Things

2006-6-25 13:51:00

My Friends,

We are still at the gathering and having a great time. It is good to mingle with old friends and new. We are off to see some sights and will have a final meeting tonight and leave for home early in the morning.

Let me just make a brief comment on the current situation.

One thing I have always tried to do here is to be as tolerant as possible to those who do not agree with me or challenge me. Each new challenge that comes forth I try to answer so we have some substance in the archives to which we can refer in the future.

Some think (and they may be correct) that I spend too much time in answering critics as students came here to learn new principles from me and major distractions delay their learning.

Now Dean sees the situation from the point of view that he is merely aiding in our learning; whereas others see him as a distraction from learning instead. Dean does need to realize that he does need to do some blending with the group desire here.

The problem is becoming he is dissecting error in every line I am writing and disagreeing with it. It's fine to disagree, but a line by line disagreement with a teacher who is presenting material that is widely accepted by the group as a whole becomes a distraction rather than a help.

Dean used to bring a point of interest or question now and then and this caused no problem but if any student takes the stance that every line the teacher puts out needs challenged, this becomes unproductive. Imagine in a Spanish class if a student challenged the pronunciation of each word the teacher spoke. Even if the student were right, it would be counter productive to make such challenges and slow down the learning of the class.

Now I am to blame here as much as Dean for the situation. It is part of my philosophy to allow maximum freedom and input. I usually continue an argument until people complain. Whether this is right or wrong is a judgment call, but we have arrived at the point where enough have complained that it is time to return to somewhat standard class procedure again.

I can see that this is necessary especially after talking to members at the gathering, many who do not post that much. None I have talked to are interested in determinism or think continued discussion on it has much to offer.

This is a group who enjoys becoming and does not want to just be.

Unless I am a completely incompetent teacher it should be possible for each student to find points of agreement on which to expand as well as points of conflict.