Re: Monologic textbooks

Jacque Ensign (ensign who-is-at pilot.msu.edu)
Thu, 8 Feb 1996 23:31:21 -0500 (EST)

Jay, the text(s) which comes to mind is the Junior Great Books series for
young readers in which the questions after each selection invite a discussion
in which the teacher is to only preside while students give their reactions.
Some questions are more open-ended than others. I'm not particularly impressed
with the selections but have been impresed with the emphasis on critical
thought from students which the series seems to encourage.

> > >
Authoritative/monologic
textbooks > > 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.