Where We Disagree: Let's Discuss
Dear Eric,
Even before your letter arrived, I've been puzzling over how to respond. Because I am hoping this will not be just a "your side" followed by "my side" etc. Even at the time (1970s and 1980s) when Diane Ravitch and I had our most bitter disagreements, there were commonalties we both knew about that helped us in our back and forth.
But I'm much more dependent on your own fairly succinctly outlined argument of last Tuesday—for which I apologize. I don't know the rest of your story. A good argument rests on finding common ground or else, too often, it's just "choose your sides."
So my purpose in this letter is to explore—by close examination of your Tuesday letter, where our assumptions, our underlying ways of knowing the world may give us a lead-in to a fruitful discussion.
To start off, I'm going to summarize what I think you're saying. I fully expect you to correct me where I'm wrong. Maybe by getting to the heart of some of my misconceptions about your views, we can make some progress.
Even before your letter arrived, I've been puzzling over how to respond. Because I am hoping this will not be just a "your side" followed by "my side" etc. Even at the time (1970s and 1980s) when Diane Ravitch and I had our most bitter disagreements, there were commonalties we both knew about that helped us in our back and forth.
But I'm much more dependent on your own fairly succinctly outlined argument of last Tuesday—for which I apologize. I don't know the rest of your story. A good argument rests on finding common ground or else, too often, it's just "choose your sides."
So my purpose in this letter is to explore—by close examination of your Tuesday letter, where our assumptions, our underlying ways of knowing the world may give us a lead-in to a fruitful discussion.
To start off, I'm going to summarize what I think you're saying. I fully expect you to correct me where I'm wrong. Maybe by getting to the heart of some of my misconceptions about your views, we can make some progress.