Would someone please cite or quote us an example of a school
textbook (exempting possibly some literary selections embedded in
textbooks) that is _not_ monologic? That invites the reader to
doubt the competence or view of the authors?
Maybe that's too high a standard. Probably there are some, e.g.
social studies textbooks, that present evidence and allow
students to draw very different possible conclusions, and present
the author's own views as explicitly just one possible view. I'm
not sure anything, even the classic MACOS texts (inspired by
Jerry Bruner), actually does this. Natural science texts usually
present data from which only one 'right' conclusion can be drawn.
Even literature study texts seem to do the same, or at least to
allow latitude only on minor 'subjective' matters, but not major
'objective' ones.
How about a textbook that actually invites confusion in the
reader? that leaves the reader puzzled about something ? that
intersects frames in such a way that possibilities multiply and
diverge rather than narrow down to just those entertained by the
author?
Is education just making the next generation see as we do? Is no
part of it creating opportunities for them to struggle with
uncertainty toward unpredictable frames of their own? JAY.
---------
JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
BITNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM
INTERNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU