Re: [xmca] schools kill creativity?

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

You do not have to imagine the right wing being happy about "obama losing
the olympics." Last night CNBC had a film of the reaction of a tea party
group when
Brazil won the olympics. They cheered. Patriotically of course.

For those who have access, there is a very sobering story about gang
violence in the favella's of Rio this week. NYRB does not give subscribers
online rights, but if someone gets the electronic version and would be so
kind as to send it along,
I think it would make for interesting reading by people on xmca.


mike

On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 5:07 PM, David H Kirshner <dkirsh@lsu.edu> wrote:

> > I believe politicians should go back to school and learn with the kids
> how to work collaboratively.
>
> Obama's response to the loss of the Olympics bid was something along the
> lines of "sometimes you play a good game but don't win"--the first principle
> of good sportsmanship. Even though this is what we teach kids in school, I
> can just hear conservatives muttering under their breath, "LOSER."
>
> The ethic of disgrace in defeat is tied into social Darwinist assumptions
> that serve to justify a lopsided distribution of wealth that puts the US
> closer to banana republic than to modern democratic state. The tensions play
> out at both ends of the SES spectrum, in the astonishingly high crime rate
> of poor who refuse to be losers and in the incredible culture of corporate
> corruption of CEOs and top executives for whom untrammeled success is the
> only option.
>
> It would be nice to see in Obama's electoral victory the possibility of
> other ethical norms rising to ascendency here. But it just doesn't feel that
> way.
>
> David
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Ana Paula B. R. Cortez
> Sent: Saturday, October 03, 2009 10:12 AM
> To: Culture ActivityeXtended Mind
> Subject: Re: [xmca] schools kill creativity?
>
> Hi, everyone, Cris and Tony!
>
> Thanks for the message. I believe politicians should go back to school and
> learn with the kids how to work collaboratively. The world will become a
> much better place by the time everyone learns how to work TOGETHER, instead
> of thinking about one's own priorities. Chicago not being chosen was not
> your president's responsibility only (of course part of it is, since he
> represents the country), but it involves a lot of other individual
> circumstances. The same applies to Rio: being chosen doesn't reflect our
> president's work, since the social conditions in Rio (and the rest of
> Brazil) are far beyond ideal.
>
> Now, Tony, I'm very glad to know you'll host the next conference in Brazil!
> Why not doing it in São Paulo? Please, send me an off-list message with the
> details and I can suggest venues for it.
>
> Warm regards to all,
>
> Ana Paula Barbosa Risério Cortez
>
> English Language and Literature Professor
>
> Faculty of Language and Education
>
> University of Mogi das Cruzes-VL, Brazil
>
> Av. Imperatriz Leopoldina, 550
>
> Vl. Leopoldina, São Paulo, SP - Brazil
>
> 05305-000
>
> 55 11 3648-5050
>
> apbrcortez@yahoo.com.br
>
> --- Em sáb, 3/10/09, Tony Whitson <twhitson@UDel.Edu> escreveu:
>
> De: Tony Whitson <twhitson@UDel.Edu>
> Assunto: Re: [xmca] schools kill creativity?
> Para: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Data: Sábado, 3 de Outubro de 2009, 0:57
>
> Thanks, Ana,
>
> At first I was going to send this just to you, off-list, but then I thought
> I'd send it to the list.
>
> First, Congratulations!
>
> .. and, I thought others outside the US might be interested in hearing that
> we in this country are being treated to the spectacle of right-wing USA
> super-patriots rejoicing (cheering, applauding vigorously, etc.) at the news
> that Chicago's bid for the Olympics was not successful. They see this as a
> failure that will disgrace Obama, and they are welcoming any failure for the
> USA that they think can be treated as a failure by Obama.
>
> I wanted to also mention that at our International Curriculum meeting in
> South Africa last month, we decided that our next meeting will be in Brazil
> in 2012. Not sure yet which University will host, or in which city; but it
> would be great if you would join us -- I will update the list as details
> emerge.
>
> Finally, points in your message encourage me that maybe the manuscript I'm
> writing might not be too crazy after all. In one part I am working (maybe
> overworking) an analogy between meaning and dancing, arguing that just as
> dancing is what dancers do, meaning is what mean-ers do (speakers, writers,
> thinkers -- but also words, texts, and signs in general). So "I mean ..." ,
> "she means ..." , "that word means ..." "that text means ..."; with
> "meaning" as a verb, and not a noun (i.e., not something that could be a
> "content," or something "conveyed").
>
> Anyway, your message also reminded me of the teacher who said, "Mary, put
> that book away; it's time for reading now!" (I guess that's not intelligible
> outside of countries where "reading" is a subject and a class that has been
> taught using systems and materials that bear little relationship to the
> reading that people do with books outside of schools and classrooms.)
>
> Again, Congratulations! President Obama offered his congratulations to Rio
> and to Brazil when he returned, and he also expressed pride in Chicago.
> "Sometimes you can play a great game and still not be the winner."
>
> To the right wing in our country, any time Obama falls short of what he's
> trying to do (even on things like reducing unemployment, or finding a way to
> provide health care for people here -- not just something like the
> Olympics), they see failure for the USA as a great victory for the American
> that they are loyal to.
>
> On Fri, 2 Oct 2009, Ana Paula B. R. Cortez wrote:
>
> > Thanks, Mike!
> >
> > I loved the talk. It makes completely sense. I was teaching PFL
> (Portuguese as Foreign Language) at the American School of São Paulo this
> morning and I called one of my student's attention for chatting so much in
> class. Do you know what she said to me? "Sorry, Ms Cortez, I need to talk in
> order to think". Well, if a great dancer needs to move in order to put all
> her creativity into action, who I am to disagree with this student of mine?
> ;)
> > Warm regards to all,
> >
> > Ana Paula Barbosa Risério Cortez
> >
> English Language and Literature Professor
> >
> Faculty of Language and Education
> >
> University of Mogi das Cruzes-VL, Brazil
> >
> Av. Imperatriz Leopoldina, 550
> >
> Vl. Leopoldina, São Paulo, SP - Brazil
> >
> 05305-000
> >
> 55 11 3648-5050
> >
> apbrcortez@yahoo.com.br
> >
> > --- Em qui, 1/10/09, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> escreveu:
> >
> > De: mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> > Assunto: [xmca] schools kill creativity?
> > Para: "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> > Data: Quinta-feira, 1 de Outubro de 2009, 21:30
> >
> > Perhaps of some interest.
> > mike
> >
> > http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
>
>
>
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>
> Tony Whitson
> UD School of Education
> NEWARK  DE  19716
>
> twhitson@udel.edu
> _______________________________
>
> "those who fail to reread
>  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
>                   -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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