My Ethics

Learn Another Language

2008-12-30T05:41:00.000-08:00

... before we say good bye until next year...

2007-12-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone... See you next year...

Last “Good Bye”

2007-12-03T18:09:00.001-08:00

"When Rita says culture is a 'way of living', she latches on to a really important fact about how people live. That's what 'education' is really about - finding things out and having 'meaning' in your life as a result."

Throughout the whole year we have been discussing several issues. In different situations we could identify ourselves either with Frank or Rita.

We have been defending a multicultural classroom, and that was the issue I found more difficult to apply in my life, until the moment I realize that I must have been that difficult to Frank as well. He didn't expect somebody with a different way of living to teach him what education is about. What gave meaning to frank life was the new "culture" as the crystal that shapes the way he sees reality. I was not expecting to learn from others (I tend to stereotype people), I thought my culture to be THE culture; however, I've learnt through this year that we can and will lean from others (TEACHERS and STUDENTS). Hope you could all learn as much as I did through our discussions. It is our choice to keep on sharing. I choose to share it with all of you!!!!! Thanks for choosing sharing your thoughts with me.

Programme of study (Suffer due to Education?)

2007-12-02T12:45:00.001-08:00

Have you ever stopped for a moment and analyzed whether we gain or we suffer due to the changes we experience in our teaching-learning process. To me, not only do we gain a lot, but also it is a rewarding process. Helping others in their process of growing and growing ourselves due to the tools that education gives us is one of the most wonderful experiences as human beings.

Now, what about Rita? According to the view of different characters throughout the play we can say that she has gained a lot and also suffered a lot. For instance, no matter whether e agree or not with the "old" Rita, she had a life and a social background that surrounded her; while this new Rita is on her own, she had left her husband and she is now trying to meet new people. However, at the very beginning of the play she states that she wants to know everything and now that she has been through several things she has learnt a lot of those things. Would she be the same without suffering for Trish almost killing herself or "proper" students mocking at her?

Education as a process has its ups and downs, as everything in life we need from those "downs" to learn even more. I guess that Rita discovers that at the end of the play, and that's why she comes back to THANK HER TECAHER after all.

Programme of study (Cultural Clash)

2007-12-02T12:26:00.001-08:00

As far as we have been discussing, we can agree on the fact that each human being has his/her own culture and each group of individuals has its own culture too, that is the complement among different individual cultures.
Whenever two different cultures interact there must be a clash, it can be a melting pot, where a new homogeneous culture is born, or a salad bowl, where each of the cultures is identifiable.
In the case of Rita and Frank, it is not an exception. There is a clash since both of them come from different backgrounds and expect different things from life.
After reading the whole play, we can agree on the fact that each of them was of high importance on each other’s life, none of the cultures prevailed over the other and they made several choices according to their new selves.
Let me remain you as clear example of this clash, the discussion Rita and Frank had about the wine and the party.

about Act 2 scenes 6 & 7

2007-11-16T23:23:00.000-08:00

We are reaching the end of the play. Have you ever end up a book crying? This was my case. Even if I didn’t expect this ending and I didn’t like it either, I found it really shocking. Could it be the time of the year?
I really don’t know. But let’s see if together we can figure out what our characters had learnt, as well as ourselves. Throughout the play both, Frank and Rita had learnt a lot from each other. But the most important thing she had discovered is that she is free to choose. No matter her social background or society demands she is free to decide. It’s her who says to Frank “Yeh. An’ it might be worthless in the end. But I had a choice. I chose, me. Because of what you’d given me I had a choice.”
Now, if we come to think whether could have been a good title for the play, I personally agree with the idea. He had learnt a lot not only about the teaching profession but about life. He had learnt to value his students’ uniqueness and spontaneity.
Furthermore, Frank gives Rita a dress as a present. He thinks of Rita as an “educated woman”, but here he is thanking all what Rita has done for him. As we could appreciate through the play, he is interested in the woman beyond Rita as a student. We always learn when we are not expecting it. That is what happened to Frank and to all teachers that believing they have nothing else to be give, students surprise them with something new!
Isn’t this the most rewarding profession? Just wondering...

