From the very beginning, Savater explains to us that his book was not written to be used as a class book. He points out that it has been written for his son since he needed to find a way of talking to him but without saying a word. Savater believes that telling something directly to a teenager is not the same as writing it on a sheet of paper simply because if the boy does not want to hear him, he will be wasting his time since the boy will not listen to him. However, if he writes it, he can be sure that one day his son will read it. Maybe not today or now, but he knows that at some moment he will read it.
Taking all this into account we can say that Savater’s idea was to give his son something that will last forever: his values and feelings. The value of learning to trust and believe in yourself and the importance of being able to love and be loved.
The most important thing to remember in this very first part of Savater's book is that he is trying to show us that what matters is not something physical or material but all those feelings, toughts, ideas and values which are going to last forever, no matter who is thinking, saying, reading or listening to them now; ideas are beyond what human beings can possibly grasp. And it is in this field where Ethics take place...
3 comentarios:
Most interesting post, Alez!
I now have 2 questions for you:
1. do you think what Savater says about communication with his son may apply to the relationship between the teacher and their students too?
2. When you say values and feelings "last forever", do you mean they don't change with time or are the same for all people?
Looking forward to your replies,
Gladys
Thank you Gladys! :)
Well, regarding the two questions I'll answer them separately;
First of all, I have to say that haven't thought about the connection that you have pointed out! But it's completely true since we, as teachers, are not teaching English but educating people, i.e. we may have the intention of showing them what we think will be good or useful for them but they might not pay attention to it at the very first moment or we might think that they hadn't when they actually had.
So we can say that the teacher has that difficult mission of being the one who can teach inductively and he/she has to remember that what he/she teaches is by no means reduced to the school context; furthermore, the students may not be able to remember too much related to the subject itself but he/she will surely remember the values shown and defended by him/her. (This idea of the long life learning that has nothing to do with the content of the subject matter)
And then, finally, I would like to say that when I wrote that values and feelings "last forever" what I wanted to say was that I think that values are "timeless" i.e. that no matter who has certain value or who believes in it, this value will last forever, its idea or essence its not restricted by time. The only thing that changes throughout time is how this value is seen by people (as valid or not). The value itself will last forever, what may change is how the person sees or feel it.
Well, that's all! (A bit too long by the way jeje)
See you!
And thanks a lot again!
LOL,
AleZ
Thanks for your long replies, Ale!
I think I clearly understand what you meant in the first case (the teacher's mission).
As for the second one, however, I'm not that sure I get you, unless you mean all abstract things (values included) trascend time... Anyway, we'll be discussing positive and negative values later in the course, so we'll certinly come back to this topic!
Aremly,
Gladys
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