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Jul. 8th, 2010 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charliesmumIn reference to my last post, I have a question to pose to all of you.
There's a passage in Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb where the main characters are talking about WWII and one of them says something about how they should mind because it happened a long time ago. (Of course, being Terry Pratchett and being a book about time travel, another character pointed out that it was happening NOW.)
I just wonder if, by reading about something that happened a long time ago makes it easier to dismiss it as something that 'used to happen' and thus ignore the more subtle signs of racism that we see today.
What do you think? I am not saying kids shouldn't be taught how things were, but in the context of reading materials, do you think it would be more helpful for them to read something that is more contemporary - something that highlights problems that exist today, so they can think and learn and maybe not do that themselves?
There's a passage in Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb where the main characters are talking about WWII and one of them says something about how they should mind because it happened a long time ago. (Of course, being Terry Pratchett and being a book about time travel, another character pointed out that it was happening NOW.)
I just wonder if, by reading about something that happened a long time ago makes it easier to dismiss it as something that 'used to happen' and thus ignore the more subtle signs of racism that we see today.
What do you think? I am not saying kids shouldn't be taught how things were, but in the context of reading materials, do you think it would be more helpful for them to read something that is more contemporary - something that highlights problems that exist today, so they can think and learn and maybe not do that themselves?