For the past year, I have spent some time at a nearby university teaching freshman English. I sent my colleagues the following question:
Hello all people nearing the end of the semester:
First, I am not instigating a fight, although I would like to perhaps
restart the once pretty interesting conversations that occurred here. And I
have a question I am hoping you can help me with.
In the course of some research for a paper I'm writing, I found an
interesting quote from Prime Minister Sharon from October 2001: I want to tell you something very clear: Don[base ']t worry about American
pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the
Americans know it. - Knesset, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2001.
Relatively inflammatory, yes? It's also been reported to be a hoax.
This, combined with the message of today's noontime library browsing area
speaker, Maryknoll Fr. Ray Bourgeois, of the School of America's Watch, the
watchdog who founded a grassroots organization to keep tabs on a school
which has recently been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation, made me question what I am doing.
I teach part-time because I love teaching and I love learning from students.
I am fortunate in that I can indulge that love. But, I also teach because I
thoroughly enjoy the interchange among those who so love learning that
they've dedicated their careers to furthering their own along with that of
their students. And it is to you, I address my question.
I am stymied. I think we've entered a very serious era in our culture - one
that can influence generations to come and yet I find the vast majority of
my students do not care about much going on in the world - as long as they
are "trained" to be employable. So my question is what role does awareness
of (notice I did not say (dis)agreement with) international events and
policies have in an academic institution> An, in particular, what role, if
any, does this play in my teaching - as a teacher of (more often than not)
first-generation college freshman?
I have been both educator and corporate trainer and find the lines getting
very blurred. Whatever ideas or suggestions you have, I would like to know
and would appreciate them greatly.
I would really like to know...
