Is is just me, or does anyone else feel that when you read someone's "theory" of whatever, writing, tutoring , teaching, etc., that s/he is taking an extreme approach on purpose? In class today, I think we were able to negotiate a middle ground btw minimalist tutoring and directive tutoring, and no matter what side of the scale we were on, I don't think any tutor in their right mind would be on either extreme end of that scale.
I'm sure you have all heard the analogy of theory swinging btw extremes like a pendulum. The way I understand this is that we, as tutors and teachers, are constantly reacting to something that we don't like or isn't working, and instead of taking a step back and finding a reasonable solution, we run as far away from our original m.o. and create something new, exciting, and possible just as ineffective.
Expressionists were reacting against current-traditional modes of teaching and writing became a beautiful act of self-exploration and discovery; social constructionists reacted against the expressionists and writing became a conversation; linguists get a hold of it and it becomes a programmable code. Why can't it be all of these things? On the same note, why can't a tutor be minimalist and directive, when the situation calls for it?
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I can see what you mean. I think one of the reasons that I was able to connect so well with Shamoon and Burns' article was because they acknowledged that other methods are sometime appropriate and even effective. They don't claim that their methods will fit every situation, and that, for me, makes it easier to see how I could actually use their approach during a tutoring session.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that it can't be the way we want in...a fair middle ground where everything is game...but what's really going on here is just politics. There's the extremist right-wing, the extremist left-wing, and then everyone else caught in-between.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that, whether they realize it or not, a lot of these people were testing the waters just as much as we are trying to test them now. It's just that most of them found what suited them best...they got comfortable...and so instead of continuing to progress they "staked their territory out" per se...it's that whole sense of ownership. Not only that, but they've been recognized for the ideas they've come up with. And so, even if it isn't a case where the power's gone to their heads, at the very least they are absolutely convicted that they are right. Thus, anything that goes against their convictions is automatically "wrong." They'll do anything to defend what they believe is theirs (or what they believe is right), and they won't budge. They won't even listen a lot of times.
In this as well as in all politics, I believe the problem is the same. Most of the people caught in the middle don't say anything. Or more correctly, they don't say it loudly enough. The people on both polar ends are screaming their lungs out at each other about how they're right, and the other's wrong. But we in the middle are all like...can't we all just come together and compromise with a solution that pleases everyone? And of course, both of them will say "no" because compromise, in their eyes, is still wrong.
So unless we get some middle-men who are willing to scream their lungs out just as loudly as the rest of them, there's a strong potential that a middle-ground would be formed and accepted by more people.
The thing is...the people in the middle way outnumber the people on either extremes. The very thing that they stand for, however, is also the thing that holds them back. They want compromise. They want to please EVERYBODY...give EVERYBODY what they want. And so...being aggressive...being confrontational...does not exactly go hand-in-hand with that. Not to say that it can't...but that's probably why we don't have very many people who are willing to be "radical middleists." (Yes, I made up a word.) "Radical" and "wide acceptance" are two things that don't really fit well together.
So we need to get some loud voices out there. That's the best way to solve the problem in my opinion. :)
I think "radical Middleist" is the most radical and awesome idea I've ever heard. I'm not a "yes man," I'm a "Radical Middleist." Snap.
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