[lbo-talk] MH & DG on university

[Wojtek S]

Carrol, I do not mean to get personal, but your communication would
greatly improve if you avoided judgments about your interlocutors'
understanding of the situation. This is the fundamental principle of
direct democracy - never question other people's intentions or
understandings.  What you write makes a lot of sense, but only if one
makes a deliberate effort to disregard off-putting comments like  "I
think in this whole thread there is a profound misunderstanding of
what  schooling can provide" or " when Joanna speaks of "deep
learning" the discussion has gone over the cliff, for it involves (a)
a confusion."  Why should people pay any attention to a posting that
berates them?

A better way would be to open your posting with a statement like "This
discussion does not seem to take into consideration X, which I think
is important because ...."  or "I am not sure if I understand Joanna's
concept of Y, which  could be interpreted as either X or Z, so please
clarify."

I understand that it is a male thing to speak with authority, define
situation for others, don't ask questions or admit doubt - but one
positive thing that I got from reading Graeber's ethnography of the
anarchist movement is how far these folks go to control that tendency.

 It is one thing that all lefties and progressives could learn from
these guys.

PS.  I agree with your idea that learning is a life-long process on
which schooling can, but does not have to, be built, and that there
could be substantial learning outside the school system.

Wojtek