Teaching As a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner

Author:Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307491701
Publisher: A Delta Book

[Laughter.]

LOUIS: You’re a riot.

TEACHER: Madeline?

MADELINE: Seriously. Phil used the right word. Upset. Louis is definitely upset, especially with Chuck.

BOB: Maybe he is now, but he wasn’t before. He was just asking some questions.

ROD: He didn’t ask any questions. He told everyone what he thought.

LOUIS: I did ask questions.

TEACHER: Well, now here are some interesting problems. Lou says that a fact is what happened. How do you know what happened? Lou says you just look. Is that right, Lou?

LOUIS: Now I’m not sure. If we had a tape recorder, we’d find out if I asked any questions or not.

TEACHER: Would we find out if you were upset, say, two minutes ago?

LOUIS: Well, if you asked me, I could tell you.

TEACHER: But how can we account for the fact that others did think you were upset?

BOB: How do we know it’s a fact that others thought that?

CHUCK: Oh, my god!

ROD: Look. There’s a point everyone’s missing. The thing about “angry” and “upset” is important. What a person says happened may not be what happened, but that’s all your historian—any history writer—could do anyway. Say what happened. I might say Lou was “upset.” You—he was “happy.” Chuck, “dumb.”

TEACHER: Are you implying that a fact is not what happened, but a statement about what happened?

ROD: I think so. I mean, who knows what happened? No one can see everything. Or hear. You just say what you think you saw.

TEACHER: Well, in that case, if we couldn’t even get agreement on whether or not Lou was angry, wouldn’t it be even more difficult to determine when someone’s “civil rights” are being violated?

ADAM: It’s hard but not impossible.

TEACHER: What do you mean?

ADAM: Well, after all, people do communicate, don’t they?

And history is communication.

TEACHER: History is communication?

ADAM: Yeah. I like that.

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