about Acts 4 & 5

2007-11-15T03:32:00.000-08:00

"What's in a name?" she asks. "That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet" (II.i.85–86). Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare

Name is what determines or distinguishes the nature of a person. It's what identify ourselves and makes us different from each other. No matter how much we change, our name is always there. Changing the name is changing the roots of who we are. However, are we able to change our own essence? In these scenes we are presented with a Rita that is making her best to pretend to be somebody she is not. She has a different attitude and what's more, she speaks with a funny accent, trying to imitate her new friends. She considers herself as "educated" now, but is she truly educated?
As we have been discussing throughout the year, being educated is much more than just being well-read. We, as teachers, should bear that in mind, since we generally tend to forget about the human being's education and foster the student's repetition of content.

As regards as what the whole change generates in Rita, we can infer that she is trying to cope with her new self, a to generalize that she is showing off, but we have to bear in mind that she needs to learn how to live with herself. While reading these scenes I came to think whether she is really conscious of the attitude she is taking "against" Frank, is she really aware that probably she cannot "do it without Frank". Frank has been an important element in the process of awakening to a new life. Is she ready to go ahead without his support? Personally, I don't think so. However, it is important for her to try on her own once and again, she will fail but she will learn in the process.

about Act 2 scenes 2 & 3

2007-11-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

As we have been discussing so far, there is a huge difference between being educated and being wise. On one hand being educated (used as synonym of well-read) does not necessarily means being wise. So as to be wise, somebody needs to be not only well-read (not necessarily) but also he/she should be respectful, humble and generous. If we see it this way, we are presented in these scenes with a Rita that is not wise at all. She has been reading a lot but she is now trying to pretend that she has a different voice and that she doe not need Frank. To me, Rita considers that the new "knowledge" she has makes her self sufficient and she does not take into account several things she leaving aside such as originality, uniqueness and personality. She does not realize that she is loosing what Franks considered "her real self". For instance, almost at the end of scene 3 she told Frank that he didn't need to hold her hand as much as she could", isn't she quite arrogant?
As regards Frank's feelings towards this new Rita, we can say that he is quite disappointed from the very beginning. For example, as soon as she arrived talking with a different voice, he states that it is wrong! He really wants her to be herself. This new Rita, who has changed her opinion towards college students and whose opinions are now the ones she got from other authors, is not the one that Frank likes, he wants her to be spontaneous and natural. By the end of these scenes we come to learn that he hopes that Rita's changes are for her own good.

about Act 2 Scene 1

2007-11-11T17:35:00.001-08:00

On the one hand, Rita's awareness of the changes that the course she had with Frank had generated in her is presented from the very beginning of this scene. Rita has been to summer school in London and she is very excited about telling everything to Frank.

The experience had challenged and changed her in a positive way since she had to face different students' reality without Frank's help. At this point Rita has grown a lot, for instance, the first thing she tells Frank is about the library episode she had with a tutor and how she held back her spontaneous reaction for a politically correct one. It's important to highlight that she has also gained confidence in herself and she feels secure enough to go on with her studies.

However, as all life experiences, not all are roses, she got some negative changes too. After her learning about Blake during summer school, she is quite cocky, she starts boasting about what she knows and she looses for a moment the humility of who is always open to learn.

I want to make a pause, just for a moment, so as to reflect upon us as teacher trainees. I guess that whenever we feel we know something we want to show it off, probably totally unconsciously but we often forget to be humble and respectful towards who teaches us. What do you think?

On the other hand, Frank's attitude towards her changes was the ones of somebody totally shock by the drastic differences. I guess that he couldn't believed his eyes when he saw this "new Rita", more knowledgeable but less spontaneous. He must have felt that he was loosing her, since, he was already used to her dependence upon him. He had already made her part of his life, and the idea of her reaching the exams and the level expected for them terrified him.

Don't you think that letting students go, once you have already established certain rapport is as tasteless as reading the last page of a book, at least to me it is one of the hardest parts of being a teacher?

about Act 1 Scene 8

2007-10-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

“In terms of passing exams, it’s worthless (…) in it own terms, it’s wonderful”
Rita has handed in her essay on Macbeth and we come to learn from Frank that the paper does not follow the standards of a “passing-exam” one, i.e. Rita’s paper lacks excellence according to the College requirements. However, Frank considers it wonderful in the sense of uniqueness and original ideas. He tries to explain Rita that her writing transmits her pure essence; this is what makes it excellent.

