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Lesson Plans


Re: Diane Gregory's Response to My Response

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Teresa Tipton (ttipton.wa.us)
Sun, 3 Mar 1996 16:01:33 -0800 (PST)

Dear Diane,
I found your response to my e-mail an unfortunate villification of my
comments and am truely sorry that you felt so outraged at my "rude" and
"insensitive" behavior. It was neither my intention to be rude, nor
insensitive and I publically apologize to you and anyone else I
offended.

I must say, however, that the projection of your anger onto me because of
my statements seems to be an unfortunate example of how criticism is not openly
accepted, nor encouraged, neither academically, nor in the country at
large - a position Camille Paglia expresses in
her book, "Vamps and Tramps," in discussing how the left has
polarized discourse by refusing to accept differences of
opinion and to attack the bearer of contrary beliefs. It
seems to be a professional liability as well.

I hope your outrage can be a positive catalyzing force in examining the
psychodynamics of this debate. I applaud your efforts at critical
thinking and developing open-ended research in your students. As a
college-level faculty member as well, I believe that there need to be
more teachers inculcating such skills in their students. But I have to still
question a system which has has not adequately prepared an answer to
the 125-year old question of "why art?" by "post-graduate training." I
applaud Shelly for trying to find out.

On Sat, 2 Mar 1996 tatc wrote:

> Dear Artsednet readers:
>
> My name is Diane C. Gregory, Ph.D. and I am an Associate Professor of Art
> Education at Southwest Texas State University. My students have been using
> Artsednet to get some answers to some of their questions. I am writing
> because I am concerned about an increasing number of very rude and
> insensitive responses to some of my students questions.
>
> I am also writing because I want to express my concern and outrage at a
> recent e-mail posted on Artsednet by Teresa Tipton. Teresa Tipton wrote in
> response to one of student's question "And after your research, perhaps you
> can give your faculty a reading list on the subject so that other students
> will not have the same question after their graduate training."
>
> I think Teresa Tipton and perhaps some others have not understood the
> context in which these questions are being framed.
>
> Perhaps it is time again to restate the purpose of the questions and the
> nature of my assignment to them and the philosophical context from which
> these questions are posed in the first place.
>
> At the beginning of this semester, I asked my students to identify three
> open ended questions they have about art education. They came up with
> their questions and shared them with the rest of the class and they were
> revised for clarity. I then asked them to answer these questions by going
> to a variety of sources. I asked them to go the library and do a CD-ROM
> search for information on the topic. I asked them to look for books for
> answers on the topic. I asked them to also interview local art teachers to
> get their input on the question. I also asked them to go to Artsednet to
> get your response. I have also suggested that they call the authors of
> various articles, and interview them directly. I also asked them to
> gather all these different types of "answers" together, synthesize them and
> then answer the question based upon their research and discussion with
> others. Their answers as they stand now are to be turned into me in a
> week as a rough draft. It is at this point that other students will read
> their answers and give them their reactions to their answer. I will give
> my response also at this time and share with them some information from my
> point of view. They will all be sent back to the drawing board to refine
> their answers and perhaps re-visit artsednet for clarification and the
> asking of related questions. The final answers will be turned in at the
> end of the semester. This will allow them the opportunity to really think
> for quite a while about the answer.
>
> I could have given them "the answer"at the beginning of the semester, but
> I felt it was much better for them to search out the answer themselves and
> to ask others what they thought, so that they would get an answer from many
> different points of view. I want my students to be independent thinkers.
> I don't want them to just parrot back what I say to them or parrot back
> just the information that I would give them because I know I have a biased
> point of view. I want my students to experience first hand many different
> points of view and bias, so that they can have a fuller understanding of
> issues involved in answering the question.
>
> In the case of my student, Shelly G., I, of course, have information and an
> opinion as to why art education is valuable. I could share that point of
> view with her, I felt it was more important to empower her to search out
> the answer than it was for me to give her my version. This type of an
> approach is a constructivist approach to education which is one of the new
> post-modern approaches to education. This approach seeks to empower the
> learner and to help the learner become an active participant in their own
> learning.
>
> Shelley has just returned to school to get a teaching certificate. She has
> a BFA in Art from a school in Wisconsin. She is taking only under graduate
> certification courses and is not a graduate student in the strictest sense.
> Perhaps her question reflected the fact that she is just beginning,
> because that is where she is. I am embarrassed and hurt that some one from
> the art education community would respond to her questions in the manner in
> which Teresa Tipton did. There have been others who have answered my
> students questions with a similar insensitive tone. Right now I think my
> students are also learning that some art educators are elitist and rude. I
> was hoping they would learn otherwise.
>
> If you have comments or criticisms to direct, please do not direct them to
> my students or post them to artsednet. Please e-mail me at TATC.
> I will try to explain further the nature of the assignments.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Dr. Diane C. Gregory
> Associate Professor of Art Education
> Southwest Texas State University
>
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