The Sept./Oct. 1998 issue of Change magazine has an article
entitled "Obstacles to Open Discussion and Critical
Thinking" by Carol Trosset pp. 44-49. It explains a
Grinnell College study in which Trosset did ethnographic
research on student assumptions about the purposes of
discussion. The findings hold serious implications for
those of us concerned with student reflection on
service-learning esperiences.
I'll just isolate two quotes from the article that struck
me most:
"The main reason students gave for wanting to discuss a
particular topic was that they held strong views on the
subject and wished to convince others."
"Only five out of the 200 students in our sample
volunteered a different, more exploratory, view of
discussion, such as 'I want to talk about multicultural
education because I'm not sure I know enough about it,' and
'I want to discuss race, as it would open my mind to things
I don't experience myself.' "
This makes me wonder: Does the kind of reflection we
promote encourage students to view discussion as a
way to explore ideas? Does the kind of reflection we
promote suffer from some students' view of discussion as
a format in which only those with already-formed opinions
speak out?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marie Troppe
Coordinator of Service-Learning
1195 Stamp Student Union
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
mtroppe@accmail.umd.edu
301-314-5387
301-314-9874 (FAX)
http://www.inform.umd.edu/CACS