Sep 3, 2008

New Semester, New Book, New List

Started teaching yesterday...summer's over. And coincident with the beginning of the semester is the arrival of the Vertigopedia, which is In Stores Now!

Over at the Times Online, source of so many interesting and idiosyncratic literary lists, Philip Pullman initiates us into the mysteries of his personal canon.

2 comments:

FromTheBlackList said...

I did "teach" as you call it. I do not anymore. I found that with all the propaganda I had to peddle I never really taught anyone anything. Of course this was part of the program or the agenda of the school I belonged to. Do you find the same problem with with all of the propagandizing you are ordered by your superiors to push into those young impressionable minds? It must be frustrating.

Jeuss, Inc. said...

Propaganda is every where. Especially in institutions of higher learning. You need to have faith in people's ability to think for themselves. Most students won't just mindlessly accept what their teachers tell them. They will challenge the ideas.
But you need to appreciate the theatre of it all. The presentation and all the players that a camp will use to promote its agenda and try and hide the fact that it is just another propaganda machine. If students realize this soon in their academic careers then they may be able to learn something. Though it won't be from the talking heads leading their classes, it will be on their own doing their own research to find out if what they are being taught is actually accurate.
My father worked with propagandists in the military. Won't say what war. But in a way I appreciate the various ways propaganda is presented. It's an art from really. It began in the beginning with Satan who asked Eve if God really said what he said. Did He?
Now here is a splendid piece of propaganda that I'm sure you will all find of interest. It is from the eighties and I'll leave it to you to uncover the agenda.
propagandainaction