Thanks to Bill, for making me laugh a good deep belly laugh about his
"nursery school" metaphor for XMCA!
Bill B also wrote:
My own strategy has been the attempt not to join in the struggle that has
been going on.
I resonated to this statement, as I have also been lurking and watching what
unfolded this week on XMCA. And I have felt some degree of responsibility
for my silence, as I had originally suggested a week of self-reflection and
dialogue on same.
The "example from the other list"-approach didn't do it for me, so I adopted
a sit and read and think strategy.
And from my perspective, the exchanges have proven very valuable, and
sometimes very touching and powerful. My silence has been informed by my
desire not to react to requests that I provide some kind of "answer" or
"premature closure" - requests that come in the form - "Mary, please say
more about X. Don't just leave me dangling!"
Many participants have taken a turn tackling the issues of inclusivity and
xmca. And in so doing, we seem to have reproduced some of the same dynamics
that prompted a call for reflection in the first instance. There have also
been passages and voices speaking with frank and authentic clarity about
difficult issues.
The quality and timbre of these rich voices seem to me a wonderful gift to
our community.
I have not responded to each person in turn, even when the author of the
message quoted a message of mine directly, because I have not wanted to take
a major role in this process. I do not have any answers to the questions
that I and others have raised, and have felt that resolving the tensions
prematurely would have been much more motivated by dissonance-anxiety than a
desire for growth.
So, for me, this has been a very good XMCA week. And by the way, nursery
school is a great place to learn (Mary used to BE a nursery school teacher).
Mary
-- Dr. Mary Bryson, Associate Professor, Education, UBC GenTech Project http://www.shecan.com Curriculum Vitae http://www.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/bryson/cv.htmlThe child has no powers of reflection - no second-order thoughts which deal critically with his (sic) own thinking…In contrast, the adolescent is able to analyze his own thinking and construct theories…Of course, the girls are more interested in marriage, but the husband they dream of is most often “theoretical”, and their thoughts about married life as well take on the characteristics of “theories”. Jean Piaget (1958) The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence
---------- >From: "Nate Schmolze" <schmolze@students.wisc.edu> >To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> >Subject: RE: thanks >Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2000, 4:36 AM >
> > Paul, > > Thanks for the attachement. > > Nate > > -----Original Message----- > From: Paul Dillon [mailto:dillonph@northcoast.com] > Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 12:21 AM > To: XMCA > Subject: thanks > > > katherine, > > Thank you for explaining that. Several people answered off-list but didn't > seem to take offense at the way I expressed myself when asked the question > initially. So following your friendly lead, I'll just say that it really > didn't occur to me to say "please". Somehow, it just didn't fit the nature > of the request. Of course thank yous are always in order to people who > offer help and so in addition to you I'd like publicly to thank Geoff > Hayward and Phillip Capper, especially the latter who included a > ready-to-modify power point file, which I'm attaching here in case anyone > else out there be suddenly seized with the urge to make activity diagrams of > anything at all. > > Thanks all (including those sending moral support). > > Paul H. Dillon >
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