Comedy or social commentary?
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New voices: #3 of 7, this blog is probably better read than mine, but again I think it is invaluable for educators to read: The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk.
In a recent post, Labels and Limits, David quotes a Washington Post article, “Increasing numbers of children are given increasingly specific labels, ranging from psychiatric and neurological diagnoses such as Asperger’s and attention-deficit disorder to educational descriptors including “gifted” and “learning disabled.” He argues that students don’t deserve ‘fixed limits’ or labels placed on them.
I think this fits with the idea of us living in an over-prescribed society… every teacher has met a kid that ‘needs’ medication to ‘fit into’ the classroom, but I wonder how much of this is an issue of placing square pegs in round holes? At what point do labels hinder rather than help?
After reading Christian’s Stop Blogging Because You’re an Educator over at think:lab, I have been more compelled to look for new voices outside of edublogs. I will continue to call it new voices, but really I am seeking out different perspectives whether new or not.
Originally posted: March 5th, 2007Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: I’m stuck in the Square Peg metaphor and have been for a while. On that note, I am now going to make a big overarching, very generalized statement and then leave it hanging without further explanation: Schools are designed for Girls and Boys suffer unfairly. – – – With respect to ‘new voices’, again I must say that things have changed, and that my Twitter network does far more for me than searching for ‘different perspectives’ ever would! Worse yet, I’ve become a twitter snob. If someone new chooses to follow me on Twitter I go to their web page… not an edublogger? They probably won’t be followed by me. At some point this may hinder me, but for now it is all about keeping my network meaningful. |