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 12 October 2010

reinventing the past with cristy passman


i volunteered for thursday presentation.
when there were too many thursday people i volunteered for tuesday to be especially helpful.
tuesday was the day eckford made a mandatory meeting where he repeated all the epithets at me which i find offensive and discriminatory.

why do you protect this?

why did you protect the other teachers who used sexist words as well?
do you not consider this a betrayal of trust and ethics?
bartelt did not then let me present tuesday.
come thursday he also did not let me present.

it was for extra credit which i was then denied despite my best efforts to obtain it

so recheck those facts.  i am not sure if bartelt made up a fable or you misunderstood me.

so not only did i volunteer, i was extremely flexible and was sidelined two days in a row in addition to being called in to hear eckford talk about
asshole
shitty 
bitch
bitching
vagina

keith fink was extremely disturbed they called me in for such a coercive "mandatory" and verbally abusive meeting

can i have my graded final exam with its handwritten essay component?
will you get it from bartelt for me.
i want the content of my essay in particular, which i would like to type up as a writing project.
it is my work.
if he has not thrown it away or burned it (as he joked he would) i would like it.
i would like the large binder with my printed project and research as well.

mary eng

my address is
xxxx

if you would like to be reimbursed for postage, i do not mind
i want these asap


From: "Passman, Cristy W" <passmacw@lacitycollege.edu>
To: mary eng
Sent: Tue, October 12, 2010 1:52:14 PM
Subject: RE: anthropology grade 
Dear Mary Eng,

Regarding your complaint that you were denied your final presentation, resulting in a lower grade, Dr. Bartelt explained to me that those presentations were elective in nature, not required, and not considered toward a grade.  He said he made this change because there wasn’t enough time left in the semester for everyone to make a presentation.  When he announced this change in class, he took volunteers to make their presentation and, if I remember correctly, he said you either were not in class when he asked for volunteers.  Because of this, the presentation was not considered in anyone’s grade calculations.  Finally, your grade in anthropology was based solely on your test grades and had nothing to do with your individual interactions with Dr. Bartelt. 

Please let me clarify something regarding your discrimination complaints.  Dr. Burnett is only investigating your complaint about me.  I am still responsible for investigating the remainder of your LACC discrimination and harassment complaints.  Thus, Dr. Burnett’s request for details is asking you to provide details about your complaint that I discriminated against you or harassed you. 

     Cristy

Cristy Passman, J.D.
Compliance Officer, Ombudsperson
            and ADA Coordinator
LACC, AD 208C, Ext. 2249

From: mary eng [mailto:maryeng1@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 1:19 AM
To: Passman, Cristy W
Subject: grade retaliation

dear cristy passman, ombudsman for LACC harassment and discrimination

have you corrected the "C" from my record yet?

where is the paperwork on the grade dispute?

i was given a "c" in anthropology for questioning the use of numerous epithets 

this is regarding the sexist words i noted in bartelt's class and in eckford's speech to me
which you can listen to here

this
four months later and i do not know why your school allowed this grade retaliation to occur.

why was i denied my final presentation?
why are you not getting back to me with an explanation?

mary eng

please put it in writing

dr. burnett wrote to me today asking for details again


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I listened to the conversation and it makes completely sense. People just need to learn how to accept that everything in this world is not pretty and dandy. People say ass, tits, bitch... yes I agree its condescending but was the word tits said directly TO YOU? There are different cultures that may think bitch is okay whereas America, we have to be careful of what we say. Why? What happened to freedom and freedom of speech? Professors aren't directly commenting that YOU are a bitch. We all need to wake up to reality and know how to take in the REAL truth. We are not trained to know how to accept TRUTH because everything is censored and has to be hush hush in schools, work, and society. Try to be more open-minded to things... professors are there to teach you the real world, not to lie and teach you false information. It's always the truth that people tend to deny and actually believe in things that make them feel good. This is my view on this situation after reading your blog and taking Bartelt's Anthro class. Bartelt can come off a strong man with his own thoughts and opinions but you just have to be open minded. Can't let words (although very condescending and offending) that are not directly spoken to you bring you down... instead you just have to accept and view both sides and make a conclusion. Very interesting and informative blog and I do enjoy reading it.

13 October 2010 at 12:39

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