Fast Food Nation
Sunday, October 16, 2011
A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin's essay, "A Talk to Teachers", depicts our society as "menaced from within". He stresses the need for teachers to allow students to develop individuality so that they can think for themselves. Society is full of people who "go with the flow", but contains few that are willing to challenge commonly accepted ideas. Only a few members of society are properly educated where they can use intuition and creativity to solve the problems of life, while others simply say what they think people want to hear. Baldwin states that our society is "menace by a lack of vision" and entitles teachers with the responsibility to change this.
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I think that in this essay society is depicted as standoffish, almost hostile. Individuality comes from the individual; most human beings begin to make assumptions before they even begin school. I agree with the statement that society has become a world of "I'll do it later" or "Someone else will do it". I believe that teachers need to be more open minded to different ways of thinking and being more creativity into the classroom. The world needs more Can-Do'ers in the world: the American education system needs to learn that now and start this process. I agree that society is blinded by ignorance to the changing world around us and what we can do to help slow it down.
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