Comments on: History, Emotional Objectivity, and “A Class Divided”: An Election Day Classroom Fantasy

By: Education - Change.org: "Emotional Objectivity" and "A Class Divided": "Simulated Trauma" for Character Education #2

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:50:03 +0000

[...] of this post is taken from a 2008 post on my older [...]

By: Another Free US History Resource to Put Textbooks to Shame: PBS’ “The Presidents” | Beyond School

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:21:29 +0000

[...] said. I hope it puts the emotion in history for you as it did for me. It’s tragic how emotionless schools can make such an intense [...]

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:10:38 +0000

Morgante, you’ve probably seen the news about the KKK woman, recruited online from Oklahoma to join a Louisiana chapter, being murdered today for trying to back out of her initiation. And the other news about the New York high school students who, out for some fun “beaner-bashing,” killed an Ecuadorian immigrant today.

Still some rivers to cross, it seems.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:07:59 +0000

Shannon,

Reading that teacher saying, “This is school and we do not talk about politics! Now open your notebooks and study for your test” just killed me.

Not talking about politics is itself political. Talk about irrelevance. Sheesh.

I follow the politics of the Texas Board of Education pretty closely, since their decisions affect textbook adoption in most other states. And they’re intensely political, as the stacking of creationists aligned with the Discovery Institute shows. The irony is galling.

Good luck down there.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:04:31 +0000

Hi Charlie,

You make a good point about age-appropriate timing for this lesson. I read somewhere recently – in an article about sex education – that students tend to stop listening to all adult advice around the age of 11 or 12. Primary years seem best for reaching students with this lesson. The sense of fairness (child-speak for “justice”) is strongest then, if I recall my child development courses correctly.

Nice to hear from you, Charlie. I loved picturing you with twins (I didn’t know!), watching the video together.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:01:18 +0000

JBT, interesting input from others in this thread about how it can be done today. But it’s mind-boggling that this hasn’t become as routine in schools as, say, “Spirit Week” or other schooly traditions. It really does seem to be such a simple, cheap educational remedy for such a deep social ill. I guess we chalk it up to placing unruffled feathers among the reactionaries as a higher priority than social justice.

On the bright side, it’s good to see that the lesson seems to live on today, if only in pockets, puddles instead of seas.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:56:29 +0000

Inger, your last remark hits close to my take on why the have’s can live with themselves when so much is at the expense of the have-nots. They don’t “see” them closely enough at all.