Whenever we, teachers, make a decision about what to prioritize in classroom, what do we take into consideration??? Have you ever thought about what we are sacrificing when making our students to stick to standards? We should value our students work (uniqueness and effort) even if it is not “conventional”. It is always important to highlight their strengths, as Frank does when he is reluctant to change Rita’s writing. How often do we prioritize our students’ individual way of expression instead of modelling them to the standards????

about Act 1 Scene 7

2007-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

“But I don´t want to be myself. Me? What’s me? Some stupid woman who gives us all a laugh because she thinks she can learn, because she thinks that one day she’ll be like the rest of them…”

Rita didn’t go to Frank’s party because she considers herself different; she thinks she is not up to the level expected by Frank’s social class; what is inherent of her is not good enough for social expectations. We have been presented throughout the play with the same Rita’s attitude, she is always placing herself down, and she doesn’t not consider her value (nor as a student, nor as a woman). In Rita’s case, she believes that being brought up in “limited” surroundings makes her unable to share a dinner with professors and educated people.
What Frank needs to have done was taking into consideration Rita’s feelings, since it was not the first time that her prejudices limit her actions.
To me, it is important that teachers realize what students believe they are expected to do. No matter if it is not explicit; students always know that the school community and the society expect something from them. Not only teachers but society generate certain standards for students, whenever they fill unable to fulfill that standard they may have several reactions (such as alienate themselves, misbehavior or frustration).
Have you ever heard about Pygmalion effect in the classroom? Click here to learn more about it.

about Act 1 Scene 6

2007-10-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

In this scene we are presented with a very excited Rita, she has just been to professional theatre. In her lunch time, she goes to Frank’s to tell him about Macbeth, the play she saw. She is so excited about the play that she wants to write an essay about it, but the language she uses to describe her feelings is quite inappropriate for a paper. For instance, she says “(...) it wasn’t borin’, it was bleedin’ great, honest, ogh, it done me in, it was fantastic.” In this case, not only being motivated is enough for a good paper, she needs to polish her language since is plenty of slang and markers of substandard language.

Willy Russell, the author, is trying to put in words the relationship between Rita and Frank. Through an apple and a can of soda he shows us how the characters take care of each other. It symbolises also the attitude of sharing between the teacher and the student.
If you want to learn more about the symbolism of apple in different cultures, click here.

about Act 1 Scene 5

2007-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

In this scene we are presented with an almost furious Rita, since her husband has just burnt her books and papers. For this reason, Frank invites her to the pub to talk about her personal life and the relationship with Denny, her husband. He is totally aware that being concerned with these matters won’t let her pay attention to the class. However, she doesn’t accept the invitation, simply, because she doesn’t want her personal life to interfere with her studies. She doesn’t want to spend the few hours she has to study, talking about how miserable her life with her husband is.

A few minutes later, Rita invites Frank to the theatre to see ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’. He is reluctant to go, not because he doesn’t like the idea of going out with Rita but because of several reasons. Firstly, he hates the theatre, even more in this particular case that it is an amateur production. And then, he is concerned about Julia, his wife, since she would be jealous of Rita. Here, we get to know that Frank finds Rita not only attractive but also irresistible. Personally, this is a hint that something may happen between them later in the play.

about Act 1 Scenes 3 and 4

2007-09-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Through these scenes we get to know that Frank is expecting Rita to become discerning in the choices of life, what he exemplifies by the choices of reading. He is trying to make her understand not only literature but life better by discovering it in her own terms. What we are shown here is the importance of letting our students think about the possible choices they have and the big step the jump on when they discover things by their own. We, teacher, need to let them experiment with life, being guides and supporters for them.
Now, in scene 4, Rita says that going to Frank’s in order to study makes her stronger; but what does she actually mean with that? She is not quite proud of her family nor of her previous education. In a way studying at college is something that she was not expected to do, she knows that this activity will differentiate her from her husband and the people around her. She is becoming aware of the choice she had made; she wants to make the difference and studying with Frank is the tool for that. Isn't knowledge the tool for growing in life? for getting stronger each day? Is n't education the key to a better society? Just for us, teachers, to think about the powerful tool we have when dealing with education.

