Beyond School

I plugged the new blog of James Linzel, Shanghai American School science teacher, in my last post because his conversations at lunch when we taught together usually elevated me in one way or another (even when they depressed me). And lo, no sooner do I do so than I read his latest post, and sure enough am moved to reflect on Higher Things.

Rather than say anything more, I’ll let my latest class blog post/assignment speak for itself. I don’t know where this will go, if anywhere, but I’m happy to work in a school where I can give it a try. Since this is such an admittedly amorphous impulse, I’d love any input on any reactions anyone has to this. You should read James’ post first, perhaps, to see what started this. Here’s the post to my students:

Here are the questions (after the quotes from Mr. Linzel) that I asked you to write about on your blogs:

I suspect they want to make a difference. They are aware of many of the world’s large problems. They would love to contribute to a solution.

–IS THIS TRUE? BE HONEST. IF IT IS TRUE, WHAT PROBLEM WOULD YOU WANT TO HELP SOLVE?

Isn’t it about time to start empowering our students to think believe they can make a difference?

–DO YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

–WHAT DOES THIS SCHOOL, AND THIS WORLD IN GENERAL, TEACH YOU THAT “SUCCESS” MEANS? AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT DEFINITION?

And here is the Water Buffalo video:

And here is my question for you, and that “challenge” I asked you to “rise to” for my (blush) 45th birthday:

We’re reading All Quiet on the Western Front, and it’s about war. There are still wars going on, and soldiers usually unhappy to be fighting and dying in them.

We’ll be reading Animal Farm next, which is about (among other things) how governments “educate” their young to serve the nation (think about Nationalism from WW I to WW II).

After that, we’ll be reading V for Vendetta, which is about how governments in your lifetime use the media and technology to make “democracy” less and less democratic and free, and more and more of a brainwashed “brave new world.”

Can you think of your own “making a difference” project–a really ambitious one–where you think big and see if you can make it work?

ANSWER THAT QUESTION ON THIS BLOG. HIT COMMENT. That way you can all see each other’s ideas. If you see any that you like, let them know in the comment.

We want to see if we can give anything to the world in the last month we’re together. And yes, we’ll use language arts–writing, images, video, animations, whatever your strengths are–to see if we can really make good things happen. It’s much better than doing homework.

If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

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