Saying students can only learn from living people and current TV shows indicate a limited range of the potential for human thought. The TV show The Wire is an accurate portrayal of life in cities where drugs are sold retail on the streets by low income citizens. That is not the only way to learn about the culture of illegal drugs. Reading news accounts and some books reveal the same truths. Suggesting that Lady Gaga's 3 or 10 minute video provides substantial discourse for college level discussions, is just as misguided. It suggests the sound byte culture moved into the college classroom. TV crime shows solve complex crimes in the allotted 40 minutes each hour. Real crimes sometimes take 20 years to solve. Same with philosophical and moral issues. Sound bytes are easy to discuss. Seven words allow only so many twists and turns. What happened to the idea of allowing students to consider on their own alone with texts what it is that was being discussed and how it applies to today? Some questions have no answers. Adding the hatred of dead White males creates a need to make courses "relevant." Relevant to what? Text messaging? New technology makes the demand for information instantaneous. But minds do not operate at the same speed as electronic equipment. It takes time to consider new information and to provide a context with which to make decisions on what reality is. If the goal is simply to provide simplistic ideas to be mimicked by a mindless population, propaganda is the way to go. Sound bytes are the preferred method of delivering propaganda.
http://bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view.bg?articleid=1061116617&format=&page=2&listingType=nat#articleFull
Make room, Socrates, for Lady Gaga and Beyonce
Boston Herald
By Jenna Ross
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Sunday, March 11, 2012
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