In my continuing efforts to "secularize" my Bible belt school's senior class, I have my students reading an essay about writing from Stephen Fry this coming Tuesday (how I slipped a homosexual atheist writer past my literacy facilitator/censor is beyond me.) So today, we had rather light attendance due to some snow/sleet this morning that delayed school opening by two hours. So, rather than give half the class a quiz, knowing that I'd have to give the other half of the class the same quiz come Tuesday, I decided to introduce them to Stephen Fry by showing them the first episode of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie." We were sitting there watching the very first skit (all of the kids were stunned to find out that "House" has a British accent, by the way) and suddenly one of the kids piped up and said, "Dang, dude sounds like my mom arguing why I didn't need to learn about evolution in biology back in 10th grade!" It was a proud moment when they made the connection!
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11 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Another way is to push undeniably Christian writers that they don't like. MLK, would be a good one. Michael Moore as a high school student in Davison MI (all white back then) won an election to the school board and proposed renaming the high school Rev. Martin Luther King H.S. He lost the next election, but I live 10 miles from there and that school is entirely secular (and far less racist) to this day 50 years later.
Seminarian
Level 7
Jan 13, 2018
0
Ha ha ah. British programme blocked in Britain on copyright grounds. #irony
Uncorrugated
Level 7
Jan 13, 2018
0
Congrats @MsOliver for thoughtful and inspirational teaching.
sassygirl3869
Level 9
Jan 13, 2018
0
read them exerts from " sapiens" by harari. very clear picture of us apes
markdevenish
Level 7
Jan 13, 2018
0
In all my years as a Prof. of Spanish literature I never had a censor...and I selected the most controversial subjects...from the defense of women rights (all the way to Cervantes and Sor Juana to today Marcos Denevi's criticism of technology.
DUCHESSA
Level 8
Jan 13, 2018
0
@MsOliver -- be careful. I got nailed here for something similar. Granted that was some years ago, but still, keep your powder dry.
evidentialist
Level 8
Jan 13, 2018
0
I could listen to Stephen Frye all the time. My favorite is this one, which I assume you have heard, given your profession...
DJVJ311
Level 7
Jan 12, 2018
1
This is so good. I must admit to being something of a pedant in the way that Fry describes. Not about everything grammatical: I am happy to boldly split infinitives, and I don't think a preposition is the wrong thing to end a sentence with. But those grocer's apostrophes and incorrect use of it's still annoy hell out of me. Having listened to this clip, I am resolving to try to be less of a pedant (except when editing academic papers).
My SERVICE CAT Laila with her 3 white thumbs and 3 black thumbs is available to demonstrate evolution in action. ...dominant mutation and adding new organs that are beneficial for survival and transition to future new species
GreenAtheist
Level 8
Jan 12, 2018
0
She picks up her food firmly with 3 thumbs clasping morsels to paw pads and "fingers". ..."normal" cats can only puncture food with claws having zero thumbs
Bloody brilliant, MsOliver! Kudos!!!!!
KKGator
Level 9
Jan 12, 2018
2
Good job MS CHIPS
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