It's logical to see this idea of "situated learning" which occurs "at the
edges". It conjures up bell curves with their group of "explorers" or
"risk-takers" or whomevers on one end of the spectrum leading the crowd
into uncharted territories. That does happen sometimes, doesn't it?
On a different level, there's the evidence of the great fiction writers
who describe the agony and ecstacy of self-discovery at times when the
mind, body and heart are "at the edge of the abyss". In this regard I
consider the dream of Dmitri Karamazov, and Dmitri's subsequent awakening
in the room where he had just been interrogated, as a crowning literary
achievement--an exemplar of learning occurring at the edge and tranforming
the individual (sometimes forever).
-- Barry Mallis bmallis@markem.com