My purpose in posting this 6-part synopsis of the book "Women's Ways of
Knowing" is to heighten our awareness of how people think (or don't
think!), in the sense of "How do people develop in their thinking skills?"
Few books have been written on this subject. In fact, last week I did a
search of the Arizona State University libraries and found only a couple
other books besides this one and Perry's old study of Harvard men. The
"Women's Ways" book is a good one, for its scope is broad. And much of it
is applicable to men and boys.
The 4 authors of "Women's Ways ..." state in their introduction: "We
recognize (1) that these five ways of knowing are not necessarily fixed,
exhaustive, or universal categories, ... (3) THAT SIMILAR CATEGORIES CAN BE
FOUND IN MEN'S THINKING [my caps] ..."
It is crucial that we produce a citizenry who can think well. Our
technological prowess requires this, for we have great power for
destruction or construction. The huge environmental and social challenges
that humanity faces in coming decades (including global warming,
overpopulation, depletion of resources like oil, 3rd world poverty &
illiteracy, hatred fueled by undemocratic politics & religious doctrines)
require us educators to do a better job in teaching young people how to
THINK, so that they can face these challenges successfully.
Thus it's important for us to know where young people are, in their
development of thinking ability, so that we can build from there and
improve their thinking skills. Learning about intellectual development can
be a real asset in our teaching. So, Bob LaMontagne, I hope that you'll
investigate the causes that underlie your facts, rather than ignore them.
Your daughter and her peers will benefit.
Cheers,
Jane Jackson
On Sept. 12, 2002 Bob LaMontagne <rlamont@POSTOFFICE.PROVIDENCE.EDU> posted:
'All right already - enough - you've convinced me. Despite my 20 years teaching
experience to the contrary, you've clearly demonstrated that women are unfit
for the physics academic environment. I'll ignore the fact that of the three or
four A's I give out each semester in General Physics, I have never had a case
where at least two of them went to a female student. I'll ignore the fact that
two years ago a young woman went through our program with a 4.0 overall GPA
(and double majored to boot!) ...'
----------------------
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331 <http://modeling.asu.edu>
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is
our inability to understand the exponential function."
- Al Bartlett, Prof of Physics, Univ of Colorado