Is it that big a deal?

Over at Buckhorn Road, Mr. Chanman blogged regarding the black on black violence that not only about a column written by Jason Whitlockplagues the inner cities in this country, but claimed the life of Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor. His post was as interesting as the article itself was. Personally I love reading Whitlock's writings, he is often right on the money and cuts to the chase. I mentioned that I was using that column for an extra credit assignment and he thought that was a ballsy move on my part given the hyper sensitive world we live in.

When I made the assignment available for extra credit I did so because of three reasons.

1. It's a current event and many of my students are fans of the NFL and have heard about the case.

2. His column really makes the reader think and that's always a good thing when it comes to HS students, thinking is something they don't do enough in my (not so) humble opinion.

3. Because it's thought provoking it's perfect for a written response which is how 99% of my extra credit assignments work anyways.

I'll be honest, I didn't even think about how ballsy the assignment was, I just saw an opportunity to make my students think about the world they live in and maybe shake them out of their comfort zone, if only for a short time. I've already had some strong opinions on this assignment from my students and at least 6 or 7 of them are going to do it for the extra credit.

So was it that big a deal? Boy teacher Chanman really made ME think!

You get an A for that teach!