Re: emotional bonds/education

Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at OU.EDU)
Thu, 12 Feb 1998 17:12:24

Roberto, I'm not sure we disagree. There's plenty of room for multiple
models of successful coaching approaches. (I'll avoid the question of the
degree to which anyone's public image should be the basis of a judgment
about him/her, unless we're only speaking of the person as an archetype.)
Any theory about the emotional dimension of a teaching/learning
relationship needs to account for the success of multiple approaches,
including Paterno (who creates an image of team-first through the
elimination of individuality, as evidenced by the stark Penn State
uniforms), Knight, Switzer, John Thompson, Socrates, Maria Montessori,
whoever.

A second question is whether coaching and other kinds of teaching should be
considered under the same umbrella due to coaching's implication in
competition (presumably other kinds of learning are not competitive). A
good question, though not, I think, one that should eliminate the coaching
of competitive sports from consideration.

A third question is what it means to nurture. Rachel makes the case that
nurturing is not necessarily gentle but instead involves care, however
practiced (leaving room for "tough love," etc.). This definition matches
my own view of what it means to nurture, though likely not everyone's. I
think that defining this term would be necessary to any discussion of the
topic we've taken on here.

For what it's worth, the teachers and coaches I'm most thankful for were
the ones who pushed me the hardest, as long as I understood that they were
pushing me out of concern for me and not because they were masochistic or
pushing me to gain from my efforts or simply because they were rather
cruelly playing out their anti-Semitism (as in my high school football
coaches). I don't recall feeling nurtured at the time--the experiences
were often severe. I know other people who avoided those same teachers and
were spiritually broken by them. So, like everything else I can think of,
it's important to think about the activity systems that people experience
which in turn affect their satisfaction with particular teaching/learning
relationships.

Peter

At 12:49 PM 2/12/98 +0100, you wrote:
>Peter, We may need to ask whether the end justifies the means. Joe
>Pinturno seems to get similar excelence, yet he demands the development of
>the scholar/athelete addressing the whole person before him and not just
>the physical side. I don't know what his coaching style is behind closed
>doors but publicly he appears to be a nurturing coach, at least in how his
>players relate to him. I don't wish to dismiss coaching as one dimension
>of teaching, but there was a while there, about 8 years ago, where the
>coaching metaphor was being used rather heavily as best practice, without
>considering individual differences and styles.
>
>roberto
>
>