- How can we as educators handle classroom debates in a way that students are able to express themselves without facing repercussions from their peers?
- Further, how should we respond to anarchical statements?
- When is the right to free speech a hinderance in the classroom, and can/should it be revoked in the case of student protection?
- Surely, we cannot censor students, but how can we help students form educated opinions instead of irrational comments?
- Finally, in what ways can we promote to students a sense of responsibility with their rights?
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Little Brother Post for Multi-Modal Course
I have to say, Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother is one of the most unique novels I have ever read. As I have been reading it, I have been drawing some parallels to the books 1984 and The Hunger Games because of the theme of governmental control. However, I am also reminded of historical events in the United States, as I remember being taught in my Education in a Democratic Society course that after World War II, schools were conditioned to teach patriotism, and subjects such as the German language were excluded from some schools. I was reminded of this when Marcus was suspended for speaking up in class against the views of his teacher. This leads me to some questions:
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This doesn't necessarily answer your questions, but I think it's really interesting that you bring up how schools were conditioned to teach patriotism following the war. While it is an entirely different situation, it reminds me of the propaganda room at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. I went there several months ago and was blown away by the amount of posters and videos and commercials and advertisements and board games that they had created in order to fuel their message.
ReplyDeleteI also recently took a rhetoric class where the teacher constantly reminded us to not just take what politicians are saying at face value because there are always hidden messages and subliminal things they are doing to make you interpret things the way you want them to. It's a hard thing to teach your students, that they can't trust everyone, and I think Little Brother is a good way to sort of illustrate that message in a way that is still fun.