Once or twice a year, I have my 8th graders do a Chalk Talk. The goal is to have them think about and discuss knotty philosophical issues from a fresh perspective. As we start our Civil War unit, I like to ask three provocative questions:
This year, my students were very resistant to digging deeply into any of these questions.
Q: Is there such a thing as a good war?
A: "Yes." "Yes." "I don't know." "Maybe" "Probably"
I discovered quickly, that for this group, I needed to frame my questions much more specifically:
A good lesson for me.
- Is there such a thing as a good war?
- Does violence ever solve anything?
- What would you be willing to kill somebody for?
This year, my students were very resistant to digging deeply into any of these questions.
Q: Is there such a thing as a good war?
A: "Yes." "Yes." "I don't know." "Maybe" "Probably"
I discovered quickly, that for this group, I needed to frame my questions much more specifically:
- What is a good war?
- When does violence solve problems?
- What would you would be willing to kill somebody else for?
A good lesson for me.
As always, their answers were really interesting, if you compare them to what a Civil War-Era Southerner might have said.
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