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> Obviously, I badly misjudged my audience in Peru that year. I thought I was generally arguing in favor of open-mindedness and tolerance — but it clearly didn’
by jxy 6y ago
> Obviously, I badly misjudged my audience in Peru that year. I thought I was generally arguing in favor of open-mindedness and tolerance — but it clearly didn’t come across that way. And my bristliness makes me an imperfect pedagogue for sensitive teenagers. Although the students liked me in 2018, some of those in 2019 clearly detested me.
So in the end, he still blamed those teenagers. Has he learned nothing?
- chokolad 6y ago> So in the end, he still blamed those teenagers. Has he learned nothing? What should he have learned?
- etchalon 6y agoHow to behave.
- chokolad 6y ago> How to behave. How ? What exactly should have been changed in his behavior ?
- etchalon 6y agoI'd have started with not engaging with teenagers as if they're adults, taking cues from the group as to where they were at emotionally and intellectually, and listened more than spoke. If you run through a field of land mines, you can't get mad when your legs get blown off.
- orthecreedence 6y ago> and listened more than spoke. Ah yes, the teacher who only listens to their students' feelings. The greatest wisdom of all comes from letting a bunch of kids steamroll you. > If you run through a field of land mines, you can't get mad when your legs get blown off. This is the issue. What teenagers think about someone should not be a field of landmines. Teenagers are constantly whiplashed by emotion, easily offended, self-important, and constantly trying to impress and one-up each other. The last thing we need to do with teenagers is shut up and let them speak. Yet now we've given a handful of them the power to fire someone based on their feelings. What message does this send?
- the_only_law 6y ago> This is the issue. What teenagers think about someone should not be a field of landmines. Teenagers are constantly whiplashed by emotion, easily offended, self-important, and constantly trying to impress and one-up each other. Sounds more like HN users.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoSounds more like HN users than like teenagers? No. Very much no.
- etchalon 6y agoHave you done a lot of work teaching with/mentoring teenagers?
- orthecreedence 6y agoI've done a lot of teenagering, enough to know that I'm glad people were there to challenge my emotionally-driven beliefs and not cave to my every whim.
- etchalon 6y agoMaybe, and hear me out, being a teenager and mentoring teenagers are different levels of expertise.
- jxy 6y agoIf I were one of those teenagers, I would have felt offended just by these remarks alone. It looks like a fact that at least some of the teenagers in that group complained, and NYT handled their complaints professionally then. However, when some other media exposed it, the author treated it lightly and inappropriately. Down vote me as you like, but I don't like the author blame it on the teenagers at all.
- joveian 6y agoHe also compares himself to a confederate statue.