By Anonymous, Jul 23, 2009 in Pedagogy and Teaching
The conservative humorist P.J. O'Rourke has a piece in a recent Weekly Standard issue that includes—bizarrely enough—a "twittered" (meaning truncated and txt style) version of the Constitution. It is funny and biting and brilliant. And I think I will use it next year with my American government students, after they read the full version of the Constitution. Does it denigrate our grand founding document, and the intellectual accomplishments of its authors? Some might say so. But this strikes me as an excellent way for 18 year olds in 2009—those doyens of the digital—to latch onto the fundamentals of our governmental form.
2 Responses to "Teaching Aid?"
Richard Avramenko on Jul 23, 2009
Perfectly acceptable for freshman! At this point, our best hope it to have them absorb the basics of citizenship before they run off to their business, chemistry, or sociology majors. Add some smells and bells to your Twitter idea, and it would be even better.
Lee Trepanier on Jul 26, 2009
I agree with Rick. It seems to me that popular culture and technology is a perfectly acceptable entry-point into more substantive studies of subjects. I understand the fear of some that technology and popular culture may drive the content of the course, but, as long as we are aware of this problem, I don't see any reason why we should reject it outright.