[PEN-L:11192] Re: On censorship

[Ajit Sinha <ecas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:02 PM 7/7/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Ajit told a story about leaving a disruptive student in class.  Let me
>refer to my own experience.
>
>As a grad. student in Berkeley, I volunteered at the Prescott School in
>Oakland, where a young Berkeley gratudate was trying to maintain order
>is a class of 30 or so students.  Nothing was being learnt because of
>the constant disruption.  I tried helping to tutor a few of the more
>disruptive students one-on-one.  Later, the teacher and I decided that
>we had to resort to triage.  I took some of the most disruptive students
>out of the class room so we could fool around outside and talk.  They
>did not learn anything, but they were not learning anything in the
>previous situation.  The teacher thought that the other 25 might have a
>chance if the classroom were less noisy.
___________________

Mike, I appreciate both yours and Paul's position. But my point was not
necessarily about how to deal with disruptive students. It was more about
how to deal with racist and sexist people in a situation when you are in the
position of power. In this context, ie. when you are in the position of
power, and not when the powerful is applying racism and sexism at you, I
think we should show a high level of tolerance. This, of course, would creat
some disruptions and chaotic situations. But then, that is the price we need
to pay. Being an Indian, I find chaos to be a normal situation. By the way,
I think you have done a splendid job moderating pen-l over the years.
Disagreement once in a while is but natural among thinking people. Cheers,
ajit sinha
>
>
>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 916-898-5321
>E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>