On Sat, 23 Sep 1995, Jay Lemke wrote:
> Who has tried to discover what something like the Pledge does
> mean for Grade 2 students today? What are its intertexts, if
> any? What it is affective or informational content? What sort
> of act is it for them, and in what actional context or system
> of interpersonal relationships or network of institutional
> activities does it have its meanings? What is the Pledge _emically_
> for their tribe?
>
> It may be pointless for adults to argue about actions, policies,
> or curricula for them if we really don't know what things mean
> in their lifeworld. We are arguing about what these things mean,
> or would mean, for us, and, as so often, and with all best
> intentions, we are really totally ignoring them.
>
Hmm... what methodology would you say have a better chance of getting at
the perspective of children... their culture... their thinking, their
feelings...?
Anthropology seems to be a likely candidate... would really like to hear
from you Jay and others about studies that have seriously studied
children's culture... to get at their perspective, their ways of seeing
and knowing the world... Any lead?
Best,
Angel
*****************************************************************
Angel M.Y. Lin
Doctoral Candidate
Modern Language Centre
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada
E-Mail: MYLIN who-is-at OISE.ON.CA
P.S.
What I cannot forget is one scene described in Lensmire's book (When
Children Write): a2nd grade child is asked by the teacher (Lensmire) to
change the name of the main character in her story, which has cast an
embarrassing role for her classmate, using her classmate's name as
the character's name. The child protests to her teacher, "She's not as
nice as you think... she's not nice...". My understanding of what the
child is implying is... I don't need to respect that classmate, or be
considerate to her, because "she's not nice", and you teacher try to
be nice to her because you think she's nice! You're mistaken... she's
not, and we don't need to be nice to people "who are not nice
(according to us)"... Similarly, not infrequently we hear adults say
similar things: e.g., they're not nice, they're poor, they're dirty,
ignorant, differnt, filthy, lazy, speak broken English... so, we don't
need to respect them... we can say all kinds of unpleasant things about
them... because they're "not nice (according to us)"... I wonder any
"racist" would really consider her/himself a racist... just that "they're
not nice" and we don't need to be nice to "them"...
Am I getting at the emic sense of the child? I'm interpreting alright...
with reasons... oh well, any idea?
Angel