1984

January 18, 2018

I'm getting ready to read 1984 with my students.  I love 1984, and as a matter of fact I love dystopian fiction in general.  It's my very favorite genre.  However, in today's world, where these dystopian novels seemed to have moved out of the realm of the theoretical and into the realm of "Oh my gosh, this is literally happening!", I'm a little worried about how my students are going to react.  Of course, this is exactly why we read these kinds of books, but it doesn't mean it's not going to be uncomfortable.  It will certainly cause discussion and debate.  And although I hope kids will be able to see the truly cautionary nature of the book, what I hope even more is that as we share differing perspectives and values that will undoubtedly be borne out of reading this book together, my students will learn how to share those differing values civilly and maturely, unlike quite a lot of the 'discourse' I see online right now.  It's a valuable skill I think a great many people should attempt to strengthen.