Friday, November 04, 2005

Culture: Dutch mothers sewing trousers


I wanted to blog about web 2.0, but that would be technology again, so culture (which is everywhere... ). My daughter is learning to read and write in school this year. This morning she showed me her work from school. They had to read a sentence and say whether it is right or wrong. One sentence said: My mother is sewing my trousers. So she said it was wrong (the poor girl never had trousers sewn by her mother). And the teacher corrected her that it was right. Another sentence read: In the freezer you make icecream (in Dutch it makes more sense: in de ijskast maak je ijsjes). And she said it was right (because just the day before we had gelled drinks in the freezer to make icecream). But it was wrong.

In community of practice terms it might be that reifications (school exercises) are static and expression of a certain practice. In reality practice is changing and moving on. Or the materials are made by people who do believe the mothers are still sewing trousers.

3 comments:

Nancy White said...

Joitske, I love this "quotidian" example!

Beth Kanter said...

What about, "My mommy is blogging."? Is that sentence right or wrong!

Denise said...

Ha! There are some lists constantly updated by homeschoolers called "Reasons to homeschool". I'd have to say this would be a good addition to their lists.