about Act 1 Scene 2

2007-08-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

In this scene we are presented with crucial information about Rita’s past that made up what she is now. Her wishes to learn have been present throughout her life. She got a deficient education, in the sense of having attended a regular school even after wanting to attend a bording one. We are presented also with the fact that she didn’t have support of her parents that leads clearly to the attitude she has towards life.
Although, Franks takes into account her background by the moment they start dealing with the content of the lesson, what Rita really needs to learn is to think in advance before acting. Frank emphasises the fact that objectivity is crucial when studying no matter her personal feelings.
Now, for us as teachers, is it ok to go on with what Frank called ‘formal education’ without bearing in mind students’ personality and interests? Easy, in fact, is to criticise Frank when we are not in charge of a student with certain expectations. However, it is just a question left in my mind after reading Willy Russel...

Educating Rita.... about Act 1 Scene1

2007-08-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Rita is a low class girl wanting to study so as to get a better way of living, not regarding money but knowledge about what she calls ‘everything’. She is the type that reads people, I mean, she understands how the world works and she wants to build her own future. Frank is a university teacher, very concerned about his routine and not very fond of teaching just for pleasure, just because of money instead.
The first approach of the play shows us the cultural clash between Rita’s dreams about studying and Frank’s frustration about teaching. From the very beginning we can infer that the experience of the characters will be enriching not only to Rita who may expand her knowledge and may polish her language, but also to Frank who may learn about social interaction and everyday world.
Have you ever thought about how your students influence your life more than expected?

....Term Task......

2007-08-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Film: Finding Forrester
Setting in place: The Bronx, New York
The scene:
As a mid term task we were asked to analyze a movie scene and I have chosen ‘Finding Forrester’. The following is a link to the selected scene.

William Forrester is a writer whose only published book has become part of the main bibliography of Literature at secondary school. Jamal Wallace is a star basketball player who also has a gift for writing. That is, until one day circumstances bring him into contact with William Forrester; and it's an encounter that ultimately changes the direction of his life forever. Jamal enrolls himself to a writing competition and he is disqualified since he has presented a paper similar to one wrote by Forrester. The day of the competition the writer who has been locked in his apartment for years, decided to leave it so as to attend the competition and speak for him.

Analysis:

We will be analyzing three different aspects of Forrester decision of speaking for Jamal at the competition:

- Whether it was a human act or not
- Whether it was a good decision or not.
- What options were available and their possible implications.

Firstly, Forrester decision was a human act because it fulfilled three main characteristics of such. These ones are:
- There was awareness of the consequences, since Forrester knew that his speech could help Jamal not to be dismissed, He was also aware of the respect that the teachers had for him and the importance of his words.
- There was consciousness, since Forrester was in full possession of his own capacities at the moment of deciding.
- There were other choices available such as staying at home and not to attend the competition, or attending the competition but not speaking for Jamal. Moreover, not only were there several choices but also he was fully aware of them.

Then, Forrester decision was morally good according to Daniel Ruiz (1987) terms, since it complied with the three requirements for a human act to be so. These ones are:
- The action must be good in itself and, in fact, in the case it is. It would have been much easier for Forrester to stay at home without risking the privacy he had constructed for a long time and not get personally involved with Jamal and take sides on the matter. A decision to be good needs to respect the principles of universal ethics of kinship and reciprocity, in our particular example kinship is found in the friendship Forrester felt at the moment of describe his relationship with Jamal and reciprocity is shown previously by Jamal having done something for him that was respecting a pact of not telling anyone that he was Forrester’s student.
- It has also good intentions since his decision was altruist; he resigned what he had believed for years in favor of what he calls FRIENDSHIP.
- The circumstances are good since Forrester was a very well know writer and the teachers at Jamal’s school were very fond of him; as soon as he started speaking everybody paid attention.

