RE: [xmca] The power of internalization is overwhelmingly pervasive

Eric,

Thank you for rephrasing my previous email into one concise question: "How
can educators expect anything other than bullying in schools when such a
vast majority of society [educators included] engages in the very act?"

I agree with you that quite often bullying is done in the name of religious
and cultural practices. Yet, there are (and there were) many who manage to
be strong believers, religious practitioners, and proud representatives of
their cultures, but not at the expense of others. I am not a Christian, but
surely, not every Christian was "marching" with the Crusades around 16th
century, just like not every Christian is an anti-Semite.

I also agree that quite often bullying is done for the purpose of raising
children. There always are (and were) those who hide behind "caring for the
children" as they abuse the children of others and/or the children of their
own. Yet, there are also those who manage to care successfully for their own
children and for the children of others without practicing bullying.

You wrote: bullying is done to attain positions of power. Yes, I agree, some
bullying is done just for this purpose. However, my questions are: What
drives us to attain positions of power at the expense of others? Is power
achieved only through bullying? What is "power" in a dialectical paradigm
and where does "emotion" fit?

I realize that some of my questions are impossible to address fully, or even
to "scratch the surface" in a short email. But I just hope that raising
these questions among the XMCA members might, as you put it, "shed some
light on how to engage in educational practices that minimize bullying and
maximize the achievement of common goals."

It would surely be nice to hear what others on XMCA have to say on this
"pervasive" issue?

Cheers,
Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
Behalf Of ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 8:24 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: RE: [xmca] The power of internalization is overwhelmingly pervasive

Michael:

Thank you for the thoughts regarding this very controversial topic. First
thought is that how can educators expect anything other than bullying in
schools when such a vast majority of society engages in the very act?
Bullying is done to follow religious and cultural practices, bullying is
done for the purpose of raising children, bullying is done to do away with
something different or uncommon, bullying is done to attain postitions of
power, unfortunately bullying goes to the very heart of our human makeup.
Of course I wouldn't be asking educators to ignore bullying and criminal
activity but I believe I am agreeing that emotional interalization could
indeed be why bullying is so pervasive, among adults and children. Carl
Jung believed that the human need to belong supersedes all other needs,
emotions obviously being an intricate aspect of this. Being social beings
and using CHAT as a model for addressing the emotional aspect of human
development perhaps your research can shed some light on how to engage in
educational practices that minimize bullying and maximize the achievement
of common goals. Thank you for your work on this important topic. I
believe others on XMCA have been researching emotional impact on human
development in the CHAT framework, what do they have to say?

eric

                      "Michael G.

                      Levykh" To: "'eXtended Mind,
Culture, Activity'" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
                      <mglevykh@telus. cc:

                      net> Subject: RE: [xmca] The power
of internalization is overwhelmingly pervasive
                      Sent by:

                      xmca-bounces@web

                      er.ucsd.edu

                      08/04/2008 09:58

                      PM

                      Please respond

                      to "eXtended

                      Mind, Culture,

                      Activity"

I wanted to thank those few who responded (not via xmca, but directly) to
my
previous email. For those who, for whatever reason, missed my previous
email
and find the topic of internalization interesting enough, I attached some
"bits and pieces" related to the concept of internalization and emotions
vs.
exteriorization and appropriation from my unpublished PhD thesis. Please,
do
not quote!

However, in this email I wanted to share with all of you my thoughts on the
pervasive power of internalization. I am fascinated by how our brain (or is
it our mind?) works. We educators work extremely hard, for example, to deal
with the problems of bullying, specifically, the most vicious type,
relational bullying, where gossip, hearsay, and rumours rule. In Canada,
for
instance, there are numerous calls from various educational groups and
organizations for updated legislation to allow treating online bullying
(cyber-bullying) as a criminal offence. It is, however, regrettably common
to find many teachers-educators not only actively listening to others
spreading gossip, but - what is more disgusting - also witnessing those
very
educators spreading the gossip themselves and even acting (or basing their
decisions) upon the gossip - quite often without having any proven shred of
evidence. Yet, what fascinates me most is that some of those educators
belong to the field of educational psychology, and by their very nature
(professional and personal) are supposed to question the validity and
verify
the legitimacy of any rumours and gossip. Unfortunately, it is only when
one
is cornered legally, that one is forced to think whether there is any
actual
evidence to what was so easily believed by many.

Now, isn't it fascinating that we, educators and psychologists, demand one
thing from our students, colleagues, and even governments, but do the
complete opposite, and in that process, surely run the risks of ruining the
reputations and even lives of real and innocent people, and, hence, the
reputation of "education"? We talk the talk but we don't walk the walk.
Perhaps, once internalized, even an unacceptable and distractive (for self
and others) behaviour is hard to undo and change. The power of
internalization is overwhelmingly pervasive and astonishing, isn't it?

It would be nice to hear what others think about it.

Cheers,
Michael G. Levykh,
PhD candidate, Ed. Psych.
Sessional Instructor, SFU
(See attached file: MGLevykh_Internalization_Unpublished.doc)
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Received on Tue Aug 5 10:43 PDT 2008