Dear Je Kan,

Yes, well I think the 'laid back' student you are describing is in both real
and metaphorical terms a representative of 'The Wall' - the non-receptivity
that has become so deeply ingrained in modern culture. And to those of us
who so feel the absence of receptivity in our culture, and so recognise what
a difference it would make to open it up, The Wall can have a powerful and
deep attraction, which has us fatally banging our head against it, whether
it be in the form of peers or students! The Catch 22 is that it is difficult
to open up an unreceptive person for the very reason that they are addicted
to closure, which provides them with a false sense of security and/or
freedom, the two great hang ups of

My experience has correspondingly been that head banging is deeply
unsatisfying and is liable only to harden the wall!

Circumvention and surprise tactics seem to be preferable. So, for example,
when a student shows truculence during a class discussion, rather than
address it directly myself, I engage all the class in a discussion about
whatever point he/she may be trying to make. I have seen more than one 'come
alive' in this process, suddenly becoming as enthusiastic as they once were
resentful.

But I haven't had as much success with colleagues....


Anyway, just an initial response.


Warmest


Alan


----- Original Message -----
From: Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 27 January 2007 10:34
Subject: Re: Is Truth Relational?


I have a sense of frustration about me, I know it's my own issue but I
want to share it with members on this forum. Reading the postings is a
joy for me being a foreign educator in Japan.  I crave conversations
that feed my desire to question my practice, share my thoughts, and
have a shoulder to cry on when I am up to my butt in alligators.  My
sense of frustration stems from the complete lack of practitioner
accounts that are being shared. I love the deep philosophical debates
that are shared and the values they hold even the tension the words
create. But is no one teaching? Does every one have perfect class
rooms, perfect students, nurturing colleagues, , understanding
management , enough resources and time, simple easily delivered non
challenging curriculum?  If so I guess I had better give up my day job
and head back to the mountains and contemplate the meaning of truth.
How does truth relate to praxis? What are the real life issues of being
on the coal face of practice?  Palmer(1998)talks about the courage to
teach and directly relates his narrative to his practice in the
classroom. Tilly (2006) in his book "Why" identifies  reasons  and list
four of them: convention, narratives, technical cause and effect
accounts, codes or work place jargon. Analysis of posting to this forum
would indicate that many reasons are being give and good ones, lots of
deep moving earth shattering questions have been asked that I no clue
how to answer and engaged with.  How can we talk about truths when we
have no accounts of practice in which to ground the trustworthiness of
the word?.

When I have a bad day in the classroom and the student from hell has
reincarnated into my space. I try so hard to be understanding,
compassionate, caring, holding the space and thanking the individual
for showing me how much I have still to learn. Yet I struggle as I have
visions of the Billy Liar nature and some times I wish to really speak
the truth.  99% of my students  present their own challenges but I
fixate on trying to reach the one disinterested student? Why do I do
that?  This one student I have in mind if he was any more laid back he
would be horizontal under his desk. Why is it that I see his impending
failure and also my failure? I see his anger, his rage, his I don't
give a F*** attitude.  When I was a soldier we used to be given reality
checks by our instructors, the reality of a bad attitude, poor
motivation and its consequences were pointed out between carefully
placed blows. While I am not advocating such a course of action how
ever attractive! I have this sense of sadness at the loss of the
opportunity this student is throwing away. Any ideas?

Je Kan




Quoting Brian wakeman <[log in to unmask]>:

