Tapping the hive mind

[icepixie]

Anyone have a favorite short story about education? I'm redoing some of the reading for my persuasive arguments unit, and the theme is education. I'd like to include some fiction, but at the moment all I can think of that treats education and/or school are novels, and we just don't have time for one. I would particularly like things that could lead into a discussion of what constitutes "an education."

(Google is being uncharicteristically unhelpful on this matter, alas.)

Comments

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

Can you show a movie? Dead Poets Society is an all time favorite of mine. I'll think about whether I know of an good stories about education in the mean time.

[icepixie]

I thought of that right after I posted. I think I will probably show that--it's one of my favorites as well.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

It's not a short story nor fiction but there's a section of letters dealing with teaching in 'Perfectly Normal Deviations from the Beaten Track' by Richard Feynman. The letters are generally centered around physics and teaching physics but also have general things related to teaching and learning.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

And speaking of Feynman - you could always read his essay entitled "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". Or you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srSbAazoOr8&feature=PlayList&p=6CAEB39493D98391&index=0

[icepixie]

That sounds very promising. Thanks!

[icepixie]

That sounds good. Has it been published under another title? Even Google isn't pulling up anything for that title, and library catalogs are giving me nothing either.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

Here it is on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Finding-Things-Out-Richard/dp/0738203491

and here it is on google books: http://books.google.com/books?id=Md0IirlFUfEC&dq=%22the+pleasure+of+finding+things+out%22&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=bp6xSoHBGaqb8QaLjKCVBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Most of the essay is on the google books site but unfortunately it's missing a few scattered pages. At least there should be enough for you to decide if it would be worth looking into further.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

Specifically check out "Like Father Like Son" on pages 21-22.

[icepixie]

I actually meant the "Perfectly Normal Deviations from the Beaten Track," but thanks for those links as well! (Wait, is "Perfectly Normal" part of "Pleasure of Finding Things Out" and I'm just complicating this unnecessarily?)

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

Haha. No it's not and the reason you can't find it is I goofed: the title is "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track".

[icepixie]

Aha! :) Got it from the library this morning. Thanks!