Rules of engagement

This one's for the kids who asked the questions today --- you know who you are.

How to do well in General Paper
(Or rather, and more importantly: How to become a reasoning, thinking citizen as a result of --- or perhaps in spite of --- the General Paper course.)

1. Be curious. Question everything. And I don't mean question everything in the way that you badger your parents, "Why can't I have an increase in my allowance so that I can buy an iPod?" Question why you need money, where the allowance comes from, how is money organised in our society, what are the broader implications of an increased allowance (not just for you), how else you can (legally) get the money, how you can make those other sources of income work for you, why you need an iPod in the first place, why does an iPod cost so much anyway, how will having an iPod truly improve your standard of living, or will it just make you want more iThings, why do we need stuff anyway, when did having food and water and shelter and safety stop being enough, oh all right will an iPod mini do, why does Apple sell the mini anyway, what happens if you don't get an iPod or a mini, what happens if we all stop buying iPods and minis and stuff, and ...

2. Advance your reading. If you're not reading at all, then read anything --- even the local tabloid The New Paper is better than nothing. When you're done with the local tabloid, move on to the Nation-Builder Press, and from there on to more cerebral publications. If you're done with Harry Potter, why not try a little Philip Pullman, and from there it's a small leap to Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and Rushdie's written a lot of other interesting books that'll take you all over. Start with the thin books if the thick ones daunt you, but don't get stuck on 200-page chick lit forever. Time and Newsweek are better than nothing, but have a go at The Economist, which you don't have to read cover to cover, or The Guardian or The New York Times. The web is just full of interesting stuff. Try Salon or Slate or Alternet or my latest find (thanks, BoKo!), Arts & Letters Daily. Best of all, find something good that your teacher hasn't read and impress the hell out of him/her when you cite the source.

And whatever you read, refer back to step 1: Question everything. Don't accept something as gospel truth because it's in the Nation-Builder Press or The New York Times or on a sheet of paper that your teacher gave you. Ask yourself: Does the writer make sense? Is the argument convincing? Is the evidence watertight? Is there wiggle room? What's the other side of the story that the writer's not telling you? Can you find another piece of writing that deals thoroughly with that other side? Can you come up with the other side of the story on your own?

3. At the end of the day, formulate your own informed opinion. Where do you stand, and why? Yes, you --- don't avoid eye contact or look down at your shoes as though having an opinion is a dirty thing. You should have a stand, not just to be able to write a satisfactory General Paper essay, but because we're thinking, feeling human beings, and if humankind as a whole is going to make any sort of progress over this century, we're going to need every mind that's capable of intelligent, clear reasoning. Yes, I know it's hard to formulate an opinion because there are so many competing narratives and views shouting for your attention, but if you refuse to think hard and make sense of it, you might as well just check your brain in at the school gate and sign yourself up for some automaton-level task for the rest of your life. Lead, don't be led. Set the agenda, don't let others set it for you.

We don't all gotta be intellectuals or experts at everything. The world is too large, too dense for that. There's too much for any one brain to contain at one time. That's why you have to figure out your own patterns and structures for making sense of this crazy whirlspin of activity.

The more I teach, the more I think that while being blessed natural intelligence is an advantage, having a genuine open-mindedness and curiosity about the grand human experiment --- now that's when the magic really begins to happen.

From http://www.toomanythoughts.org/blog/2005/07/rules-of-engagement_25.html