Eva Ekeblad (eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se)
Fri, 3 Oct 1997 21:23:16 +0200

Tomasz:

I am *still* curious about the situation for adolescents in contemporary
Poland: the context for your work.

It is not that I think you MUST apply your theories immediately, or even
that YOU must be the one to apply them. But the more time I spend on the
xmca, the more I realize how little I know about the actual conditions and
institutions in the countries of the participants. Well, we get informed
about the North American situation fairly well. But I *know* there are
people out there from "all over", who must have things to report about what
it is like growing up in their countries.

One of the insights of the "spiritual offspring" of Vygotsky is how theory
and its cultural context are interdependent, just like our flesh and our
blood. This is why my curiosity is a theoretically grounded one :-) It is
also why one of the recent messages that keeps troubling me is Louise
Yarnall's perception of our xmca discussions as proceeding on levels with
only thin connections between them.

So this is not just a question to you, Tomasz, but to others with "stories"
to tell. And I am not only curious about adolescents. They would be worth
ONE discussion. But there is also, in connection with the 5thD, so much
hidden knowledge about conditions for even younger people. I know school is
full of problems, but it would be nice to know IF and in what kind of
"institutional" forms there are after-school activities for the younger
ages.

Eva
who is asking today
but would try to contribute her story
IF the theme is taken up