Happy Black History Month Everybody!

[Oexmelin]

I say separate them, and roll the Haitian Revolution in with the other great Maroon insurrection and independence movements of Jamaica and Surinam, and even the Seminole Wars, their influence on Vesey, Turner, Prosser and John Brown, etc. 

Slave revolts?  Unconventional warfare?  Men of color achieving autonomy, if not outright independence, through force of arms?  That's a semester's worth of scaring the living shit out of creepy ass crackers right there.

It is not a bad idea, though would have to discuss with the colleague teaching Jamaican history. And though I understand, of course, the pedagogical value of the American comparison (and the  influence of the HR cannot be overstated) some part of me wants to tell students that not every global event in history has to be about the bloody USA.

[LaCroix]

if you call it "atlantic history," you can maybe trick people into thinking it's mostly about USA

[Eddie Teach]

People who feel like they've been "tricked" into taking a class aren't likely to get much out of it.

[LaCroix]

doesn't matter. professor has high enrollment numbers = win for department; chair is pleased -> professor is happy

[Admiral Yi]

He'll have to do some fast talking until add/drop is over.

[LaCroix]

take home final or promises to provide students the exam questions pre-test ("I'll just pick 10 of the 50 questions")

the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method

[garbon]

take home final or promises to provide students the exam questions pre-test ("I'll just pick 10 of the 50 questions")

the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method

No, the latter is not a brilliant method at all. I had a class like that where it just meant before the final that we had different members of the class meet to come up with the answer to the essay questions and then we all meant to talk through them all. So one week of 'learning' that I immediately let out of my head after the exam.

[grumbler]

No, the latter is not a brilliant method at all. I had a class like that where it just meant before the final that we had different members of the class meet to come up with the answer to the essay questions and then we all meant to talk through them all. So one week of 'learning' that I immediately let out of my head after the exam.

If a student is determined to forget everything he or she learns in a class after the exam, no exam can change that.

I always provide the possible essay prompts before the exam, and even let the students bring notes.  If they can answer all of the essay questions before the exam starts, the exam has already served its purpose, and the students have gotten everything they can get from the course.  Nothing can stop willful ignorance.

[garbon]

Nothing can stop willful ignorance.

Which is why I don't think it really conveys the benefit that LaCroix mentioned 'the latter was some of the only times I ever read the assigned readings back in college. such a brilliant teaching method.' That's really just how he reacted to that method but intrinsically I can't see why it would make you more likely to read the assigned readings.

Note, I should be clear that I don't have anything in particular against the method (though I suppose I do question what benefit filling out the essay at the test itself would have if I've already filled out all the essays in advanced by myself) but it is the supposed brilliance of it that I take issue with.

[Lettow77]

 It wouldn't be February without a solemn look back at a man who fought against European hegemony when the world was young and the sins of the colonizers were yet undone. He struggled for the brotherhood of man, and saw his brother's head pitched before him. He saw with great vision the course of the oppressive imperialists, and it cost him an eye.

It may be that no man before or since has brought such fear to the hearts of white oppressors. No eulogy could be enough for this proud African warrior, but his memory lives on.

[grumbler]

It wouldn't be February without a solemn look back at a man who fought against European hegemony when the world was young and the sins of the colonizers were yet undone. He struggled for the brotherhood of man, and saw his brother's head pitched before him. He saw with great vision the course of the oppressive imperialists, and it cost him an eye.

It may be that no man before or since has brought such fear to the hearts of white oppressors. No eulogy could be enough for this proud African warrior, but his memory lives on.

Nat Turner never wore a hat like that!

[Octavian]

Those who can't legally operate guillotines, teach courses on the French Revolution.

Au Revoir, Felicia

Straight out of Utah... On a friday

[viper37]

some part of me wants to tell students that not every global event in history has to be about the bloody USA.

You should have tought of that before signing on to teach in an American College

[viper37]

Except I think that's wonderful advice for people of any colour in dealing with misbehaving authority figures.  Don't argue with the man holding a gun.  There are ways to seek your redress later on.

Except that arguing with an officer - which is something I would suggest can happen, out of the sheer sense of injustice, when you know you are innocent of any wrongdoing -  when you are white can send you to jail. Arguing with an officer when you are black can send you to the morgue.

do we have stats on that?  'Cause I think lots of white people end up dead in that same situation too, in the US.
Maybe white people are less likely to protest arrest because they feel it's racism, though.

[Valmy]

Maybe white people are less likely to protest arrest because they feel it's racism, though.

It is complicated. But we do do crazy shit like create anti-government militias.