Now, if we consider that he could have chosen another option, which one would be? He could have stayed at home, letting his life pass by and actually he was fully aware of that option. But what would have been the consequences? I believe that Jamal would have been expelled from the school and Forrester would have died alone. Both characters constantly refer to one of the first scenes that Jamal asked about soup (meaning not personal involvement). So, if you happen to watch the whole movie…

just start asking ‘no-soup questions’... Try to get involve!!!!!

about Appendix: ‘Diez años después: Ante el nuevo milenio’

2007-07-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

No matter when, all human beings are born, live, love and die. This last entry on our ‘friend’ Savater’s book I reflect more than in the rest, why?
I am that kind of person who is very reluctant to share with different races or social classes. Believe it or not, I am learning… every single day I blame others because of my mistakes and my country’s mistakes. I tend to generalize too much and label people. Yes, again a mistake. But you know what? This is the first time in my life that I reflect on that. And as I mention in a previous post, my will is not to change the world for the one I want but to integrate MY world to OTHERS’ one into OUR. That is our job as human beings. What do you think about?
Rounding off… I have expressed myself as sincere as I could and I hope you help me now to keep on learning and reflecting of the type of human being we want to be and then we can help others to do so.
The following video shows in an ironic way how we all come from the same place…. Enjoy it!!!

See you later… and Lots of Love

about Epilogue: ‘Tendrás que pensártelo’

2007-07-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

Almost finishing our discussions, there is one question left… Is life worthy? And this question is the mot important one since it involves the awareness of the choices we have. Just keep on thinking…
The following video is a tribute made on youtube of my favourite SitCom, Friends, I’ve chosen it as a nice summary of what life is about…. Decisions…

about Chapter 9: ‘Elecciones Generales’

2007-07-31T19:10:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody! Such a long time without posting, isn’t it? I’m back and with a very important issue … POLITICS… mmm
I guess that it’s important now to mention that apart from a teacher to be, I am taking Political Science as a course of studies at Universidad de Buenos Aires, senseless to say that I am in my element now.
What is Politics? Who are ‘the’ politicians? What ethics has to do with politics? One of the most important ideas I take from Savater is that ethics helps us improve ourselves and not to reproach others.
Politics are everything surrounding us, each relationship between two people involves power and politics indeed. It is deep in ourselves as part of the society to develop the type of politician we want to be.
According to Savater the political community needs to be based on freedom, justice and help; and its politicians need to prioritize human rights above all. Now, If we look in restrospect, has our country been on balance throughout its history?
I consider that is in our hands as teachers’ and human beings’ to become aware of the kid of politicians we want to be and take an active role in this society. The first time I was asked why I wanted to become a teacher… my answer was ‘to change the world’. Now, a year and a half later I don’t want to change the world, I want to help others to become aware that there is always another option, either in your personal life or your life with others.
Thanks a lot for helping me reflect upon that.

about Chapter 8: 'Tanto Gusto'

2007-06-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

If I mention the word “pleasure” what is the first thing that come to your mind? Isn’t it sex? If so, isn’t immorality and guilt the first thing we associate sex with? Why are we afraid of pleasure?
It is human to enjoy life, and a good life implies body and soul satisfaction. It is natural to associate body pleasure with food, drink or sex. Moreover, it is only in the later that body and soul can melt into one so as to live a good life.
Why do people consider this as immoral? My aunt used to say that “everything I like is either immoral or make me fat”, isn´t it a clear connection between pleasure and guilt? Generally, having sex is one of the freer decisions we can make and we usually feel guilty about that. It is a common believe that if we decide to do it we must be responsible for it.
Actually, we are not afraid of pleasure in itself but we are afraid of being responsible for our own decision since they may bring about several consequences (i.e. strong bounds through sex or the abuses over others). So this leads us to the relation that Savater makes between responsibility and freedom, the former can not exist without the later.
Everything we have discussed so far has to two different impacts on our teaching. Firstly, me need to consider our learners as human being with needs of pleasure and we, teachers, are the ones likely to guide them through making “responsible” decisions. Finally, we need to bear in mind that in our own lives we are to be responsible for our own decision, even if we are afraid of them.

about Chapter 7: ‘Ponte en su lugar’

