[etni] Re: ETNI and politics
- From: "Adele Raemer and Laurie Levy" <raemer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 07:23:10 +0200
The only discussion I remember seeing about bringing these issues into the
classroom, was Avi's suggestion of printing out newspaper articles about it
- representing as many different sides to the story as possible, and letting
the kids talk about it. I do not see what could be wrong with that! The
newspapers were /are filled with a wide variety, and it could lead to
interesting discussion. I feel , especially where I live, where my home and
school and students are right on the Gaza border, it is especially important
to let the kids discuss the issues and possibilities. I also believe that I
am open minded enough to be able to play devil's advocate to ANY issue that
is brought up, because there really IS not black or white; right or wrong in
this case (as in many other cases!) Each side has their legitimate reasons
and beliefs no matter what MY personal views are. We need to at least teach
our kids that it is important to listen to each other, rather than hide our
heads in the sand. That is what MY objectives will be... venting and
listening, and trying to develop our empathetic skills (is that a benchmark?
If it isn't for the EFL Curriculum, it IS for the educational curriculum -
for MY educational curriculum, at least!
Adele
-----Original Message-----
From: etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Bari Nirenberg
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 10:31 PM
To: etni
Subject: [etni] ETNI and politics
I feel very uncomfortable about this list being used as a forum to
express political views and even more uncomfortable about the fact
that teachers plan to go into the classroom and talk about an issue
using words like "immoral" and "brutal", call the prime minister
"someone who doesn't keep his promises" (which is pretty much the same
as calling him a liar) and at the same time claim that they are not
expressing their own opinions. I don't think it's our responsibility
to open our students' eyes to the truth as we see it. Instead, we
should encourage them to think freely and develop their own ideas and
opinions. If you feel really strongly about a particular issue, then
it's almost impossible to do this and maybe it's better that you not
talk about it at all in the classroom.
And just in case someone wants to claim that those statements were
only made to the list and were not intended for the classroom, I'd
like to say that I don't think politics have anything to do with
English teaching (unless the issues themselves concern education and
teachers) and therefore, ETNI is not the place to discuss politics.
Bari
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