[RSCT] Bill Ayers

[BBPDX at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/18/08 1:51:39 PM, margaretknapke at earthlink.net writes:

> Fyi, there was a fine interview by Terry Gross of educator Bill Ayers today 
> on Fresh Air.
> 
> Which Way The Wind Blows: Bill Ayers On Obama
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97112600
> 
Rethinking Schools friends, 

Thanks to Margaret for alerting the RSCT list to today's Fresh Air with Bill 
Ayers. I thought that Bill did a magnificent job. This is well worth listening 
to. There is a moment toward the end of the interview where Bill suggests the 
kind of questions that could be posed to all of us who were around during the 
Vietnam War if there were a national Truth and Reconciliation commission 
here. This raises an interesting teaching possibility -- students playing the 
roles of different individuals during the Vietnam War and accounting for their 
actions. Some of you may use the film, "A Long Night's Journey into Day," about 
the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop 
Desmond Tutu, that held people to account for actions taken during the apartheid 
era. As Bill points out in the interview, why is it only people like those in 
the Weather Underground who are asked pointed questions about choices they 
made during the war? Why not pose these questions to everyone who was around 
back then?   

Also, Bill insists that if we're going to raise questions about "terrorism," 
let's first define what terrorism is and not just raise these questions of 
people to take steps to try to end wars. Rethinking Schools includes an activity, 
"Whose Terrorism?" in our book, "A People's History for the Classroom." A 
version of this is also at our website: 
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/sept11/index.shtml -- scroll down to "Whose Terrorism?" and "Terrorism 
Lessons."

If you're here in the Portland area, today's "Fresh Air" show is repeated 
this evening at 7 pm; it's also available as a podcast.

Bill

Bill Bigelow
Rethinking Schools
www.rethinkingschools.org


**************
Get the Moviefone Toolbar. Showtimes, 
theaters, movie news & 
more!(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212774565x1200812037/aol?redir=http://toolbar.aol.com/moviefone/download.html?ncid=emlc
ntusdown00000001)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.criticalteach.org/pipermail/rs_criticalteach.org/attachments/20081118/77bb2628/attachment.html>