tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post3826501057570987184..comments2024-03-20T21:38:10.502+00:00Comments on Science matters: Banged up in chokeyBobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-32550522931333447252014-09-06T21:08:46.103+01:002014-09-06T21:08:46.103+01:00Yes, indeed: yet again I give thanks that I was bo...Yes, indeed: yet again I give thanks that I was born white and male and speaking English like a native. Imagine if we both had to blog in Portuguese to get any international readership, imagine if Mandarin was the language of interweb discourse..The people who define what education is and what it should achieve are people just like me (I am also an academic in a University as well as at my beloved The Institute). Ken Robinson identifies and pillories this outrageously one sided view in his famous TED talk.BobTheScientisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-89311305281837099332014-09-06T15:28:50.284+01:002014-09-06T15:28:50.284+01:00Some years ago as a Development worker targeting m...Some years ago as a Development worker targeting men who had "fallen out" of education and thus many of them lived with a very negative view of their abilities education wise, I got in a lot of trouble with an official of the Dept of Education. My remark which she considered abhorrent was that it was ridiculous that people who had done well out of the education system would be in any kind of a good place to develop strategies to support those who had done badly. A broad sweeping statement no doubt but one I've found to be fairly accurate. She opined that it would be beneficially to these men to learn to read as they could then "take a paper" and be informed about the world. Now I happen to agree that by learning to read there are undoubted benefits, but for many of the men I worked with learning to read came a long way back from being able to sit in a group, walk into a building that even looked in any way educational or institutional, or even give themselves permission to "waste their time" over a book when there was "real" work to be done. The lady's view of education and theirs was so polarised as to be akin to separate cultures and identities. They could see this, she could not and my remark, like myself was dismissed out of hand. My funding was dismissed not long afterwards. She however continued to a handsome pension (and I hope good health to enjoy it) A longwinded rambling remark I know, but only to underline that those who have done well out of a particular system (and continue to thrive) are not always the best at seeing it's flaws or being open to alternative views / approaches. Loverly pieceRussiansidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07899160232382119090noreply@blogger.com