Wanted … Deliberate Deliberation

I’m not sure if the broadcast media are any better, though. As you probably know, I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the past year looking at the validity of homework. As a result of some of my blog posts, I’ve engaged a fairly wide audience. The local CBC radio program picked up on this and two of us agreed to be interviewed to discuss the issue. The other person is a mother of three school-age children and is also a university professor.

Neither of us have a particular axe to grind - we have both arrived at similar conclusions, by watching our children in school and through reading and discussion. Learning also happens to be my professional field of practice, though not public education, per se. However, my last conversation with the radio program director was that we needed to find someone with a dissenting opinion. I said that I didn’t know of anyone personally, but the local school district would surely have someone in favour of homework. The radio station was not able to find someone who strongly differed from our (well-researched) opinions, so the interview won’t take place.

IMO, this is not balanced journalism but rather a policy of only airing that which is controversial. Find people with differing opinions and put them on the air together. It’s not much better than quickly posted knee-jerk reactions on an issue. Even our national broadcaster is more interested in the argument than informing the public. I would change my opinion about homework if I could find reputable data to support it. I’m not trying to push an anti-homework point of view.

Back to your comment about fast-food news - it’s what attracts the most attention and doesn’t take a lot of effort. Whatever the medium, there is no shortage of trite commentary and gossip. It’s why those trashy newspapers at the supermarket keep selling. Why would the online world be any different?

I’m not sure if the broadcast media are any better, though

I tried, but obviously in an oblique way, to allude to your point in my phrase about “who chooses and how”. From what I understand, there is a veritable industry of pundits and wannabe pundits always working hard at being chosen by some tv or radio network or other … it’s of course how those people will make their careers.

And of course I keep learning the hard way (over and over again) that with rare exceptions if you don’t market yourself you are a tree in the forest with no one around. There are very competitive markets for expertise, especially outside the ordained halls of expertise, with many many people jockeying for position(s) in those markets.

I am very critical about the broadcast media’s choices re: “expertise”, as I feel they breach very little dissent from mainstream “centrist” views that will sell, or keep their markets in some kind of generalized befuddlement (which I believe suits their purpose(s) well).

Oh, and Harold .. I am following the exploration of the value of homework on your blog. And, for example, I know Gatto’s and Kohn’s work on education as a socialization process reasonably well.

I am affraid there is simply too much media content competing for attention and this puts a burden on people to write concisely. The days of writing a 200 pages book on one interesting idea are long gone. The same goes on for bloggers. Yep the metaphor of fast food harmful effect for content is powerful. But perhaps topics of interest are better actually discussed in the real world far away from the Net, with its limitations but its advantages too.

There was a very excellent story on this matter couple months ago on Le Monde. It was pointed out that intellos have to adapt to a changing world of how ideas are documente and most importantly exchanged and disseminated. The ones that do not adapt are bound to disappear. The “niche” of the content writers that produce long texts is bound to get smaller and more specialised. Ooopsie, my post is already far too long!

Hi, Anonymous .. thanks for stopping by.

Your point of view is certainly one that is becoming widespread, and the process reading, thinking and deliberating online certainly favours short, easily digestible snippets .. which may become undertood as an inherent limitation. I tried to be careful about saying that if one regularly reads a specific source, that provides context and background depth, which in turn can inform “conversation” that may grow in the comments section.

I agree that adaptation is and will be necessary, and perhaps more so for “intellos” and experts who are habituated to having the platforms and space for their expertise. I am not sure that those who do not readily adapt will “disappear” … but I am reasonably certain that they will become just another of many many niches.

I think there remains some real and useful questions about expertise and its discovery and use, whether in a narrow specialty or in an area with large and wide applicability.