What an interesting discussion - I am always blown away [amazed; happily & completely surprised} by the opinions my students come up with!
O.K., so we didn't reach any conclusion to the question of whether Gandhi was a success or not. We finally decided that he was a success in some ways and a failure in others. If you have read the article "How to Write an Essay" from last semester, you will recall that it was mentioned in there that the title of something is very important. This refers to the title of anything: A building has the sign "Police" on it and not "This is a building where you can come if you have a problem" because a) even people who don't have a problem go to a police station. b) people who are in real trouble do not have time to read a long sentence and c)by stating clearly the name of the building, it will also stop people in the area behaving badly.
So, titles are important. This title asked was Gandhi a succes? But, as we saw, it is rather difficult to define the word "success". What if a person is successful in one thing and not another? Does this make them a bit of a success? Almost a success? A complete success? Partly a success? Sort of a failure?
Several of you didn't think Ghandi was successful in what he set out to do - uniting India and convincing Indians that violence was not the way to go. But you believed he was successful in the effect he had on other people, like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King...and perhaps even ourselves?
One student said he might have been a success in the eyes of the world but he was not a success as a husband. Some people thought that he was an unqualified [complete] success - from which we could perhaps infer [reach the conclusion] that it was the Indian people themselves who were not successful?
So. If there was no completely right or wrong answer to the question, what was the point in my asking it? If we didn't learn the truth why did we bother to learn anything about him?
Well, one student provided a part of the answer: he talked about a "process" being important.
The truth is awfully hard to define. Most of us look at things from a particular point of view: as a student, as a parent, as a foriegnor, as a member of a religious group or a political party, or from our own experience.
So, for example, the question I mentioned earlier about whether I was a good mother because I did not carry a gun to protect my children when I lived in the middle of a war zone? To some people the truth is that I was not. My children lived daily in a society where other people had guns and weapons and, by not carrying a gun myself, I failed to do the best I could do to protect my sons. To other people the truth might be that I was a good mother because I taught my children not to give up one's principals or to give in to violence. To others their truth may have been that I was careless, negligent or brave.
So many of the experiences we have in life do not have an answer we can go and look up. We just have to do the best we can do in those circumstances. But, it is the process we have gone through before we reach that point that is important and that helps us. It is up to each of us to ensure [to make sure] we are prepared for life with as much knowledge as we can have. And that we gain that knowledge not just from one place but from every place we can. This is because, as we have just said, we can never be sure what the absolute truth is. A book might tell me "Always carry a gun in South Africa". But my experience of living in dangerous places might tell me that if I carry a gun it can be stolen or taken from me and used against my children or someone elses children.
So we need to listen to as many different peoples truth as possible to help us make decisions, because life means taking responsibility. Once we are no longer children we have to take responsibility for ourselves and, eventually, for our own children. No-one will be able to make decisions for us. We have to make them ourselves.
And we cannot learn to take responsibility for ourselves or others if we have not learned to think for ourselves. It is possible that some people may have gone into to-day's class with one solid opinion. But, by listening to others, they may have changed that opinion - which is good. It means that those people are prepared to admit there are different ways to look at things. Which is all part of the process: the process of Life.
Always be wary [apprehensive, a little suspicious] of people who always have an answer to everything. This often means they have not thought very much about things, but have just accepted someone elses truth. Also, people who answer a question too quickly might sometimes be people who have not thought very much about the question at all. Finding out what others think is also part of the process of understanding other people - and that is a great step in the process of living in harmony.
For Homework for next weeks class I gave you two words and a punctuation mark: Pacificists. Disloyal? In order to talk about this it is, of course, necessary to learn what a pacifist is and what they do. Looking up the word in your dictionary is not enough. Putting search titles like "pacifist action" Pacifist organizations" etc. you will find out what pacifism means. Its up to you how you search for this information ("Famous pacifists"? Pacificst leaders"?) And Disloyalty. How about that? Does it mean being unfaithful to one's country? Betrayal? Revolutionary?
Remember....there are NO WRONG ANSWERS. Your opinion - as long as it is made based on knowledge and not ignorance - is your truth.
Vocabulary:
Colonialisation...one country taking over another and ruling it.
