Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:41:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: George Free <aw570-AT-freenet.toronto.on.ca>
Subject: Re: teaching undergrads Bourdieu -Reply


> There are a lot of ways to prepare people for the deep stuff. There are now
> a series of introductory books which ease the reader in -Robbins, Harker
> et. al., Jenkins, Calhoun, Fowler, as well as many interviews with Bourdieu
> now widely available. After that it makes sense to use the empirical parts
> of the texts before issuing forth into the pure world of theory. But the
> goal should not be lost sight of, which is not to avoid the struggle with
> the dragon.
> >
	Beyond looking at introductory texts, such as those you mention 
which can also be difficult for the average student, I believe we have to 
look (as Bourdieu himself did, eg., in his Academic Discourse book) at 
the actual quality and success of teaching at our universities.
	Its my experience that the actual training and skills development 
at the university level is very low. Students attend lectures, and are 
given texts to read, but must essentially develop their ability to 
understand complex and highly sophisticated scientific works on their 
own. This naturally gives the advantage to those students who come from a 
more privileged background.
	Sociologists need to take teaching more seriously, IMHO, and 
develop skills-based programs of study, and high quality supporting 
materials that truly help students acquire the ability to read and 
understand difficult books.
	Unfortunately, the university system does not encourage this sort
of thing with its emphasis on individual research--and its almost total
neglect of the sort of collaborative effort that would be required to
develop a high quality teaching program. 
 
cheers,
George
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	George Free		Toronto, Canada		aw570-AT-torfree.net
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