RON MCDERMOTT spoke of WHOLE LANGUAGE 2 to SHEILA KING on 10-16-96
RM>SK>While, as Dan says, qualitative analyses are becoming "accepted"
RM>SK>in education, the point that it really doesn't _prove_ anything
RM>SK>conclusively seems to escape him. I wonder if only those of us
RM>SK>with training in math, sciences and logic can appreciate this
RM>SK>position? 
Actually the point here doesn't really "escape" me.  I don't know that I 
ever said prove....but I do have confidence in the research I have read 
(including books that cite the research.....do any of us read the 
original studies??  If so, where do you so readily get your hands on the 
material?).
By the way, I have a strong history in math myself and went back to 
school at age 34 to be a highschool math teacher.  Along the way I 
changed to elementary education and in no way did I ever think I would 
become a kindergarten teacher.  If someone told me that is what I would 
be doing for the 8 years after graduation I would have laughed at them.  
I am also a strong chess player so I must have some logic working 
upstairs.  A friend of mine said today that I just like to be contrary 
so maybe that's it    (he really did say this!)
RM>Perhaps...  It certainly seems hard to make the point,
RM>doesn't it?  When I look around and see how literally many
RM>people take the pronouncements of such surveys, especially
RM>now in the area of politics where each side takes the same
RM>"facts" and uses them to support opposing positions, it
RM>makes me worry about how easy it is for the public at large
RM>to be manipulated.  
To be fair, I never labeled them as facts.  I just strongly believe in 
what I have represented here.  Isn't a strong conviction a good thing?  
And can we say that any research can be considered "fact" or has 
"proven" anything.  Doesn't research at best simply suggest what may be 
true?
Dan
--- GEcho 1.11+
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