Strive...to try one's hardest to achieve something
Pacifism...the policy of non-violence
O.K., so we didn't reach any conclusion to the question of whether Gandhi was a success or not. We finally decided that he was a success in some ways and a failure in others. If you have read the article "How to Write an Essay" from last semester, you will recall that it was mentioned in there that the title of something is very important. This refers to the title of anything: A building has the sign "Police" on it and not "This is a building where you can come if you have a problem" because a) even people who don't have a problem go to a police station. b) people who are in real trouble do not have time to read a long sentence and c)by stating clearly the name of the building, it will also stop people in the area behaving badly.
So, titles are important. This title asked was Gandhi a succes? But, as we saw, it is rather difficult to define the word "success". What if a person is successful in one thing and not another? Does this make them a bit of a success? Almost a success? A complete success? Partly a success? Sort of a failure?
Several of you didn't think Ghandi was successful in what he set out to do - uniting India and convincing Indians that violence was not the way to go. But you believed he was successful in the effect he had on other people, like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King...and perhaps even ourselves?
One student said he might have been a success in the eyes of the world but he was not a success as a husband. Some people thought that he was an unqualified [complete] success - from which we could perhaps infer [reach the conclusion] that it was the Indian people themselves who were not successful?
So. If there was no completely right or wrong answer to the question, what was the point in my asking it? If we didn't learn the truth why did we bother to learn anything about him?
Well, one student provided a part of the answer: he talked about a "process" being important.
The truth is awfully hard to define. Most of us look at things from a particular point of view: as a student, as a parent, as a foriegnor, as a member of a religious group or a political party, or from our own experience.
So, for example, the question I mentioned earlier about whether I was a good mother because I did not carry a gun to protect my children when I lived in the middle of a war zone? To some people the truth is that I was not. My children lived daily in a society where other people had guns and weapons and, by not carrying a gun myself, I failed to do the best I could do to protect my sons. To other people the truth might be that I was a good mother because I taught my children not to give up one's principals or to give in to violence. To others their truth may have been that I was careless, negligent or brave.
So many of the experiences we have in life do not have an answer we can go and look up. We just have to do the best we can do in those circumstances. But, it is the process we have gone through before we reach that point that is important and that helps us. It is up to each of us to ensure [to make sure] we are prepared for life with as much knowledge as we can have. And that we gain that knowledge not just from one place but from every place we can. This is because, as we have just said, we can never be sure what the absolute truth is. A book might tell me "Always carry a gun in South Africa". But my experience of living in dangerous places might tell me that if I carry a gun it can be stolen or taken from me and used against my children or someone elses children.
So we need to listen to as many different peoples truth as possible to help us make decisions, because life means taking responsibility. Once we are no longer children we have to take responsibility for ourselves and, eventually, for our own children. No-one will be able to make decisions for us. We have to make them ourselves.
And we cannot learn to take responsibility for ourselves or others if we have not learned to think for ourselves. It is possible that some people may have gone into to-day's class with one solid opinion. But, by listening to others, they may have changed that opinion - which is good. It means that those people are prepared to admit there are different ways to look at things. Which is all part of the process: the process of Life.
Always be wary [apprehensive, a little suspicious] of people who always have an answer to everything. This often means they have not thought very much about things, but have just accepted someone elses truth. Also, people who answer a question too quickly might sometimes be people who have not thought very much about the question at all. Finding out what others think is also part of the process of understanding other people - and that is a great step in the process of living in harmony.
For Homework for next weeks class I gave you two words and a punctuation mark: Pacificists. Disloyal? In order to talk about this it is, of course, necessary to learn what a pacifist is and what they do. Looking up the word in your dictionary is not enough. Putting search titles like "pacifist action" Pacifist organizations" etc. you will find out what pacifism means. Its up to you how you search for this information ("Famous pacifists"? Pacificst leaders"?) And Disloyalty. How about that? Does it mean being unfaithful to one's country? Betrayal? Revolutionary?
Remember....there are NO WRONG ANSWERS. Your opinion - as long as it is made based on knowledge and not ignorance - is your truth.
Vocabulary:
Colonialisation...one country taking over another and ruling it.
Strive...to try one's hardest to achieve something
Pacifism...the policy of non-violence
I think,every corn has its two sides.Maybe,like our life....
ReplyDeleteJoy
Joy, - that's undoubtedly true - but it's often easily forgotten. And there are those people who actually refuse to see the other side because they are afraid that then they might find that they are in the wrong.
ReplyDelete