Mike,
The reason this quote is so important to me is in my work with 16-21 year
olds it is only at the endpoint of their maturation that one can fully
appreciate the difficult walk they have taken. Within the confines of
vygotsky's zpd is a construct for viewing this progression. Somehow I cannot
but help to think that this current discussion on subjectivism is relevant to
zpd and how individual growth can only be measured against the backdrop of
the social milieu in which it is occuring. There is the individual growth,
the social growth and the combined outcome. The individual growth is usually
measured via objective marks (IQ scores, grades, length of employment) and
then the social growth is measured via subjective marks (teacher reports,
observed growth over a period of time and across different domains). The
combined outcome would be the ability of the person to function as an
independent adult.
In other words I have always viewed subjective as meaning the information
that provides quality input as compared to objective data that only provides
quantifiable data. Charts and graphs are nice but they provide nothing
unless an explanation is provided that places those quantities into a
socially relevant setting.
By the way Mike, rereading The Psychology of Literacy has been very helpful
for understanding this combination of objective and subjective descriptions
of psychological study. Kudos go out to you and Sylvia Scribner for that
beautiful work. I am particularly referring to the chapter, Practice of
Literacy (maybe this chapter, paired with chapter 1 could be a document for
discussion on XMCA?).
From the winter wonderland of MN
Eric
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