WHAT HAS CHANGED IN SEVEN YEARS?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

This day in 2010 Rony Schenker wrote –

Why is the conductive community so mute?
An open letter to you all

Dear colleagues and friends,

As I do not run my own blog, I've asked Andrew's permission to express and share my deep concern in public, using this stage. Obviously, he has agreed.

How many of us read this blog, and the others that have to do with Conductive Education? I do not know! I hope, however, that there are more readers than the 'usual suspects' (Andrew's term) who comment from time to time. These are so very, very few. These active participants however, reflect only their own interpretations and insight, and do not represent the rich and varied professional world and experience of Conductive Education. I believe ( and I know many), that among conductors and others involved in the conductive community, there are intelligent, assertive, and knowledgeable people whose vision and opinion I respect and cherish. They are Israelis, Hungarians, British, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, Australians Chinese, and others. I meet them in conferences, I read their papers, we correspond, I work closely with them, and I learn. Non-stop learning. I do not always agree with what they say or do, neither they with what I do or think. Yet, we talk to each other, we argue, each of us may defend our own thesis, but we do communicate. We change ideas, we react to each other, we influence and we are influenced, and we constantly gain new understandings. We change. We develop!

So why am I concerned? Running a blog is a responsibility and a time-consumer. Ask the bloggers themselves. But writing a comment on a blog demands nothing but a few minutes' concentration, putting down in writing what you felt from reading the blog, a stream of thought, or just a remark. You need not think too deeply or chose your words selectively. This is the privilege of communication through blogs. It may be a spontaneous reaction, the shorter-the better. Even the language should not be a real barrier, as you can be helped by the Babylon or the Google translator.

I am concerned because the conductive community, is actually so small that, if we do not 'use' each other, we will either vanish or sink in our own, limited puddles.

It is much less effort to write a comment than to prepare a presentation for a conference, or even write an abstract. It is cheaper, but it is still valuable!!! You may be heard publicly and receive feedback, and tell the world what you do, or what you think, and learn from other people's experiences. Isn't this quite an attractive deal? (No Duty Free on the way, I know, but still…).

Ida, Yuval, Naomi, Avi, Anna, Eva, Julia, Lisa, Mel, Eszter, Lena, Ivan, Kriszti, Zsofi … the list is long… so very long… Where are you??? We want to hear you…

I recall an advertisement by the Spastics Society on the London Tube in the mid-80s, showing a child with c.p., with a head pointer and a computer. The subtitle was: 'The fact that I do not speak does not mean I have nothing to say'.

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/06/why-is-conductive-community-so-mute.html 

Rony's open letter was published here on Conductive World on 22 June 2010. It attracted just three immediate responses. The posting has of course remained on line, and in the last seven years it has been accessed 247 times. As far as I know the topic and its serious implications has not become and issue among those with a concern for Conductive Education and what happening received little of no (usually no) shared public analysis of the sort that Rony implied.

Over that time much water has flowed under many bridges, both personal and professional. Careers, institutions, have come to their close. Families and their concerns, however, are eternal. Around them, in the world as a whole, everything may seems to have changed – but in so many vital aspects of life everything seem to remain the same. Here is one of them: Conductive Education is schtum.

One can understand why conductors in Hungary keep their heads down, more so every years perhaps. But why conductors elsewhere? Why the 'professionals' and academics? Why non-conductors, especially parents who were once such vocal drivers for change? Why?

Why will one be lucky to see much public response to this posting?

Reference

Schencker, R. (2010) Why is the conductive community so mute??? An open letter to you all, Conductive World, 22 June

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/06/why-is-conductive-community-so-mute.html?showComment=1277417010008#c4303655931214570568 

(Along with comments from Eszter Horváth Tóthné, (Sweden), Ida Igra (Israel) and Orit Davidovich (Israel)