Too much moderation on these boards?

You're absolutely right, iano. There's a whole lot of assuming about people going on.Moose ASSUMED I was a whiny creationist.

Ha, ha. I like that.

I don't know that I want to influence anybody as regards their fundamental beliefs. My job is to teach them how to write better and force them to read books they don't want to read. My job is ok. There are certainly a lot worse jobs in this world. I'm not complaining.

No, I never said that. Now I did teach high school math aboard a Navy ship one time, but I don't think I talked about that here.I wasn't qualified to teach it, but I did anyway.

In Comp I, which I am teaching at the moment, I use the Norton Reader. You can probably find the title of what essays we look at on-line.Today we looked at "On the fear of Death" by Kubler-Ross and "The Nature of Symbolic Language" by Eric Fromm.It's not like we are reading Augustine.Give me a break.

I don't do any of these any more, but I have done "The Allegory of the Cave" before. I've also done "Sight into Insight" (a mystical piece).I'd probably do Thoreau because I know all about that.But I am not doing any of those this semester.My favorite essay in this anthology is, "Do Horses Gallop in their Sleep?"

Age is 18: Freshmen in college.

iano, I NEVER give my fundamental views to my students. That's not my job and it would be, in my opinion, disreputable to do so.My job is to teach them to write better.In Lit., it is to teach them to understand the texts we read.That's it.Now in lit., I introduce them to three different "wortldviews," corresponding to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, which is the period covered by that course: Calvinism, Deism, and Transcendentalism. I go over all that.

Well . .. if I knew for sure, but I can't imagine such a scenario.

That's not mine.

What do you want me to do? Teach nihilism to my students? I'm not going to do that.When we study Calvinist texts, I discuss Calvinism. We talk about predestination and such.When we study Deist texts, we talk about Deism. We do Franklin's Autobiography and such.When we talk about transcendental texts--Emerson and Thoreau--we talk about that stuff.And we also talk about Poe (an aesthete), but I never mention my own aestheticism.What's wrong with that?

OK, just let me tell how much Calvinism influences this course I teach in American lit. When one teaches literature, one is teaching a history of thought. Now the 17th century in America is totally Calvinistic in nature.So we begin the course with Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity," which may have been written on the way over on the ship. 1630. The reason I begin with that is that it leads right into The Scarlet Letter, which is about that same group of people. But before we get to that novel, we go over several other Calvinists, one of whom is very important: Jonathan Edwards. I include in my course excerpts that are not in the book because he has some important things to say. We go over that: it deals with the problem of predestination vs. sin profoundly.After that, we move into The Scarlet Letter, which is another profound document, that deals with the Puritan beliefs very judiciously.

I will grant the style could be better. But the ideas . . .

Yes, of course. But it is a profound psychological study.Whether we find it entertaining or not doesn't matter. It's all about the freethinking mentality as opposed to the Puritan mentality.

Also, it has a nihilistic quality which I like. Note this:"My old faith [Calvinism], long forgotten, comes back to me, and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy first step awry, thou didst plant the germ of evil; but, since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have wronged me are not sinful, save in a typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend's office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may!"Good stuff.Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.