gmatic way to get to the point of solidarity and action on social justice m=
atters, transcending the name and blame and shame approach that seems to in=
some cases set the cause back rather than move it forward. In its essence=
, AI's starting point is, "What strengths, tools and values do we have that=
have served us well to tackle problems?" Once identified, then next quest=
ion is "How can we use these same strengths to tackle these (social justice=
) problems?" Third question: "Who is ready to start now?"
Cheers.
PFB
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a =
habit." (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
Patrick F. Bassett, President
NAIS - National Association of Independent Schools
1620 L St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
202.973.9710 (office) 202.746.5444 (cell) 202.973.9709 (fax)
bassett@nais.org www.nais.org www.twitter.com/patbassett www.fac=
ebook.com/NAISnetwork
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Bartels [mailto:fredbartels@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 6:29 AM
Subject: Re: Wondering what others think of the information in this intervi=
ew?
Bill,
Great point about there being viable different views. Curious that my young=
er son will also -for many of the same reasons as your son- often challenge=
my liberal biases. (My wife usually smiles in a most irritatingly knowing =
way when this happens.)
I think you are right in proposing that a good open conversation in which d=
ifferences of opinion are respectfully explored is a necessary precursor to=
discovering if there is some common ground upon which to build a group eff=
ort to push back on economic inequality.
Fred
On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 8:27 PM, Bill Ivey <bivey01370@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Well, first, to be fair, there are a good many people with the best of
> intentions who hold different views from those of us who have so far
> spoken out on this thread. I love discussing social justice issues
> with my son because he knows a number of people whose opinions differ
> wildly from the ones with which he grew up, and is exploring how that
> might affect his own values. It helps me see best intentions behind
> some perspectives I used to think of as ill-informed at best - often
> the same beat intentions that I have. I listen to my students
> discussing prejudice and you'd think they were absolutely in agreement
> politically. But they most emphatically are not, and this greatly complic=
ates action plans.
>
> So I would reframe the question slightly. How can we support
> trepidatious administrators who do want to take more of a stand on social=
justice issues?
> How we find common ground with those with whom we disagree and begin
> to work together toward that common end? To that end, I would hope
> that people who disagree with Fred, Peter, Steve and me would weigh in on=
this thread.
>
> This notion of having a conversation and seeking common ground fits
> with Steve's notion of finding solidarity. The notion of white
> privilege, to which I think he alludes, is a far more thorny issue,
> never mind gender privilege and most especially class privilege. It
> took me years to understand them, and it would be insane to expect
> twelve-year-olds to get it in one unit (never mind to expect them to
> agree with me - besides, I'm enough of a free thinker to want them to
> develop their own, informed, thought-out opinions).
>
> Just a few more thoughts.
>
> Take care,
> Bill Ivey
> Stoneleigh-Burnham School
>
>
> [ For info on ISED-L see
> https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D128874]
> Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons,
> attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
> RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
>
--
Fred Bartels
Dir. of Info. Tech.
Rye Country Day School
[ For info on ISED-L see https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D128874=
] Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution=
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