[ProfessionalDevelopment 2534] Re: New Issue of Change AgentRobert Iakobashvili coroberti at gmail.comTue Sep 23 12:34:29 EDT 2008
Hi Steve, On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 7:42 PM, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote: > Language students should be allowed to freely choose what content to learn > from. There is nothing wrong with making content available to them that > conforms to the teachers position on various issues. The enthusiasm of the > teacher can be a source of motivation for the learner. However, I would hope > that learners are also offered different perspectives on these issues, and a > chance to choose unrelated content, or even content that represents a > different point of view to learn from. Probably, the topics should be chosen carefully to prevent political, religious, etc. collisions. > > From my Russian learning I am aware of the fact that there is a major > rewrite of history taking place in that country whereby Stalin is described > as an efficient manager, forced collectivization of the peasants and the > repressions ( resulting in the loss of millions of lives) were necessary for > the industrialization of the country and to prepare for war, Russia's > invasion of Poland was just the liberation of the Western Ukraine, and on > and on. I am very wary of the state, or other well intentioned groups > imposing their perspectives on students. This is all the more so if the > subject is really supposed to be language learning. I would argue, that the Russians have very different opinions these days. Teaching a language (as well as any other subjects) MAY involve an element of polishing some texts, and materials to make them political correct. > Steve Kaufmann > www.lingq.com > 1-604-922-8514 -- Truly, Robert Iakobashvili, Ph.D. ...................................................................... www.ghotit.com Assistive technology that understands you ......................................................................
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