do no harm:


idit dobb-weinstein: "teaching is action and thinking at once. What I try to guard against most when I teach is not speaking as if my answer were conclusive, so as to avoid (to the extent possible) any kind of dogmatic appropriation. It is understandable why students might wish to imitate their teachers, but there are different modes of imitation. I try very hard to avoid the mimetic appropriation that is immediate, passive, and occludes thinking. One other reason is that if I made clear what my views were, and my views appeared as if they were final, it would preclude the possibility of first, students challenging me and second, learning from my students. The relation between the student and teacher is, to me, a dynamic relationship . . . Teaching and learning is a movement that occurs between. In other words, we are at once both agent and patient, both teacher and learner. If we are not very careful, we can do a great deal of harm. And that, too, I have learned from my teachers, Maimonides especially.

I believe my task is to provoke students to think and to engage them in genuine dialogue and questioning. To paraphrase a rabbinic saying, 'I have learned from my teachers, and I have learned from my peers, but I have learned most from my students.' And that is a continuous process of learning."

Friday 30 April 2010

letter to lawrence bradford, vice president of student services at LACC

thank you for your advice about the LSAT and the holistic approach!!!!

it was the best guidance counseling session ever!!!!

I regret to inform you that earic peters will be forwarding two incident reports to you regarding
ASO VP for finance screaming at me under the ASO election tent when i asked him not to keep touching my shoulder.
he also lied vigorously in his defense.

i cannot be around such cruel and violent people.

i am also appalled by the proceedings against sheila and fear that any racist sexist student government action could imperil LACC if administrators to not halt what appears to me to be a campaign of petty hatred and discrimination by a predominantly male group against a non-white woman.

i think this would never happen to a man or a white woman and i fear that LACC risks a PR nightmare for allowing this character defamation to continue.

witnessing the harassment of sheila is detrimental to my ability to feel safe at LACC.

i am meeting with jamillah and earic on may 14th at one o'clock to discuss my ideas for a proactive Equality Coalition united against sexism, racism, homophobia, disability discrimination, islamophobia, and professor harassment.

i have heard the most offensive things in class from professors and feel personally such anxiety and sadness that it affects my grades and ability to focus on my studies.

i would love to meet with you and explain further.

truly, i am focused on my long term goals.
however, my humanitarian nature revolts at the thought that such flagrant violation and verbal abuse will continue at LACC.

i do not want any human being to suffer what i have suffered.
if i had known how disrespectful the atmosphere here would be, i would have never commenced studies here.

the traumatizing effects of verbal abuse can last a lifetime, and are in direct defiance of the educational code guaranty of equality in education and a harassment free school place.

thank you for your investigations.
mary eng

No comments: