My wife and some help on Opinionaire

Boredalt · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:52 am

I am looking for more topics for my wife. I know I’ve previously discussed this with Mazel. Forgive me if I’ve asked you all about this before (I’m old).

My wife is a school teacher. She loves her job and is forever looking for ways to update her class and engage her students. She teaches GT grade 10 pre-AP English with a bit of Humanities tossed in. She focuses on reading, analyzing and writing, writing, writing. She sees the biggest relative deficit her students have is in deeper reading comprehension, breaking down main ideas, arriving at their own conclusions, and then presenting these conclusions clearly. She enjoys making them think. Interestingly, she abhors teaching grammar.

One of the activities she randomly offers, a favorite for her and her students, is something she calls Opinionaire. Opinionaire is an open classroom discussion (no grades or forced participation) over a topic related to a current event, or a piece of literature or art they are studying. For example, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout’s tomboyishness is frowned upon. The Opinionaire topic is: Girls should act like girls. This is always a lively (and often enlightening) debate for 15-16 year olds. Another example is she relates the story of Henry David Thoreau’s jailing for his refusal to pay a poll tax that he deemed unfair. When his friend Emerson came to visit and asked him, “What are you doing in there?”, Thoreau replied, “What are you doing out there?” Of course, Thoreau then wrote Civil Disobedience which produces the Opinionaire question: Presented with an unfair rule or law, are you obligated to obey or disobey? You can probably see why the kids love these discussions, and her class.

I was hoping you guys might toss out some thoughtful topics for her Opinionaires. If you can connect it with some literature, literary figure, art, history or current event, that’s great, but I’d be happy with some good topics. Again, her students are generally, 15-16 upper level public school kids. Thanks.

Aestu · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:20 am

What is a right? Where do rights come from?

Should a citizen be most loyal to his family, his country, or himself?

Is war inevitable? What justifies war?

What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?

What is the moral basis for property - especially so far as land and inheritance is concerned?

Do people have a right to wrong opinions? If not, how does one prevent wrong opinions from causing misdeed through resulting wrong actions?

Given that all people are at least somewhat irrational, of limited wisdom, and one's birthday is an arbitrary date, what makes a man functionally competent?

Which takes more courage, war or peace? If the latter, why do so many fewer choose to take risks in its defense?

Boredalt · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:32 am

Aestu wrote:

Which takes more courage, war or peace? If the latter, why do so many fewer choose to take risks in its defense?

Thanks! I can instantly see where she can use this one as she touches on a couple of Dudley Randall poems:

After the Killing

“We will kill,”
said the blood-thirster,
“and after the killing
there will be peace.”

But after the killing
their sons
killed his sons,
and his sons
killed their sons,
and their sons
killed his sons

until
at last
a blood-thirster said,
“We will kill.
And after the killing
there will be
peace.”

Courage

There are degrees of courage.
One man is not afraid to die.
A second is not afraid to kill.
A third is not afraid to be merciful.

rikkilake · **Posted:** Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:14 pm

She could have a series of discussions regarding social-extremes (free market vs regulated market, fascism vs anarchism) where students would have to argue which of the two extremes is worse -- and why.

As for literature-based topics, the class could argue what was Iago's main motivation for destroying Othello.
Sadly, most books I read aren't really school-appropriate as I'm sure the school board would frown upon Bukowski being taught in class.

Battletard · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:30 am

Is society more morally obligated to protect citizens from themselves by limiting the potential to make bad decisions, or is society more morally obligated to allow people the freedom to live their lives unencumbered by the state, so long as their bad decisions do not directly affect the lives of others? Is it possible to reach a middle ground on this issue? Explain either way.

I'd also recommend suggesting your wife compare and contrast Bradley Manning vs Daniel Ellsberg and discuss the moral dilemma a soldier faces to report misconduct or maintain silence and follow orders. Is it ever okay to disregard orders? If yes, what is the criteria for deciding such, what dangers does this present in combat scenarios and as far as morale and chain of command are concerned? If no, how do you account for following orders to commit grossly immoral and criminal acts?

Euphonic · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:55 am

yep... this is the class i would of been sleeping in. i have no idea haha.

thank god my English teacher passed me anyway, she was so nice.

Boredalt · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:58 am

Thanks for the suggestions. Some of these topics would require research by the students while Opinionaire is more of a "write-it-on-the-board-ready-set-go" 15-20 minutes discussion of a topic about which the kids can quickly grasp the variables. Several of Aestu's suggestions work for this and Battle's protecting citizens from themselves is perfect. She just has to go through these and find where and if there are smooth connections to the curriculum.

@Rikki Bukowski would scar these kids for life. I enjoy Buk in small doses and some of his work is brilliantly insightful, humorous and sad, but I find he wears me down. The words on his tombstone pretty much sum up the overall message of his work: "Don't try."

@Euphonic Haha. You would have dropped her class after taking one look at the syllabus.

rikkilake · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:44 pm

Boredalt wrote:

@Rikki Bukowski would scar these kids for life. I enjoy Buk in small doses and some of his work is brilliantly insightful, humorous and sad, but I find he wears me down. The words on his tombstone pretty much sum up the overall message of his work: "Don't try."

Ham on Rye (1982) wrote:

He hit me again. But the tears weren't coming. My eyes were strangely dry. I thought about killing him. That there must be a way to kill him. In a couple of years I could beat him to death. But I wanted him now. He wasn't much of anything. I must have been adopted. He hit me again. The pain was still there but the fear of it was gone. The strop landed again. The room no longer blurred. I could see everything clearly. My father seemed to sense the difference in me and he began to lash me harder, again and again, but the more he beat me the less I felt. It was almost as if he was the one who was helpless. Something had occurred, something had changed. My father stopped, puffing, and I heard him hanging up the strop. He walked to the door. I turned.
"Hey," I said.
My father turned and looked at me.
"Give me a couple more," I told him, "if it makes you feel any better."

PSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH

Boredalt · **Posted:** Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:03 am

Love is a Dog From Hell (1977) wrote:

“there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.

people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.

people just are not good to each other
one on one.

the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.

we are afraid.

our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.

it hasn't told us
about the gutters
or the suicides.

or the terror of one person
aching in one place
alone

untouched
unspoken to

watering a plant.”

Anybody got a straight-razor? I'll be in the tub.

Battletard · **Posted:** Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:49 am

There aren't enough colons and parentheses in the world to describe the depression that's been sweeping me this past week or two.

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My wife and some help on Opinionaire

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