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[Phys-l] Metaphors, chain gangs, rocks and John Denker's commentary




R. McDermott wrote:

Hopefully someone will find the contents of my post worth commenting
on as well.

I think the idea is an important one. Super-important, actually.

I get quite tired of reading about "research" that observes what kids
will or will not do under bad circumstances ... and then unjustifiably
leaps to conclusions about innate abilities and disabilities.

Is this all such research (as your post implies), or did you have some
specific case in mind when writing this? It's rather hard to respond
substantively to such vague criticism. Do you refer, for example to
McDermott's research (no relation, btw)?

===========================

The following should not be taken as a reflection on the idea, but
rather merely the _form of expression_ of the idea. (We can come
back to the idea itself.)

Yeah, let's nitpick first and then move on to what's important later on.
Makes sense to me...

In my experience, by the time they reach high school,
most students ... seem to fall in the category of a
chain gang breaking rocks in the sun.

That's certainly a colorful metaphor. It brings to mind Joss Whedon's
metaphor of high school as the mouth of Hell.

I wouldn't know.

Maybe your district is worse than I realized...

And maybe you assume too much in an effort to paint yourself as an expert in
what goes on in high schools, etc. Just how long have you been a high
school teacher? Or maybe you teach middle school?

but I hope neither metaphor is really precise.

Oh... I figured that you actually KNEW since you're criticizing the view of
someone who actually has had contact with high school students.

I hope high school is not really the
venue for depraved cruelty and diabolical monsters.

Probably depends on who you ask.

An overdrawn metaphor can be played for entertainment value, but one
should be cautious, for a couple of reasons:

1) There are more than a few enemies of public education who will
leap at the chance to take your words out of context.

So we should circle the wagons and pretend everything is fine and maybe
they'll go away?

2) It could give offense to some ethnic groups.
Just as there are some persons who are -- understandably -- offended
by casual use of "concentration camp" metaphors, there are groups who
are -- understandably -- offended by casual use of "chain gain"
metaphors.

I have a couple problems with your assumptions above. The first is that you
presume to speak for people who might be offended by reference to something
that is real and continues to this day. The second is the implied (and
poorly veiled) assumption that those of African-American descent will be
offended (who else would you be comparing with those of Jewish descent with
respect to "concentration camps"? Gypsies? Homosexuals?). This seems to
indicate that you are ignorant of the reality of chain gangs? Do you think
they no longer exist? Have you, or your family, had any experience with
them? Do you envision them as akin to slavery? Chain gangs were (and
continue to be) work gangs composed of inmates in penal institutions,
usually, in years past, in the South. Perhaps you think that only
minorities are found in penal institutions? Despite their
over-representation as a percentage, there are lots of non-minorities in
prisons. My father, having run away from his home as a very young, and no
doubt foolish, man (this would have been back in the 20's) was picked up as
a vagrant and served for a while in a chain gang. As you correctly assumed
(you had to get SOME of your assumptions correct, after all), I am not a
member of a minority. Despite that grievous fault, I, at least, have some
experience on which to base my comments.

My district is probably 90% Irish and Italian American

Other groups may have a less detached view of chain gangs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_gang

A couple of questionable assumptions made here as well. The first is that
the author(s) has no personal ax to grind (is "detached"). If s/he truly
thinks that chain gangs consisted exclusively, or even primarily, of African
Americans, then s/he is sadly mistaken. "Vagrants" were routinely impressed
into such gangs, and there were a lot of "vagrants" in the 20's, most of
them white.

The second set of erroneous assumptions made above is that my (current)
employment in a district that is largely white implies that my personal
experience is similar, AND that I have no other context from which to draw
conclusions (as opposed, no doubt, to your far superior background). So
let's put THAT set of assumptions to rest as well... I grew up, went to
school, and taught (for 18 years) in a district that is 50% minority and
routinely found itself listed as having the highest per capita murder rate
in the state of NY. I'm going to jump out on that limb with you and assume
that your background is on a par with your experience with middle and high
school students? What is that experience once again?

Out of curiosity, just how many participants on this list would you guess
were offended by my metaphor?

Perhaps a more suitable metaphor can be found.

Perhaps you can rein in your colossal ego, climb off your high horse for
five minutes, and contribute something substantive on your THIRD try. I'm
not counting on that, but hope springs eternal.