mental abuse in the classroom or...
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Chris Barzak, My Hero, over at Meditations in an Emergency:
Today in class I asked my students to separate. Those who supported Bush's call for a ban on gay marriage to go to one side of the class, those who thought he was stepping out of line to go to the other side of class. Then, after the two groups separated (blessedly there were only about 4 or 5 who agreed with him out of 25) I told the group that agreed with Bush, that gay marriage should be banned, that they would receive an "F" in my class at the end of the semester no matter how hard they tried, no matter how good their essays were.
They were shocked at first, but I continued my ploy further, being very serious about it. The anti-Bush side of the classroom cheered for their ability to earn whatever grade they would get, to have the possibility to live up to their potential in the class. Then the "F" group were up in arms. "How can you do this?" one said. They were starting to believe it. Another kid said, "I'll talk to your superiors about this."
I said, "Why can't I do this? I'm the head of this classroom, I can make whatever decisions I want about how I grade you. One of my criteria is that you believe the same things I do. And since you agree with our horribly horrid evil President, then I will fail you. Simple as that. You can come over to the other side of the class and pretend to believe what I believe and get those benefits that these fine folks have, but otherwise, no. If you're not with me, you're against me. And those that are against me get "F's".
I then said, "Isn't that what Bush has just told the whole country? Hasn't he just told an entire group of citizens that they are second class due to some aspect of their personality? That they do not have the same rights that other Americans do simply because of a particular identity group they belong to? Well," I said. "If he can do that in his position of power, then so can I, right?"
Go read the whole thing. Preach it, mister!
earworm: "Car," Catherine Wheel
rec: Y: The Last Man
namecheck: Christopher "He Knows How to Sing Too" Barzak
Today in class I asked my students to separate. Those who supported Bush's call for a ban on gay marriage to go to one side of the class, those who thought he was stepping out of line to go to the other side of class. Then, after the two groups separated (blessedly there were only about 4 or 5 who agreed with him out of 25) I told the group that agreed with Bush, that gay marriage should be banned, that they would receive an "F" in my class at the end of the semester no matter how hard they tried, no matter how good their essays were.
They were shocked at first, but I continued my ploy further, being very serious about it. The anti-Bush side of the classroom cheered for their ability to earn whatever grade they would get, to have the possibility to live up to their potential in the class. Then the "F" group were up in arms. "How can you do this?" one said. They were starting to believe it. Another kid said, "I'll talk to your superiors about this."
I said, "Why can't I do this? I'm the head of this classroom, I can make whatever decisions I want about how I grade you. One of my criteria is that you believe the same things I do. And since you agree with our horribly horrid evil President, then I will fail you. Simple as that. You can come over to the other side of the class and pretend to believe what I believe and get those benefits that these fine folks have, but otherwise, no. If you're not with me, you're against me. And those that are against me get "F's".
I then said, "Isn't that what Bush has just told the whole country? Hasn't he just told an entire group of citizens that they are second class due to some aspect of their personality? That they do not have the same rights that other Americans do simply because of a particular identity group they belong to? Well," I said. "If he can do that in his position of power, then so can I, right?"
Go read the whole thing. Preach it, mister!
earworm: "Car," Catherine Wheel
rec: Y: The Last Man
namecheck: Christopher "He Knows How to Sing Too" Barzak
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