Sunday, November 21, 2010

Education and The Far Side

This week I found a humorous Far Side comic on Google and posted it on Twitter. Today, I was reading a pamphlet by Diane Gossen called 5 Positions of Control and thought of how the comic could be linked to education. Let me explain.

Gossen notes that if we do not work with students so that they are able to fix their own problems, "when they leave school they may not be capable of making decisions when no one is telling them what to do." Indeed, asking them to conform without thinking for themselves will affect the rest of their lives and not in a good way.

Here is the comic. Enjoy.

10 comments:

  1. This is a great way to demonstrate how theory looks in practice and why it matters. In one way, it is such a simple idea, but it becomes a powerful and interesting message with the use of the comic. Thanks!
    Tim

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  2. Nicely done. Tough to teach democracy out of a text book. Tough to teach responsibility through obedience and compliance.

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  3. Thanks for the comments Tim, Joe, and Chris. Indeed, we are all on the same page here.

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  4. There's nothing I love more than The Far Side. It rings true every time. Long live Gary Larson.

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  5. Very nice tribute to my favorite cartoonist; and...the sheep/border collie is a fave too. Thanks for the memories.

    Sincerely,

    Rick London
    Londons Times Cartoons
    www.RickLondon.us

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  6. i agree. it's funny, cause it's true. also, sad.

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  7. So spot on. Do we want to produce followers or leaders? Hmmmm....

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  8. I'm an urban middle school teacher in Grand Rapids, Mi and I completely agree with your comments about teaching students to think and solve their problems. This is a frustrating issue with my students as they are the neediest bunch of students I have ever had. Most cannot write a sentence without running up to me saying, "Is this right?"

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  9. I would like to know more about these suggestive points. Give me little more brief and I think they can help me. Here the mentioned points are very useful and I am definitely going to adopt in my life.เรียน sat

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