What I get out of B&G -- but maybe it's because of the influence of their later
work -- is that they draw upon the marx 'becoming by acting' model. I think
their biggest point is that economics is an essential element of the context
with which an individual interacts -- which 'in-the-head' theories (or what i
think B&G call 'liberal' theories) fail to address.
My biggest point is there is a lesson for activity theory -- in the 'rules',
division of labor' and 'community' categories, and of course production,
consumption, exchange, are the hooks to hang the economic contributions to
context.
Here is a stunning example -- given the high certainty that the school system
could not afford more technology, the grant funding in Raymond had to be
stretched as efficiently as possible, and the choices of the purchase and
distribution of the technology be made as intelligently as possible. Based
upon what Cindy learned at esd 113, and the egalitarian practices in raymond,
computers were not bought for a lab, but instead each elementary classroom was
provided with a few machines. When lesley college was subsequently recruited
to provide masters degrees, Cindy would gather her students the friday before
their monthly weekend class to assemble a 'computer lab' that lesley
instructors could use. On monday morning, they would dissemble it, and
reconstruct the classrooms. (One contradiction is that lesley values computers
in the classrooms as opposed to computer labs -- but the nature of the program
required a lab.) The children learned a lot about technology by the need to
move and configure it.
In a typical middle/upper-middle class setting that lesley classes usually are
in, there are computer labs, and often enough kids cannot take the same actions
with configuring the technology, nor are lesley students (and sometimes
instructors) also allowed to do any configuration because this is the
responsibility of a tech person -- raymond could not afford a similar division
of labor for dedicated tech support. All of this may be making a difference
between what people in the two settings learn.
Reminds me of a story about setting up computers in a church.
gotta run.
bb
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"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jul 01 2001 - 01:01:34 PDT