The latest RSA Animation – this time from the tricksy and funny Steven Pinker – is interesting to ponder in the light of the research paper “Would you like to tidy up now?” by Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Laura Manni (Early Years Vol. 28, No. 1, March 2008, 5–22), whose title I have used for this blog post. Does a teacher who asks that kind of polite request think that it is actually grounded in that teacher’s assumption of a mutual knowledge about request and knowledge of a relationship? Is it, as Pinker says, something to do with “not being able to take it back?” That politeness allows a step back before confrontation?
Or is it that these adult norms of politeness are translated without thought into interactions with children?
nicktomjoe 