Re: snapshots -Reply

Bill Bolin (Bill_Bolin@ETSU.EDU)
Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:33:17 GMT


>I understand the call for this, the need to be diligent and to think
>independently. I also assume both Ken and Ben temper these maxims in the
>fuller context of their classrooms. Still, I want to point out that
>there's also a need to know when to trust someone, when skepticism gets
>in the way, when diligence untempered becomes parnoia. I guess I'm
>thinking of Wayne Booth's _Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent_ and
>also with one eye on the dangers of polarized positions.
>
>
>
>Nick Carbone
>nickc@english.umass.edu
>nickc@marlboro.edu
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It certainly looks as though Nick's response takes us back to Pete's
assertion, some few messages ago, that the "imparting of skills" is
inherently value laden. Whether we want to adopt an attitude of assent or
of healthy skepticism or what have you, our values inform our teaching
(including our judgment of students and/or their work).

Bill Bolin
Dept. of Literature and Languages
East Texas State University
Commerce, TX 75429
(903)886-5272
Bill_Bolin@etsu.edu