> Thank you for taking the time to respond in this way
> Jack,
>
> I was interested in reading about the three
> epistemologies you have made explicit.
>
> You have helped me understand where you are coming
> from in some of your publications and postings.
>
> I agreed with your first paragraph about "having lots
> more to do".
>
> Kind regards
>
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
> --- Jack Whitehead <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> On 24 Jan 2007, at 20:22, Brian wakeman wrote:
>>
>> I wonder whether we have explored fully enough the
>> idea of truth
>> being relational and more personal: ie. that truth
>> is not necessarily
>> an abstract conceptor in research a set of
>> categories or a check
>> listwehave to subscribe to for verifying
>> truthclaims......but more
>> "being true", same root as troth'.
>> 'Trustworthiness', 'faithfulness'
>> in relational ethical terms to the people involved
>> in the research,
>> or to our potential audience?
>>
>> Recently I've been reading about 'truth' in Hebrew
>> thought that has
>> this relational and ethical dimension according to
>> Brian Walsh and
>> Sylvia Keesmaat(Colossians re: Mixed. Subverting The
>> Empire.
>> Paternoster Press 2005)
>>
>> Similarly 'love': "Chesed", 'peace': 'Shalom',
>> 'respect','fairness'
>> and 'justice' : 'Sedeq'......are all activities,
>> actions, something
>> we do, rather than concepts we talk about.....
>> according to the
>> ancient Prophets. Apparently the O.T. idea of
>> 'covenant' is similarly
>> rich and meaningful.
>>
>> On 25 Jan 2007, at 17:27, Brian wakeman wrote:
>> >
>> > but what do people feel about the questions I
>> expressed about the
>> > truth of our practitioner research?
>>
>> Dear Brian and All,  I think we've lots more to do
>> in developing our
>> understandings of the nature of the
>> standards/discernments that are
>> appropriate for evaluating/assessing/judging the
>> truth in
>> contributions to knowledge of
>> practitioner-researchers.  I've been
>> influenced by three different epistemologies. In
>> propositional claims
>> to knowledge, truth is usually assessed in terms of
>> the relationships
>> between concepts. Contradictions between statements
>> are not permitted
>> under the Aristotelean Law of contradiction.
>> Dialecticians hold a
>> different view of truth where living contradictions
>> are the nucleus
>> of dialectics. Truth is a practical matter. I like
>> the way Feyerabend
>> writes in his Against Method that the meaning of
>> truth can be
>> understood in the course of its emergence in
>> practice. Followers of
>> Merleau-Ponty and his Phenemenology/Primacy of
>> Perception stress the
>> importance of embodied knowledge. Polanyi in his
>> 1958 Personal
>> Knowledge, stressed the importance of a logic of
>> affirmation and the
>> need to strip away the crippling mutilations of
>> centuries of
>> objectivist thought. Barbara Thayer-Bacon in her
>> book on Relational
>> (e)pistemologies writes:
>>
>> "I offer a self-conscious and reflective
>> (e)pistemological theory,
>> one that attempts to be adjustable and adaptable as
>> people gain
>> further in understanding. This (e)pistemology must
>> be inclusive and
>> open to others, because of its assumption of
>> fallible knowers. And
>> this (e)pistemology must be capable of being
>> corrected because of its
>> assumption that our criteria and standards are of
>> this world, ones
>> we, as fallible knowers, socially construct."
>> (Thayer-Bacon, 2003, p.7).
>>
>> What I like about what you are saying Brian, is that
>> love, respect,
>> fairness and other ethical values are all
>> activities, something we
>> do. Eleanor's doctoral thesis on Love at Work shows
>> how love can be
>> expressed as a living standard of judgment in the
>> academy. Eleanor
>> clarifies her meanings of love in the course of
>> love's emergence in
>> the practice of her enquiry. Marian has shown how a
>> living meaning of
>> passion for compassion can emerge from her
>> inclusional and responsive
>> practice. I'm suggesting that you your focus on the
>> idea of truth
>> being relational and more personal is crucial in
>> developing world
>> leading standards of judgment from
>> practitioner-research. I'm also
>> agreeing about the importance of a relational and
>> ethical dimension
>> and that our ethical values are expressed in our
>> activities and actions.
>>
>> What I also feel about your questions is that unless
>> as a matter of
>> urgency we answer them with practitioner-researcher
>> accounts that are
>> original, significant and rigorous, we are unlikely
>> to influence the
>> research assessment exercise in a direction that
>> will support
>> practitioner-research. To answer your questions with
>> the potential
>> for this kind of influence I'm feeling that we will
>> have to direct
>> each others' attention to the
>> practitioner-researcher accounts that
>> respond to your questions in a way that demonstrates
>> their
>> originality, significance and rigor in terms of
>> their world leading,
>> internationally excellent, internationally
>> recognised and/or
>> nationally recognised standards of judgment. In
>> response to your
>> questions I'm also wondering if you (or anyone on
>> the list) would be
>> willing to identify practitioner-researcher that
>> answers your
>> questions in ways that you/we would recognise as
>> world leading in
>> terms of originality, significance and rigor.
>>
>> Love Jack.
>>
>
>
> Brian E. Wakeman
> Education adviser
> Dunstable
> Beds
>
>



Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing
Tagawa City
Fukuoka Prefecture
Japan