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."

Saturday, 3 April 2010

i am deeply sorry for all my previous impressions. i feel so lucky to have a few good teachers, and love the confidence it gives me to be challenged intellectually.
i am sorry i ask so much.
i have made an effort to get my head out of the muck.  for instance, i think duffy in the law department is such a valuable resource. his mind is razor sharp and his lecture fast.  i thanked him for his effort, with hint of other dissatisfactions.  he said, "oh, we're just old fashioned" and then i thought of sister mary david and her old fashioned grammar class.  low fi classrooms with a strict approach.  but duffy makes such clever jokes you rarely laugh out loud.  all the brain is occupied decoding them.  there is no time to laugh, he goes so fast, but gee he's funny.
i told him we need to digitize his lecture, just like they are doing at every major school, at london school of economics, or new york law.
i love c is for culture.
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=4f3acab65b424c17b0eeb26ec8be6bc2

and then my anthropology teacher ties the loose knots of what was the frayed odds and ends of philosophy i pretended to care for as a child.  and i am almost sure he is the best teacher ever, but maybe that is because i agree with him on so many things.  important things regarding racism and the environment.  so while my tuition is free, my rent is not, and i am here collecting debt and art, and reading this
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/usctheses-m220.html
if brian bartelt sticks around LACC you should really take his class.  no matter what your major or interest, we are all humans.  it is quite stunning.  and the field so profound.
while some professors could dull something to the excitement level of a dripping faucet, some have a gift for enthusiasm.
so i don't really despise LACC at all.
i just am trying to avoid bad energy, even including classroom bad energy.
the miracles of abstract thought and language are themselves magnificent.  but that is no excuse for sloppiness, sexism, and racism. especially tax-funded.
but i  think it is important to note that we are going to these old systems for old information, given in old formats.
so when they hand you a floppy disk, just say thank you and throw it over your shoulder into the infinities of ewaste.
when and if i leave, i will bask in the joys of tuitioned classes, or new loans, inconceivable loans.  i pray, i hope edu can go on for ever.  but i will have itunes U and books, and text to speech, and the wisdom of anyone, anywhere.
and that proff so and so brings a sexist tone etc, is just another drop in the bucket of the sorrows of american misogyny.
i am so sorry to exist, and i do not prefer to be around hater-people.  i think its lousy they can get paid to spread their hate ideologies.  my internet lectures at good schools, are completely compelling and academic. professional.

but the human experience, and the joy of speaking in class, questioning, and the joy of anticipation for class, that is really priceless.
as though there were nothing more we wanted than to be respected in our minds, to be treated as intellects, separate from the wageslave atmosphere of so many dead-end jobs.
LACC stop protecting abuse, stop paying settlements for incompetent admin, recognize the humanity of us . . . and stop protecting abuse.
hope its a great spring break everybody
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