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

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman has a short story in Smoke and Mirrors called One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock. If anything else comes to mind, I'll let you know.

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

You could always give them an excerpt from A Separate Piece. If you've not used Ender's Game, there's always the (eponymous) short story on which it's based, which they've probably not read.

Also, if you give them Feynman to read, you'll officially be the coolest freshman English teacher ever.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

Also, if you give them Feynman to read, you'll officially be the coolest freshman English teacher ever.

I heartily agree. I think everyone should read Feynman - he is the most kick ass physicist ever and he's got a lot to say about living life to the fullest.

[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.

[icepixie]

That sounds very promising. Thanks!

[icepixie]

Found it online, and while at first glance it doesn't look quite like what I'm after, I'll give it a more careful read over the weekend. (I know I've read it before, but I have no memory of it. Argh.) Thanks for the suggestion!

[icepixie]

You could always give them an excerpt from A Separate Piece.

...of pie? (Sorry.)

I have actually not read that one. I should look it up.

If you've not used Ender's Game, there's always the (eponymous) short story on which it's based, which they've probably not read.

Just looked it up online, and holy crap, that's long! I need stuff in the five to ten page range for this semester, sadly.

Also, if you give them Feynman to read, you'll officially be the coolest freshman English teacher ever.

Very tempting...

[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?)

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

...of pie? (Sorry.)

ACK ACK ACK. Peace. A Separate PEACE.

(That is by far not the silliest thing I've said today. I haven't quite got the hang of Wednesdays yet.)


I have actually not read that one. I should look it up.

It was on my top-five list for awhile. It's still on the list of books I'm supposed to read at least once a year to keep myself human. Not terribly challenging, though.

[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".

[nickless.livejournal.com]

I poked around the first few bits of the Fenyman rec, and it kinda reminded me of Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture". Don't know if that quite works either... Can't really think of anything that falls under "short story" - all I can come up with are journal articles (which may be persuasive, but aren't short stories) and memoirs (which could kind of be short stories, but aren't really persuasive).

If the latter works, Bill Bryson has an essay on his school days in Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. There's another interesting one in Fat Girls & Lawn Chairs, by Cheryl Peck, called "my ten most interesting things." It's basically about how she was accused of plagiarising a poem in 4th grade, ie the power a teacher has over a student.

Sorry, that's all I got!

[icepixie]

ACK ACK ACK. Peace. A Separate PEACE.

Heh. I knew that was what you meant, but I couldn't help teasing.

(That is by far not the silliest thing I've said today. I haven't quite got the hang of Wednesdays yet.)

I'm not a big fan of them myself. Though Mondays are much, much worse.

It was on my top-five list for awhile. It's still on the list of books I'm supposed to read at least once a year to keep myself human. Not terribly challenging, though.

Hmmm...

[icepixie]

Memoirs could work. The unit and associated paper assignment are on persuasive writing, but it's a long unit, and I'm interested in exploring the topic from several angles. Their paper has to be about some kind of issue in "education," which could range from teaching evolution in schools to student parking at the university, and I want to give them lots of avenues from which to approach picking a topic.

The Bryson and Peck sound good. I'll check them out. Thanks!

[icepixie]

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