This guy's pretty good. If I didn't hate blogging so much, I'd be sold on him, too. I'm such a sucker for the revolutionary stuff. It's true that blogging can allow people to express their opinion, be it nonsense or a true gem of wisdom, on infinite subjects.
It could change the face of journalism and mass media, a change that is necessary, in my opinion. Those blogging revolutionaries better hurry up and do something, before corporate America finds a way to control this, too.
So far, you know that you're not going to get unbiased news from a huge publication because of pissing off their advertisers, etc. The next step, as hinted at in the article, is to at least try to deny professional journalists who are established at major publications (and who therefore may have a larger audience) the right to create blogs that may clash with certain big interests; this is touchy for me. It seems not quite legal, but not quite tangible, either. It's implicit blackmail. The bonus in this is that the little-heard voice of the untainted individual won't be drowned out. It is simply a matter of educating people about this opportunity to speak and be heard - click here
Alright! I just realized how romantic I made blogging sound . I'm through with that shit. Just know that I can look beyond my own prejudices to see the potential good in the things that I fight against.
A Wake Up Call
Reading Christensen's book is probably the best use I've made of my time all semester. I have always seen clearly the injustices and inequalities that exist in schools, being a victim of misperception many times myself. I saw myself as a future teacher who would make a real difference in peoples' lives, by exposing the injustices so kids could not only see them for what they were, but also so they can avoid imposing those injustices on others.I still see myself that way, only now I have practical means of being that teacher. Christensen doesn't hold back; she lets you know of the problems that exist, and implies that you are morally obligated to act on that knowledge. I think that's because she knows that the longer you read the book, the more interested you probably are in what she has to say, otherwise you'd have put the book down a long time ago. I'm shamelessly sold. I've had the ideology of critical pedagogy in my head for a long time, now know what it looks like.
The best thing about Christensen's teaching style is how intrusive it is. She doesn't preach hippy ideals and let her students loose to do things however they want, she provides intense, hands-on instruction and demands specific, challenging things from her students. She shows that she respects them by holding high standards for them. She works hard to make her students work hard, a most admirable quality in a teacher.
