Re: east/west

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Mon, 27 May 1996 15:59:18 -0400

Peter, your questions are excellent. The only way I have to think
aout them is with reference to my culture, my orientation within it,
and not my culture vis a vis another. There I get stumped, like you.
I believe that in this culture, agency, as realized by individuals & groups,
is the key to ideological survival. Without a SENSE of freedom to choose,
we're sure to be dominanted by others and oppressed by a social order
that was not designed with most of us in mind. I consider it my
responsibility to articulate my belief and my reasons for it, not to
make others subscribe.

.... The
>orientation to order would seem to me to work against the ideals expressed
>on xmca over the past few months in the discussion on coerciveness--I would
>say (without sounding patronizing, I hope) that such students view the
>constraints of order as *facilitative* in the sense described by Valsiner.
>Yet Western discussions of how education should ideally be would appear to
>involve the same imperialism that Mahathir finds in American international
>politics--imagine, for instance, how we'd respond if a Malaysian lectured us
>on the need for greater teacher and administrative control over Western
>schools.

.... One perspective on Mahathir
>is that, by defending "order", he keeps himself firmly in power--yet this
>may be a Western perspective on a different type of society. A second point
>is that, in some way, the arrangement "works." But then so did the
>antebellum American South.
>
>I find these questions so interesting because I see no immediate way to
>think about them. Any thoughts?
>
>Peter
>