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Teaching Fahrenheit 451 and Censorship w/ a Tech Twist?
scrimmer asks: "
I'm a second year high school English teacher--heaven forbid I misspell something in this post! I'll be teaching Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for the first time this semester, and I was hoping Slashdotters could help me out a bit. I want to make the novel as relevant as possible to my students, but I would also like to work DMCA-related stuff, free speech-on-the-Internet stuff, and other issues--as seen on Slashdot--into the unit to give it a fresh spin, in addition to the traditional censorship issues normally taught alongside this novel. I've been chasing web links for weeks, but I'm afraid I might miss some salient issues. If you were a student in my class for a few weeks, what kind of angle would you most like to investigate while studying this novel?"
Make your students do a project tying the novel into something happening now. They'll likely come up with something you haven't though of, and it would be more instructive than just shoving a message down their throats.
Try the Socratic method -- lead them to the ideas you want them to discover by asking questions, not by preaching at them.
Just a thought...
In view of the number of people I hear advocating the sacrifice of civil liberties in the name of "homeland security" I think this is one of the most relevant issues raised by the book.
There once was a time when Americans were a courageous people who resisted any attempt to force-fit them into a mold. Now, I fear the bulk of "We, the people" have become sheep ready to be led to slaughter by the first figurative goat to come along. I don't know how to reverse the trend, but America must return to the way of thinking that lead the founders to believe that:
if this noble experiement in participatory government is to survive.
Best of luck with your class. Although some of the images the book raises are somewhat dated, I personally believe Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most important books in American political literature.
utter rubbish
I fell your pain (from the perspective of a high school senior.)
I do find this question interesting (though I would like to know if you intended on asking the adults who frequent or the l33t kids who do) because it raises the issue of the master-disciple relationship and the Socratic method (which has been mentioned.)
As Xunzi said, "Though the blue dye comes from the indigo plant, it is bluer than indigo." (referring to the dye as the student and the plant as the teacher with the student being bluer because of ages of re-dying from the plant -- hence being taught) Just as was the case with Plato and Socrates (and Aristotle and Plato, and Xunzi and Confucius) the master did (if they were good masters) hope for the student to be able to bring some wisdom back to the teacher after they have presented what they are capable of presenting.
So, as the Socratic method states, come in with some (well thought out) ideas (I liked the one about giving up civil liberties and such) and then play the role of Socrates (who, at least in the Republic, would insist that he was wrong and ask to be "corrected") and watch them ponder examples that one who isn't a high school student (any longer) couldn't fathom.
I started a Philosopher's Club here (at my high school) based entirely on the apparent willingness of all great (teachers and) philosopher's to facilitate discussion and then to sit back and ask (instead of preach) about their ideas.
I can (warning: slightly off topic) sympathize with the difficulty in what I have proposed. It isn't so easy to get people interested in the depth of meaning in a book (or any other work.) I see it everyday. We live (at least at my high school) a life where the trouble associated with (with respect to the ease of switching on digital cable and choosing from our 700 channels) thinking makes it unpopular. This can also be a theme in your unit, however, since the parallel with the people in the book just watching their movie-walls and "taking life as it is handed to them" is easily drawn (though not easily accepted by people who it applies to.)
So I wish you the best of luck and I beg you allow me to give you this honor: teaching is the most important occupation (second only to parenting -- which, by my observation, is failing and depending on teaching more and more) and I would say you are of a beautifully courageous type to pursue such a respectable profession.
Much luck, and thank you for listening to my humble opinion.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
"We have to get away from the ethos that knowledge is good, knowledge should be publicly available, that information will liberate us," said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan. "Information will kill us in the techno-terrorist age, and I think it's nuts to put that stuff on Web sites." (emphasis added)
I am appalled, troubled and deeply dismayed that a person who would utter such a remark would be referred to as a "bioethicist". Simply put, these are the words of a Luddite spreading anti-scientific FUD.
One does not control the effects of scientific progress by hiding them from public view, but rather by examining them, discussing them and understanding them in the full light of day.
utter rubbish
That is, ask the students: What would it be like to be Montag? How's it feel to have The Hound (take it as a symbol for the legal system) nipping at your heels, or seeing it devour others? To have your employer give you an "out" for your activities, and would you take it? What if someone could advance their career by doing ill to fellow booklovers?
Now, honestly, Jon Johansen and DeCSS is actually a better individual example. It's not inconceivable that one of the students could find themselves in a similar situation (below is one of my favorate quotes, where Jon is responding to reporter Declan McCullagh, given Declan was arrogantly giving Jon a hard time for not immediate returning Declan's request for comment):
That is, Fahrenheit 451 takes place in metaphor. But there's real battles going on right now, right this minute, and there's real-life opportunities to be Montag. But beware The Hound.