Contributed Commentary on
Volume 4 Number 8: Stone Developmentalism: An Obscure but Pervasive Restriction on Educational Improvement

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2 May 1996

Sherman Dorn

dornsj@CTRVAX.VANDERBILT.EDU

On April 30, 1996 Rick Garlikov wrote:

It is very difficult to give evidence of a pervasive but unconscious attitude in a field.

Educational researchers conduct surveys of principals and teachers all the time about such things, and it seems to me one could try to have a rough gauge of such influence. Having evidence of its influence back to the 1960s is what I doubt one could have. But that is what Stone is suggesting, and I doubt it is true. When reasonable people differ on questions like this, anecdotes are insufficient. One needs detailed case studies or broader evidence.

Rick Garlikov writes:

I thought that what J.E. Stone said "fit" many of the teachers I know who DO adhere to some of the pedagogical philosophies that he calls "developmentalist."

Yes, and it agrees with my impressions of some teachers, too. However, that is not nearly as persuasive an explanation of resistance as other, more mundane, and more widespread forces.

I thought the paper was important, but it is difficult to characterize what "kind" of scholarship effort it represents if one is into such categorizing. Still I think it was a good, worthwhile, and scholarly article.

Oh, I think so, too, and I will certainly recommend it to students alongside other works about resistance of teachers to change. One does not have to think a work is unscholarly to disagree with it.