Book critique: Cartas para los educadores del siglo XXI

Argentina has been through different crisis as regards education since politicians have changed education laws to make them fit their political models. Students from all levels have registered in their bodies, knowledge, values and feelings the deep damage the neoliberal policies have caused to education during the last decades.   However, there are people in charge who still believe in education and think that it is not too late for a change. Puiggrós (2007) is a specialist in history and education policies from Argentina and Latin America.  Being an author, a researcher, an educator and a current politician, Puiggrós (2007) has taken part in the development of the new national law of education while she was a deputy for the province of Buenos Aires.  Puiggrós (2007) stated that:

La educación no alcanza para cambiar una sociedad injusta, pero tiene la capacidad de contribuir a su transformación desde muchos ángulos y  mediante un sinúmero de estrategias. Hay que ponerla al servicio del Pueblo, para que ayude a recorrer el largo camino hacia la democracia (p. 313).

Puiggrós (2007) describes the modifications made to the national law of education in 2005 in her book.  Not only does Puiggrós’ (2007) work provide educators with an insight of the history of education in Argentina but also it analyzes the new law and the differences it has compared to the former ones. What is more, Puiggrós (2007) also refers to the role of communication in education since she considers that it is a vehicle for growth.

This book is intended for current and prospective teachers who have to face the new challenges of the century because it deals with topics such as social inclusion, responsibility and equal opportunities, terms which have been omitted in previous laws. The book is divided into four parts and each part contains between five and six chapters. The first part describes the current situation of education in Argentina as the result of the misuse of the former laws. The second part elaborates on the education system taking into account the differences among all levels of education. The third part deals with educators and the institutions in charge of providing educators with professional development. The last part gives educators an insight of the new policies and the changes that the educational has been through lately.

 Especially noteworthy is the style the author has chosen to describe the changes Argentina has suffered as regards education and the measures that have been taken in pursuit of growth. Apart from that, Puiggrós (2007) has successfully depicted the new terms included in the law such as social inclusion and equal opportunities.   Nevertheless, she has used complex terminology throughout the book which may prevent the reader from completely understanding the work. Perhaps, if the author would have avoided some legal terms or added some extra explanation, the reader would find it easier to follow. What is more, Puiggrós (2007) fails to expand some topics, such as communication. Had she explained the role of communication in depth, the reader would have understood what problems education is going through as regards this topic.

On the whole, it is an interesting book which develops and expands on the National Law of Education. Moreover, it provides educators with the necessary information to face the challenge of teaching. It is definitely worth reading.

Reference

Puiggrós, A. (2007). Cartas para los educadores del siglo XXI.  Buenos Aires: Galerna.  

Academic writing in discourse communities

A discourse community is described by many researchers and theorists, such as Bizzel (1992), as a knowledge community (cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2008).  It is seen as a social construction that, according to Swales (1990), should accomplish certain requirements to be recognized as such.  He also states that members of a Discourse Community should have common goals, they need to be intercommunicated and there should be participatory mechanisms where information and feedback can be provided (cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010).

 As Swales (1990) pointed out members of a Discourse Community should have at least one genre which defines their work and they also ought to make use of highly specialized terminology so as to achieve a certain level of knowledge.  In this line of thought, Kuhn (1970) claims that “members of a discourse community function as scientists because they share language, practiced, education, goals, professional initiations and professional judgement” (as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2008, p. 13).

Academic writing plays a central role within a Discourse Community since this type of writing “involves composing for knowledge transforming” (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996, cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2008, p. 10).  In order to produce an academic paper, members of a Discourse Community need to be aware of the specific requirements of academic writing. According to Swales (1990) these requirements

are regulated by a general academic register, a formal style, a proficiency in language use, the ability to integrate information from other sources, and the type of genres academic writing deals with” (as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2008, p. 10).

The characteristics of academic writing mentioned above are connected to the requirements that a Community needs to fulfil in order to be considered a discourse community. If all these features of academic writing are accomplished and genre is properly defined, the way in which a discourse community operates is articulated (Swales, 1990, cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010). In order to be members of a discourse community, students or future researchers should be aware of the pre- established conventions that academic writing has.

Grape and Kaplan (1996) stated that writing may have two different purposes: knowledge telling or knowledge transforming. According to these authors, those pieces of writing that are intended to generate knowledge and accomplish with  the academic requirements already mentioned are considered to be academic writing (cited in  Pintos and Crimi, 2010).

To sum up, in order to belong to a discourse community, a writer should meet certain academic requirements such as using formal style and register, being a proficient language user and having the ability to integrate information from other sources. However, academic writing involves more than knowing the conventions of academic writing.

References

Pintos,V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researches. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved October, 2010.

Pintos, V., and Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 3: Academic writing. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved October, 2010.