[MD] Barfuesserkirche (ZMM & Dewey)

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Platt]
Arlo has posted a series of lengthy quotes from someone he refers to as "David"
who I gather has some ideas Arlo likes about education.

[Arlo]
David Granger is the author the (now available) book "John Dewey, Robert Pirisg
and the Art of Living". One of his articles is also available off
robertpirsig.org.

[Platt]
Unfortunately, most of David's prose is of the following caliber

"Personal growth and individuation are coterminous with ongoing social and
institutional melioration".

I cannot help but be reminded of Pirsig's remark about academic-style writing.
In Chapter 5 of Lila he proposed an apt description of such writing, calling it
a "lead balloon." Here's the quote:

[Arlo]
If that sentance gives you trouble, it says more about you than it does what's
being expressed. Which word aren't you familiar with? Can I suggest
dictionary.com to aid you in handling long words. 

[Platt]
But most of all, David's lack of understanding of  American government totally
disqualifies him as an educator of American children

[Arlo]
Which ideas do you dispute, and how? Or is this just another example of rhetoric
with no substance?

It's clear you posit endlessly the "great war" between "the glorious individual"
and "the evil collective". However this fiction just doesn't fly. The
individual's level of freedom is dialectically entwined with her/his collective
participation. The education Dewey (and I believe David Granger, who has tied
this with Pirsig) proposes is based in the view that the power of the
individual derives from her/his ability to participate in the collective
activity around her/him, whether its economic, social or political. Again, I
can see why a "conservative" would seek to minimize the voices of the "riff
raff", but when money is the measure of all things, what other path is
available to you?

At any rate, you long diatribe really didn't offer anything except, yet again,
rhetorical attempts at fear. Or, dare I say, all you really want to do is
politize this thread into yet another "all liberals evil, all conservatives
noble" bunk.