2007-06-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

"We are such stuff

As dreams are made on and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep..." (Shakespeare)

So far, we have discussed that we need to make the right choices so as to live a good life. We need to consider that life as a human one, and this means, living with other human beings. So, the first thing that comes to our minds is if those others love us, isn’t it? Now, have you ever had the feeling that you are being used instead of loved? Do you care others so as to be cared?
In order to distinguish if we are being loved or used, we need to define what we understand for loving others. According to Savater, being loved is no only being important to somebody else but also to be understood. When we understand others, when we step on their shoes, we love them. We may fail and treat them as things; we may forget that we share what make us human beings, the ability to express ourselves through words. But we must take into account is that all of us have the same rights, rights to be understood, rights to be different.
We as teachers need to care about others, we need to understand them and love them. It is not only being more humans but choosing how to do it.

about chapter 6: ‘Aparace Pepito Grillo’

2007-05-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Against what is socially believed, ‘imbecile’ is somebody that either does not know what he/she wants or he/she does it but it is not according to what living a good life means. Are we aware of how imbecile we can be through our lives? Do we take into account how our acts are reflected upon our students’ imbecility?
To reach conscientiousness, as an opposite of the already mentioned imbecility, we need to follow a path that leads us to it. The first step should be taking charge of the things we do, not considering them as irresistible. We need to bear in mind that we always have other choices, are we prepare for them?
The second step is to be responsible for each act we perform and of as many possible consequences as it may bring up. Some of them will generate a feeling of regret when they are not the expected ones.
Therefore, our final step is to be free enough, when making decisions, in order to feel guilty or proud about our own acts. Only after we had reached conscientiousness to our lives, we can foster those steps on our students.

about Chapter 5: ‘¡Despierta , Baby!’

2007-05-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Savater’s key word when defining a human being is interaction, meaning the exchange between human beings. Have we ever considered how we develop that interaction through our lives? Are we aware of the influence we have on our students and that they have on us?
We can either develop that interaction through materialism, or through a net of human relationships. On the one hand, we mean materialism when we use human beings as if they were things that you can put away when no longer in use. On the other hand, human relationships are so when they complicate everyday life.
Complications usually have a negative connotation; however for us today complication will be the feeling of enjoying life and the chance of making our own decisions. So, if we had discuss so far in our previous entries that what we should focus on is living a good life, it is living a complicated life with others what we want to foster in our students.
Let’s influence our students to see the other meanings of a complicated life, let’s start enjoying share with others. Let’s foster the society we want to live in, where everybody is aware of others’ feelings and materialism is avoided. Let’s keep our jobs real and be open-minded so as to perceive our students influences in our lives.

about Chapter 4: ‘Date a la Buena Vida’

2007-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Are we really aware that we are free whether we like it or not? It is always an act of freedom to choose what we want. Now, do we take into account in fact what we want?
The rank we give to what we want in life will vary according to our own expectations of what living a good life is. Moreover, we should reflect our own priorities throughout all aspects of life. (i.g. our family, our job, our studies). We should realize that we are where we are because we choose so.
As far as Savater tells us in his book, the value we have as human beings is the fact that we share with others. We, as teachers, have double responsibility, not only sharing for increasing our own value as people but for helping others, who we are educating, to enrich themselves. They deserve respect and valuation that we have thought for ourselves.
It is important for teachers to take time to reflect upon the priorities we want to emphasize in our students, so as to start building a society where respect and value are the pillars for critical thinking.

about Chapter 3: ‘Haz lo que quieras’

2007-04-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

The whole discussion has been about freedom, but, what does it mean? ....
Let´s try to define it according to Savater’s words. In a way, it is the possibility of choosing either positively or negatively. The awareness of our own capacity of inventing our own life in the way we want is what characterizes us as human beings.
We, teachers, need to reflect on the possibilities of creating our own path of choices in life since each time we face the everyday classroom issues we are deciding the best possible way of solving them and making the difference on our students.
Those decisions should be considered under our own personal moral.And it is important to make up for what we consider good/bad with different morals in the classroom. There we have students, parents and school community morals mixed up together. Moreover, it is our responsibility to be FREE enough to cope with them, to choose, and to teach our students how to be free in life, incidentally teaching our subject.

