The Kids Are Alright
Dates: 2/8/01,6:03 PM through 2/9/01,5:52 PM (3 postings)
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The Kids Are Alright
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FROM: Nick Szegda <[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us>
REC'D: 2/8/01, 6:03 PM
Patron remembers reading a book (slim volume, he read it while standing in
a bookstore, so it may have been a novella -- not, when he read it, in a
short story collection) set in a schoolroom. The students are awaiting
the arrival of a new teacher. They are talking amongst themselves (giving
themselves a pep talk, he says) about how they aren't going to "give in"
to the new teacher. The students are citizens of a "conquered democracy",
the teacher a citizen of the conquering totalitarian regime. The teacher
arrives, charms the students, and they all end up "giving in" within 20
minutes.
He thinks the
author was a "well known" one, and that the book may have been written in
the 50's or 60's (he read it in the 70's). No idea what color the cover
was, I asked ;).
Many thanks --
*****************************************************
Nick Szegda
Menlo Park Library
[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us
FROM: "Brad Scott" <[removed]@ci.allen.tx.us>
REC'D: 2/9/01, 9:23 AM
"It was a simple incident in the life of James Clavell -- a talk with his yound daughter just home from school -- that inspired this chilling tale of what could happen in twenty-five quietly devastating minutes.... [I]t keeps asking me questions.... Questions like What's the use of 'I pledge allegiance' without understanding? Like Why is it so easy to divert thoughts? Like What is freedom? and Why is it so hard to explain?...."
It's a powerful little cautionary story about how kids' minds can be manipulated in the name of "education". Perhaps the name of the thread should be "The Kids are Vulnerable."
Bradley A. Scott
Allen (Texas) Public Library
"If you give me control over a child's education until the age of seven, I'll answer for what he believes the rest of his life." -- Unknown
** All opinions are personal. **
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Nick Szegda <[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us>
Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 16:03:47 -0800 (PST)
>Today's puzzler:
>
>Patron remembers reading a book (slim volume, he read it while standing in
>a bookstore, so it may have been a novella -- not, when he read it, in a
>short story collection) set in a schoolroom. The students are awaiting
>the arrival of a new teacher. They are talking amongst themselves (giving
>themselves a pep talk, he says) about how they aren't going to "give in"
>to the new teacher. The students are citizens of a "conquered democracy",
>the teacher a citizen of the conquering totalitarian regime. The teacher
>arrives, charms the students, and they all end up "giving in" within 20
>minutes.
> He thinks the
>author was a "well known" one, and that the book may have been written in
>the 50's or 60's (he read it in the 70's). No idea what color the cover
>was, I asked ;).
>Many thanks --
>*****************************************************
>Nick Szegda
>Menlo Park Library
[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
FROM: Nick Szegda <[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us>
REC'D: 2/9/01, 5:52 PM
BTW the cover's red
*****************************************************
Nick Szegda
Menlo Park Library
[removed]@pls.lib.ca.us
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