Wednesday, August 06, 2008
things i find myself telling my students.
i'm teaching test-prep this summer, and the SAT now involves an essay. so every time they have a practice test, i encourage them to email me the essay so i can respond. and occasionally, i have to type something like:
"Also, you should avoid comparing any historical figure you admire to the Nazis."
i guess i should stop thinking that one's a no-brainer.
(fwiw, the kid does not seem to be a proto-Nazi. i think he just got off on a tangent about how our deeds define us--which is certainly true of the perpatrators of the Holocaust--and didn't distinguish between adversity spurring heroes toward valiant deeds and megalomania spurring public insanity.)
"Also, you should avoid comparing any historical figure you admire to the Nazis."
i guess i should stop thinking that one's a no-brainer.
(fwiw, the kid does not seem to be a proto-Nazi. i think he just got off on a tangent about how our deeds define us--which is certainly true of the perpatrators of the Holocaust--and didn't distinguish between adversity spurring heroes toward valiant deeds and megalomania spurring public insanity.)
