Steve James wrote:Hey Dan, sorry. I was only addressing the idea of what a "westerner" was, not the specific "Japanese teaching westerners" context. In that context, there's no doubt you're right that the Japanese traditionally didn't want to teach westerners (specifically Europeans, let's say), and historically didn't even want to have contact with them.
But, I thought that the title of this thread seemed to indicate it would become part of an ongoing argument. So, I just cherry-picked the part of it that had to do with the way people perceived (or were allowed to perceive) their identities.
Steve James wrote:an instructor can at best provide two legs of a three-legged stool. Construction of that third leg is up to the student anyway.
Steve James wrote: I also think that nothing prevents any human being from perceiving that value, perhaps even more than someone from that culture.
Dmitri wrote:Steve James wrote:an instructor can at best provide two legs of a three-legged stool. Construction of that third leg is up to the student anyway.
An alternative (to making that third leg) would be to learn to balance on the two legs that you have really well. That's an art in and of itself...
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