You were right and I was wrong

The subject line of the e-mail read: "You were right and I was wrong." After checking to make sure the message had not been sent to the wrong person, I was delighted to read (reprinted here with author's permission):

Dear Doug Johnson:
You were right and I was wrong. 
I guess you're wondering what this is all about.  Well approximately seven years ago I came upon your column article entitled, “Embracing Ambiguity” (May 1995), in conjunction with research for my white paper entitled, “The Role of Ambiguity in Learning,” [search Papers at www.learndev.org website.]
The first paragraph or your article said “As a teacher, I can construct activities which either discourage or invite ambiguity in my classroom.”  I said to myself, “Another example of “either/or” (dualistic) kind of thinking.”  I was searching for “black, white, and gray” (spectrum) kind of thinking to implement in my economics course so as to stimulate critical and creative thinking on the part of my students. So I was quite disappointed with respect to most of what you had to say.  However, it turned out that there was a “redeeming” last paragraph in the article which began with the sentence: “This issue certainly doesn't have an easy solution, but any solution will have a librarian at the heart of it.”  This proved to be prescience.
 I have now designed a course in introductory microeconomics which relies on a “tripod” for student learning: (1) textbook, other economics instructor, (2) myself and (3) very challenging classroom and homework assignments to “teach” economic concepts and principles as well as how to develop critical and creative thinking strategies.  At first, I thought of referring to my functions as the classroom instructor as the “Agitator.” (In contrast to the textbook instructor who is the “Clarifier.”)  But eventually I found that a more appropriate metaphor is the “Librarian” as in the sense of the compiler in a PC’s operating system.  While I am not completely a human “memex,” (Vannevar Bush, “As We May Think,” The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945), I believe the reference “librarian” is a good way to describe my role in terms of my course design.  Thus you were right; central to any solution (in terms of dealing with ambiguity) is the librarian.
 
Gilbert S. Suzawa, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881

I think I should take this e-mail as a compliment. Anyway, I am glad Dr. Suzawa is creating assignments for his economics classes that "stimulate creative and critical thinking." And his definition or use of the word "librarian" is not one I had considered before.

I've been lobbying for such assignments for years. And here are links to two papers on creating better research assignments:

• MultiMedia Schools <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/designing.pdf>  
• Phi Delta Kappan <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/LPP.html>

So, I guess if you want my attention, put "You were right and I was wrong in the subject heading."