I'm teaching a course on radical politics this semester, and today we're going to be discussing "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific." I am the specter haunting public education. hexbear-specter

I'll update later on with how well it's received.

Update: it went well! They were critical--they're critical of everything, which is part of the fun of the job--but also very sympathetic to the critique. They had a lot of excellent examples of, in particular, digital technology playing out the problems in capitalism that Engels identified.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Be prepared

    You will probably get at least one angry letter from a parent

    I got one for teaching the kids I worked with gaga-ball

    • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      I made them all take home a permission slip and get it signed by parents last week. A couple of them had to drop, but it should shield me from at least some of the blowback.

      • iridaniotter [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I'm sorry but that's so funny. Permission slips are for field trips and violent movies, not pamphlets!

        • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          1 year ago

          It was about 1/2 actually covering my ass and 1/2 marketing. Telling them that the class was going to be so controversial that it required parent permission did wonders for sign ups.

      • FlakesBongler [they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        It was a while back, but the basic gist of it was that I should be encouraging more friendly games (which, I did, we frequently played games that were more about cooperation than competition) and that someone could get hurt playing such a violent game

        The kids wanted to play regular dodgeball and I gave them gaga-ball as a suitable replacement, I also didn't make anyone play who didn't want to or didn't feel comfortable doing it

        The worst that could have happened was someone tripping over the ball, which could happen in any game that's played with a ball

    • dat_math [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I got one for teaching the kids I worked with gaga-ball

      What? The pit based dodgeball game I played at summer camp as a child?