My response to a request to comment on
academics and activism,
from a journalist/scholar writing
for the New Indian Express.
My activist philosophy is based on
Bertrand Russell's statement: "Facts which ought to guide the decisions of
statesmen (sic)... do not acquire their importance if they remain buried in
scientific journals." (Betrand Russell, The Social Responsibilities of
Scientists, 1962)
I regard my "activist" responsibility
to be the sharing of results of research on language and literacy development
that are often "buried in scientific journals," findings that appear
to be unknown to the public but that could make life much easier as well as
more interesting for millions if they were more widely known.
I do this largely in the form of
letters to the editor to newspapers throughout the world, and I post my letters
(published and unpublished) on facebook, on skrashen.blogspot.com and link to
them on twitter. I have not kept track of my published letters, but I estimate
that over 1000 have been published. (I am still far behind the world record
holder, Subhash Chandra Agrawal from New Delhi, who has probably
published over 4000 by now.)
I
don't know if my letters have done much good, but I feel compelled to continue.
As stated in Jewish philosophy, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it" (Ethics of the Fathers (2, 21).
Stephen
Krashen
Stephen, you sound like the type of person who would appreciate this collection of agitprop pictures https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighblackall/sets/72157652770329302/
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