Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan (was: UNIX jobs on TLUG)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Shawn Brown writes:

 > Well, perhaps from my description you are right.  Still, when you
 > are a parent of a difficult child

Ah, I'd forgotten you were that "Shawn".

 > and telling a "behavioral expert" that they are not doing things
 > the best way, it's not superficial at all.

What you haven't explained is why running like an Olympic athlete
correlates with the behavioral needs of a "difficult child."  I would
assume that your behavioral expert, then, is not a trained running
coach, and probably has other goals in mind than survival in the pack
on the second leg of the 2021 Hakone Ekiden.  So it really that
important that your child not "crash"?  Does this generalize to other
children in the class, or should your child get individualized
treatment in this particular case?  If the answers are "no" in either
case, I would say that contradicting the instructor in front of the
other parents is not being cooperative.  If possible it should be
discussed in private.

And this would be true in any country.  The excuse for shutting you up
would be different in your native land, but I'm pretty sure the
instructor would try to do so, with a similarly flimsy excuse.

 > I can't just argue with them but am merely trying to show I :
 > 
 > 1) am paying attention
 > 2) want what's best for my child
 > 3) expect them to do what is best
 > 
 > It's not an easy situation even when I feel right over a seemingly
 > simple thing.   Their exception is my cooperation but unfortunately
 > ... I do need what's best for my child irregardless of their
 > expectations.  Sorry.  We need to work together on this and that is
 > what the other parents seemed to indicate.  That I was doing that.

That's something you have to judge for yourself.  My point is just
that based on the description of the situation, I would expect the
instructor to try to find some way to preserve his/her authority, and
that in many apparently similar cases this is at least partially
justified.