RE: grammar

[Eric Crump <eric@serv1.ncte.org>]

On Mon, 4 May 1998, Kuhne, David wrote:
->It still seems to me that if we can't teach writers to use correct
->constructions then maybe our "community" needs to take a close look at what
->we "really" do.  And no, I'm not joking.  Dave Kuhne

Great idea, Dave! We really *should* look closely at what we *really* do
(and we should look rather oftener than we do). And we ought to be open to
the possibility that our assumptions (even the most basic) are open to
question.

For instance, you open up the possibility of questioning "teaching" 
itself. Perhaps we can't teach anyone to use correct constructions. 
Perhaps we can't teach anyone anything. Perhaps we never could and only
believed in a myth of our own construction and for our self-justification.

I've been wondering for some time whether teaching, as I was taught to
understand it, isn't just a name we give for a process that happens in
different conditions and because of different influences than we assume.
That is, when people learn something, it's the result of a complex of
attitudes, assumptions, social conditions, motivations, and resources.
Learning is a product of the interaction between various people, present
or not, and all sorts of unaccountable forces. The old model of teacher
giving students knowledge or access to it is such a vast
oversimplification that it rather misses the mark entirely!

Maybe teaching, as such, doesn't really exist!

Whatcha think?

--Eric Crump