The Language Teacher
01 - 2001
The final word . . .
Joseph Shaules & Inoue Aiko
We thank Higgins for the clear articulation of her point of view. We feel that this has made it easier to for us to understand the nature of our disagreement. She was also kind enough to correspond directly with us, and give us a copy of her response before publication in TLT. We are happy for the opportunity for this kind of dialogue.
Of course, understanding a point of view is not the same as agreeing with it. It appears that her view of culture and the goals of education for internationalism (for lack of a more neutral term) differs from ours. She states that overcoming some cultural obstacles is necessary for people from any culture as we strive for a "culture of peace." She also states "Each culture has its own strengths and beauty to offer, as well as deficiencies to recognize and redress." We hesitate to use words such as "deficiencies" or "redress" and generally feel that it is impossible to "go beyond" one's culture. We assume that we are all unavoidably ethnocentric. In our teaching, we emphasize helping students understand their own culture, and recognize the limitations of any single cultural point of view. We don't feel comfortable trying to "empower" students (Higgins & Tanaka, TLT, Feb. 1999) because we are not clear what the ultimate goal of that empowerment is. It may be, however, that we still do not fully understand Higgins' ideas.
All of this may or may not be intellectual hair-splitting. Regardless of our disagreements or possible lack of understanding, however, we value all attempts to encourage international understanding, and have no desire to demean Higgins' educational goals. We feel a responsibility, however, to be honest and forthright in stating our opinions. We hope that our disagreement has been of some use in furthering debate about these important educational issues.
Joseph Shaules <shaules@rikkyo.ac.jp>
Inoue Aiko
(Ed. note: Inoue was also co-writer
of the last
response in the November TLT)
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