Re: SV: The Censhorship Kings Strike Again

On Tuesday 26 August 2003 10:04 pm, Rob Kaper wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 09:46:40PM +0100, Daniel Cassidy wrote:
> > 'Supposed' as in people who have read it and are informed have expressed
> > that opinion to me. I don't think expressing the educated opinion of
> > others I have met constitutes having 'no clue' about a particular
> > subject, although it certainly constitutes second hand knowledge. In
> > particular, in this context I think it is more than valid to consider the
> > opinions of others perhaps even above your own opinion, since in
> > education it is essential to capture and keep the interest of a class if
> > you wish for them to learn anything at all.
>
> Wow. With opinions like these, it's no miracle Hitler got so far in the
> first place.

I'm not sure to what exactly you are referring, but if you would like to 
present to me an analysis of how valuing the opinions of friends and/or 
attempting to improve the effectiveness of compulsory education by not boring 
classes unnecessarily led to the rise of Hitler, I would be more than 
interested to hear this new perspective on history.

> > Forcing a class to read a text which most people find unmanageably boring
> > is probably not an effective way to use time, probably not any more
> > useful than giving a detailed summary of the text, and certainly a sure
> > fire way to kill any interest in the subject, especially if the class is
> > a compulsory one taught in school to students who are mostly not
> > interested to start with. If you want people to learn from history, then
> > the first and most important hurdle to cross is getting them interested
> > in history.
>
> I agree that compulsory education is not the most effective one and -
> especially with teenagers - can be counter-productive. But as long as
> that's what we do in schools, Mein Kampf qualifies as something that should
> be included.

I agree that students should indeed be given a knowledge of Mein Kampf and 
it's contents, preferably a detailed one. But as to whether it is necessary 
to read the book in it's entirety, I would suggest otherwise. As I have said 
it is necessary to weigh the benefits against the possibility of losing the 
interest of your class; and in compulsory education the latter IS an 
important consideration, no matter what you may say. I don't believe that 
reading it would give all that much advantage to a student over someone who 
has been taught it's contents.

Having said that, I am now beginning to wonder if there is some distinction 
between what I mean by 'required reading' and what you mean.

> PS: I for one am very glad that my school had a huge focus on 20th century
> events (main themes Germany and the US) instead of what tribes settled
> here eons ago.

As did mine, and I have indeed found this highly useful; but there were 
certainly no requirements to read in full copies of historical texts.

-- 
Dan.

DISCLAIMER: Please do not take my statements wildly out of context and 
attribute to me opinions which I do not hold.

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