May it rest in peace. On May 6, 2015, at 11:55 AM, Louis Eugene Schmier <[email protected]> wrote:
> Chris, I rest my case. > > On May 6, 2015, at 12:49 PM, Christopher Green wrote: > >> On May 6, 2015, at 7:57 AM, Louis Eugene Schmier <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> You know, sometimes I hate Isaac Newton, or, at least, his devotees who >>> advocated that everything is a machine and is governed by intelligible, >>> universal, and immutable laws. I say this because the scholarship of >>> teaching and learning has turned the classroom in a Newtonian pedagogically >>> and technologically mechanical system. >> >> I usually ignore Louis far-too-long and not-particularly-enlightening >> ruminations on his life as a “real” teacher. But this particular claim >> misses the mark by such an enormous distance that I feel I have to comment. >> Whether some overly-excited science “boosters” like to speculate that >> “everything” is governed by mechanical laws is not really the point. The >> point is that there is far too great tendency among far too many people to >> presume, on the contrary, that everything that is the slightest bit >> complicated (which is pretty much everything) is somehow “mystical” or >> “divine” or otherwise beyond human comprehension. The mechanist program says >> only, “Let’s see which of these phenomena we can explain in a mechanist >> fashion. For any phenomenon we can model in that way, there is no longer a >> need to regard it as being ‘mystical.' For those things that we cannot model >> mechanically at present, the question of how it works remains open.” Thus, >> the famous line from Laplace, when asked by Napoleon about the absence of >> God in his model of the cosmos: “I have no need of that hypothesis.” >> >> Now, to be sure, there are lots of people saying lots of stupid things about >> education these days, and offering (for sale, note) various contraptions >> that purport to “solve” the “problem.” The issue here, however, has far more >> to do with P. T. Barnum than it does with Isaac Newton (viz., “There’s a >> sucker born every minute.”). Or worse yet, the politicians who over-ride the >> wisdom of actual educators to impose these devices on the classroom (if even >> a classroom remains) are having their campaigns financed by the very people >> who are hoping to make a buck by replacing real teachers with their devices. >> That is the problem. Not Netwon and not mechanism. >> >> In short, Louis, you have been badly diverted from the real issue, which is >> exactly their intent. >> >> Regards, >> Chris Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=44568 or send a blank email to leave-44568-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
