Interesting problem, Doug. But, since we all found it convoluted and
difficult to comprehend, we might pause and ask ourselves if we need to
take up too much time and effort teaching our students, if we could, how
to comprehend such passages. Fact is, we don't really teach them to com-
prehend the texts they normally read in college or university. We might
alert them to some skimming strategies but the problem of comprehending
Mill or Ruskin or, God help us, Derrida, is something that is dealt with
in a process of becoming increasingly familiar with those texts. It's
just like the language of contracts or computerese or even poetry: we've
just got to look hard and long, and find others who are involved in the
same activity so we can talk about it. Just something off the top of my
head; something more helpful may occur to me as I think about it.
Patrick
Patrick Dias
Faculty of Education
McGill University
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, QC
Canada H3A 1Y2
Telephone: (514) 398-6960 (work)
626-3605 (home)
FAX (514) 398-4529
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
