Daddy, Is there Such a Thing as Liberal Art?

Werner

Dear Colleagues,

IN these days of turbulence & turmoil
homeland insecurity, recall of swine flu
vaccine, Tiger's infidelity etcetera, etcetera,
etcetera: I wager that IT's not knowledge
but imagination that counts, now what we
know but whether we can put it in play,
not the message but the media, not the
products we can assess,but the process
which is un-assessable (in product terms
& values) & that the kind of thinking that
generates the problem can not be the kind
that resolves & I believe Goedel & Einstein,
the 911 commission and Cool Hand Luke's
warden all testify to this. THIS, I said.

And thank god we can argue.
Or what's a college for?


(emerging phenomena & values)



Daughter: Daddy, what’s a black box?

Father: A “black box” is a conventional agreement
between scientists to stop trying to explain
things as a certain point. I guess it’s usually
a temporary agreement.

D: But that doesn’t sound like a black box.

F: No--but that’s what it’s called.
Things often don’t sound like their names.

D: No.

F: It’s a word that comes from the engineers.
When they draw a diagram of a complicated
machine, they use a sort of shorthand.

Instead of drawing all the details, they put a
box to stand for a whole bunch of parts and
label the box with what the bunch of parts
is supposed to DO.

D: So a “black box” is a label for what a
bunch of things are supposed to do…

F: That’s right. But it's not an explanation
of HOW the bunch works.

From a "metalogue" in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
Gregory Bateson.

Some handy black boxes
the content of which while
opaque non-the-less make
useful building blocks and
will spur, further, and sustain
converse-action until someone
(anyone) opens them up,
unpacks for inspection:

contact hours?
length of classes?
smart-room availability?
released time for exams?
time for more research?
talks with teachers?
course & teacher evaluations?
assessment & strategic planning?
measurable goals & aims?
volume of work assigned?
time management?
data?
competing demands?
first year orientation sequence
questionnaires and polls?
integrating triad and assess
student learning?
more experiential,
interdisciplinary
capstone opportunities?
strength & weakness
across the curriculum
identification?
innovation diversity
engagement & an
unwavering sense of
community?

The Black Box (use or examine)
principle is not unlike Heisenbergian
indeterminacy in that we can indulge
our conversational velocity OR assess
our position, but not both simultaneously. .

Use/Abuse the words (terms, notions,
“black boxes”) OR examine them.

Doing both at the more & less same
time monkey wrenches & appropriately
demoralizes the whole deal..

It’s possible to put both radically
incommensurate values (using, examine)
in play if we can sustain the uncertainty
it generate--see IT as a Good Game rather
than a threat to sustainability-as-we-know-
it. IT, I said.

xxxooo, Joe Lieberman