Which does sound romantic indeed... what's wrong with that? At least the
projected opposite -- passionless, passive people with small minds, weak
feelings and weak personalities -- sounds pretty awful.
As for the obedient little boys and girls, wasn't L.S.V., in the quote that
Nate gave us, quarreling with (arguing against) the people (educators) who
did that kind of pro-conformity sorting?? Arguing against conformity would
not have been without its dangers, then and there. On the other hand, the
Romantic picture of People would have been agreeable. Hmm...
Is any of the Russian speakers awake to the list and able to give us some
input on what Vygotsky was about in the quote?
Eva
At 22.43 -0500 98-08-02, Nate Schmolze quoted L.S.V.:
>There is the problem of children who, though highly gifted, cannot find any
>outlet for their energy in ordinary patterns of behavior. On the contrary,
>in terms of morality, obedient children usually represent vivid examples of
>ungiftedness, simply because they tend to very often suffer from rickets or
>are anemic or are dull and narrow minded, follow the line of easiest
>adaptation to the environment, and either do not need very much. Or who,
>very early in childhood, grasped the secret to a happy life and value it
>above all other blessings