.... sth nice sb sent me.... sth that made me think...

2007-04-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

about Chapter 2: 'Ordenes, costumbres y caprichos'

2007-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

The fact that the decisions we make are convenient or not for ourselves may vary according to the context we are in. As we have already mentioned, choosing is what life is about. Now, are those choices being made against our will?

In Savater's terms, there are three reasons that condition our decisions: customs, orders or whims. On one hand, when we speak about customs, we have in mind what society expects from us and how we have been educated. On another hand, orders refer to actions done because somebody is telling us what to do. Finally, whims are internal willing, either egoist or altruist ones, connected with our own desires.
Nowadays, the development of this globalized world doesn't need people working as slaves or machines. It needs critical thinkers able of facing unfair orders, changing customs acquired to keep the Status-quo, and with down to earth whims.
It is part of our job as educators to help our students to recognize the context in which they are immersed. It is important, for us as teachers and as part of the society, to identify which is the reason that influences our actions so as to act in consequence. It is important to be responsible for our own choices and not to blame others.
Let's be critical, let's question ourselves and the community we are part of. Let´s be aware of the reasons we have for our own actions. We have the full potential to do things better, don't you think so?

Impunity: We all are FUENTEALBA

2007-04-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a society with no respect for its own future? Can you picture yourself with no rights to choose whatever you want? Can you believe the whole society living in hypocrisy?
For us, Argentineans, it is not a matter of history since we had to face it; we were obliged to accept a society such as the one described above. Our country had lived a dreadful darkness in its history; it was not so long ago when we lived under the oppression of State terrorism. We had no rights, we had no voice, and we were living a ‘social hypocrisy’. Demonstrations were silenced, and people had no freedom to choose what was right or wrong.
Today, after 24 years of democracy, we were supposed not to allow such a terrible horror again. Tomorrow, April 9th, has been declared a day of mourning because a teacher has been killed by the police, yes, white pinaforts dyed with blood, dark tears when looking at our future.
Can we speak of respect or even future if the people designed for protecting us, is killing those who are the ones in charge of educating our future generation? We have no rights to cut off the wings of our future. The damage caused by violence is harmful to society in all aspects, but we cannot neglect ourselves. We have the duty to face our reality, to protect our society from impunity.

Today more than ever, we as teachers and the whole society must be toghether...WE ALL ARE FUENTEALBA!!!!

Further and interesting reading related to my ideas
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-82972-2007-04-08.html
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/ultimas/20-82991-2007-04-08.html

about chapter 1: 'De qué va la ética'

2007-04-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Having read the term freedom, I considered important to clarify what ideas that word brought to my mind.
We've already marked the innate need in human beings of distinguishing between right and wrong as our starting point for discussing ethics. And if we take those ideas in terms of things that are or not “convenient” for us, we are likely to fall in generalizations. Freedom, as it is expressed in Savater’s book, needs to handle what we want to do and what we ought to do.
Now, are we aware of the power we are given with freedom? And how does it concern us as teachers?
We are not capable of choosing what happens to us, but we have the tremendous weapon of choosing the best way possible to react. We have the opportunity to try, even if we fail. That is to say that we, teachers, have the power of choosing how we will face the reality we need to. Furthermore, we have in our hands the chance of deciding if we want to react, how we will do so.

In Savater’s terms ethics is the art of living. We don’t have to panic at the idea of failing. Every single day we are given the opportunity to invent and choose. It is up to us if we decide to commit ourselves, to work hard and to choose the path we want to follow in our careers.

about Antipedagogic Notice & Prologue

2007-03-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Certain topics such as ethics are the prefered ones for debates and also the ones that people believe they have the truth. In Savater’s words, moral reflection is an essential part of education. There is where we, as teachers to be, need to consider what type of reflection we want for our students. We don’t teach ethics, we show values as this father does to his son, Amador.

This father- son relationship might be compared to anyone of any children with their parents. When analyzing the values given by the author such as: pay attention, patience and the effort of thinking step by step; we can consider them as starting points to think critically about our teaching.