DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21216#0300
and arrange to discuss things with this teacher outside of school. The problem is
that the "teacher" whom Steffi would discuss is Baez, and Baez is unavailable.
Clearly Baez' own Standards for herseif on stage are that she not pretend to be
someone she is not and that she convey to the audience what is vitally important
to her. Thus I see Baez functioning from the stage in a similar manner to how
she would have a "good teacher" function in and out of class. Steffi attributes
the idolization of "stars" in part to their inaccessibility. She, for one, striving to
see Baez as a human being with strengths and weaknesses, does not want to
idolize but is irritated by the impossibility of actually Coming in contact with
Baez. Finally just as Baez has been hindered in performing in certain countries,
so on a smaller scale teachers are limited in the ability to introduce peace studies
into the curriculum. That is the process of conveying new ideas is sometimes
inhibited through power structures with other interests than those of the teacher
or performer. Neither Baez nor the normal teacher has a completely free hand.
The above are Steffi's initial comments on the subject. In the second letter,
largely influenced by the ideas of her mother, she goes into more detail. Other
than the one original drawing of Baez at the very end, this second letter is not
illustrated. I will quote extensively rather than reproduce the letter in füll.
Betrachte das was ich Dir hier schreibe also als Ergänzungsversuch, haupt-
sächlich getragen von den Anregungen meiner Mutter (als individueller
Lehrerin, nicht als repräsentativer Querschnittspädagogin des deutschen
Lehrervolkes).
The second letter, written four months after the first and also at my request
(being a revision of the modus I had suggested that both mother and daughter
write down their ideas separately), it is evidence of generational Cooperation.
This Cooperation is also a goal that Baez has persued (sometimes termed in
articles about her as "Bridging the Gap", e.g. The Boston Globe, March 2,
1982). We have seen that Baez' mother and Baez herseif had a very close (ac-
cording to Baez in some respects too close) relationship, Joan Baez Sr. being a
source of encouragement for her daughter's projects in her "year of freedom",
(a key event in Baez' educational lifeline). There is not enough evidence in the
letter to assume such a relationship between Steffi and her mother, but the
generational link is there (it was the mother's record of Baez which Steffi first
heard and in a later interview Steffi recalled that her mother called her in to see
Baez on the television). The closeness can be detected in that Steffi does not
295
that the "teacher" whom Steffi would discuss is Baez, and Baez is unavailable.
Clearly Baez' own Standards for herseif on stage are that she not pretend to be
someone she is not and that she convey to the audience what is vitally important
to her. Thus I see Baez functioning from the stage in a similar manner to how
she would have a "good teacher" function in and out of class. Steffi attributes
the idolization of "stars" in part to their inaccessibility. She, for one, striving to
see Baez as a human being with strengths and weaknesses, does not want to
idolize but is irritated by the impossibility of actually Coming in contact with
Baez. Finally just as Baez has been hindered in performing in certain countries,
so on a smaller scale teachers are limited in the ability to introduce peace studies
into the curriculum. That is the process of conveying new ideas is sometimes
inhibited through power structures with other interests than those of the teacher
or performer. Neither Baez nor the normal teacher has a completely free hand.
The above are Steffi's initial comments on the subject. In the second letter,
largely influenced by the ideas of her mother, she goes into more detail. Other
than the one original drawing of Baez at the very end, this second letter is not
illustrated. I will quote extensively rather than reproduce the letter in füll.
Betrachte das was ich Dir hier schreibe also als Ergänzungsversuch, haupt-
sächlich getragen von den Anregungen meiner Mutter (als individueller
Lehrerin, nicht als repräsentativer Querschnittspädagogin des deutschen
Lehrervolkes).
The second letter, written four months after the first and also at my request
(being a revision of the modus I had suggested that both mother and daughter
write down their ideas separately), it is evidence of generational Cooperation.
This Cooperation is also a goal that Baez has persued (sometimes termed in
articles about her as "Bridging the Gap", e.g. The Boston Globe, March 2,
1982). We have seen that Baez' mother and Baez herseif had a very close (ac-
cording to Baez in some respects too close) relationship, Joan Baez Sr. being a
source of encouragement for her daughter's projects in her "year of freedom",
(a key event in Baez' educational lifeline). There is not enough evidence in the
letter to assume such a relationship between Steffi and her mother, but the
generational link is there (it was the mother's record of Baez which Steffi first
heard and in a later interview Steffi recalled that her mother called her in to see
Baez on the television). The closeness can be detected in that Steffi does not
295