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."

Tuesday 20 April 2010

spent the time talking to administration.
joyce moore, student dean, sent me to the department chair, wendell eckford, who was extremely kind and gracious.

he understood the subtle spiritual nuance of what is going on here.

he really gave me good advice about speaking with people in person, keeping the emails concise, and for making appointments.

and then christie passman wowed me with her charming diplomacy and career advice, hoping to persuade me not to file formal complaints, to save the paperwork, and time drain.

nice try.

eckford will try to clean up his department, and because i am filing a formal complaint, christie will have to have a little talk with the "tits and ass" professor as well.

i know she'll go easy on him, so he needn't worry.
suddenly, my anxiety about class has dissolved.

i really needed the experience of talking to all these wise people today.
christie gave me advice about law school, and wendell encourages me to write, or be a public speaker for political causes.
it was really flattering.

he told me what a rough time his friend had as one of the only four women in the UCLA anthropology department, where the prevailing vibe was "old boys club."  wendell also confirmed that he has heard that the law professors are barbarians.

so it gets around.

he told me of the term "t&a" used to disparage a woman's career success.

christie passman says she has heard complaints around campus about the quality in the law department.
she didn't seem to care about women being called "cheesecake" or having their weight gain mocked in property law.
that is getting a formal complaint as well.
i love duffy, and he's a great teacher, but want to school him on why it is not still 1966.

it was such a rainy afternoon.

the only trouble is, i have to reschedule my real estate law test, and go to the dentist tomorrow again.
this stuff is important, more important than grades.

all this effort takes time.
it felt worth it today.
it felt very educational . . . .
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