Re: General Observation

[Diane Aoki <dkeikoa@hawaii.rr.com>]

Art prepares me for the real world. He helps me to know what I¹m up against,
what the arguments might be, how to possibly prepare for the ³Arts² in the
real world I might encounter. It¹s uncomfortable, but he thickens my skin.
Diane


On 6/7/06 4:35 AM, "joseph p. bottini" <jpbottini@adelphia.net> wrote:

> Scott/Jim and all:
>  
> I enjoy reading all the "stuff" on this list, even Art's opinions.
> Disagreement can illuminate or clarify.
>  
> And, in his convoluted manner Art hits the nail on the head sometimes.
>  
> Joe Bo
>  
> -------Original Message-------
>  
> From: Scott Hays <mailto:shays@ccwebster.net>
> Date: 06/07/06 10:22:53
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: [arn-l] General Observation
>  
> On Jun 7, 2006, at 3:20 AM, "Horn, James" <jhorn@monmouth.edu> wrote:
>  
>> > I agree.  Keeping Burke around eliminates the need for any nuanced
>> > discussion of policy, assessment, curriculum or anything else.  He
>> > is a dependable and easy foil, pinata, and shameless idiot fool all
>> > rolled into one.  For those who engage him, it offers a semblance
>> > of moving a point forward, when, in fact, any possible movement has
>> > been blocked by an unremitting refusal to even see the beginning
>> > point. You are right, Scott--this would be a very different list if
>> > he were booted, a fate he has earned many times over.
>  
> Jim ... you misunderstood.  I do not advocate ... nor was I asking
> that ... Art be "booted" from this list (or, as he so eloquently put
> it, "silenced").  I actually was not suggesting a course of action,
> at all, which is why the subject line identified my comments as a
> "general observation".  I am perturbed by the politicization of
> everything and, in the case of this list, specifically of education.
> I am bothered that voices of "experts" ... whose expertise often is
> in anything but education ... carry more weight than do those of
> practitioners; and because no one listens anymore, the voices of
> reason and experience are lost.  I concluded my "observations" by
> stating we cannot ignore the criticisms directed at us ... I wish
> they would be elevated to something beyond selective daggers aimed at
> short passages taken from a broader context (my pet peeve with Art is
> that he ignores the whole fabric of an argument and focuses on a
> single inconsistency that he thinks he has seized) ... and would add
> now that maybe responses to such criticisms can help us refine our
> argument.  I don't know ... I'm currently reading about Lincoln and
> maybe just in a funk about polar extremes of leadership between what
> we have had and what we now have.
>  
> All men having power ought to be mistrusted
> -- James Madison
>  
>  
>  
>  
> .
>  <http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=409&amp;lang=9>