Greg, I'm sorry you are being forced to defend yourself for being critical. One of the reasons I have enjoyed being a subscriber to your substack is that I find you present your arguments effectively, clearly, emphatically and fairly. When I read your response to the arguments of another educator I find you attack the arguments, not the person. When the behaviour of another educator is questionable - such as citing references that do not support the argument being made - you disagree with the behaviour and question the behaviour. Thank you for the work you have done, and continue to do, in promoting effective teaching methods.
It is frustrating for sure dealing with a lot of what is posted as educational research much of which is driven by ideology - not evidence. You are a very reasonable voice, rationale and precise - it is your opponents who resort to argumentum ad hominem. I guess some of them have a lot riding on being right as they have often built their reputation on poor or little evidence. Keep up the good work Greg.
Hi Greg--something that stands out to me here (and I think you've written about this) is the conflation of left-right politics with pedagogical practices. Being an old lefty myself, one of the things liberals in the US have prided themselves on is being "fact based". That's true from economics to climate science to reproductive health. Yet, somehow, "left" in education means following along with the old Dewey-ist anti-institutionalism, which lends itself to anti-intellectualism (Hofstadter pointed this out in the 1960s). In this sense, they view "right" not as evidence based, but authoritarian and structured, while they claim the "left" as promoting individual development. Yet they do so in the face of almost overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's nuts.
It is so weird watching this. Do they know how they look and not care or are they oblivious? The latter seems more likely. What would it be like where someone disagreeing with you felt like abuse? You have to feel sorry for them, well a tiny bit.
It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next decade.
If anything, Greg, you are too kind to these educational charlatans and paid-off shills of the ruling class waging class war from above and, as part thereof, menticide. The Boalers of the world should, but never will, thank you for your restraint.
Greg, I'm sorry you are being forced to defend yourself for being critical. One of the reasons I have enjoyed being a subscriber to your substack is that I find you present your arguments effectively, clearly, emphatically and fairly. When I read your response to the arguments of another educator I find you attack the arguments, not the person. When the behaviour of another educator is questionable - such as citing references that do not support the argument being made - you disagree with the behaviour and question the behaviour. Thank you for the work you have done, and continue to do, in promoting effective teaching methods.
It is frustrating for sure dealing with a lot of what is posted as educational research much of which is driven by ideology - not evidence. You are a very reasonable voice, rationale and precise - it is your opponents who resort to argumentum ad hominem. I guess some of them have a lot riding on being right as they have often built their reputation on poor or little evidence. Keep up the good work Greg.
Hi Greg--something that stands out to me here (and I think you've written about this) is the conflation of left-right politics with pedagogical practices. Being an old lefty myself, one of the things liberals in the US have prided themselves on is being "fact based". That's true from economics to climate science to reproductive health. Yet, somehow, "left" in education means following along with the old Dewey-ist anti-institutionalism, which lends itself to anti-intellectualism (Hofstadter pointed this out in the 1960s). In this sense, they view "right" not as evidence based, but authoritarian and structured, while they claim the "left" as promoting individual development. Yet they do so in the face of almost overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's nuts.
It is so weird watching this. Do they know how they look and not care or are they oblivious? The latter seems more likely. What would it be like where someone disagreeing with you felt like abuse? You have to feel sorry for them, well a tiny bit.
It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next decade.
If anything, Greg, you are too kind to these educational charlatans and paid-off shills of the ruling class waging class war from above and, as part thereof, menticide. The Boalers of the world should, but never will, thank you for your restraint.