"Harrison Bergeron," Day 3

Administrative Details

• Be sure to check Assignments each day; go back through and see what you're missing. They are highlighted in yellow, usually at the end of each post.
• Respond to my correctives comments & notify me by email that you've improved your work on that assignment. I will regrade your work.
• Visit classmates' blog posts and write comments. When you compliment them on something, go into detail about what you liked. Tell why it was very good, excellent, or superb. Add detail when you make suggestions as well.
• Use Labels on your posts. Notice that I use them regularly. You'll find them at the end of each post. For example, if there's an Assignment, I'll add the Label "Assignment." On the left side of the page are all the Labels I've used. Clicking a Label shows you all the posts that have a particular Label. So to find all the Assignments, click the Label, "Assignments." Gee, that was kind of wordy, but I hope you see how Labels can be useful.
• Students spent the first part of the period attending to these matters, getting organized, making sure assignments were turned in, etc. Computers aren't always completely cooperative, and sometimes allowances must be made for the amount of time consumed.

Bergeron Discussion, cont'd

• Students discussed the question, "Would the United States in 2081 have been better off if Harrison Bergeron had succeeded in becoming emperor?" 
• In the story the kinds of equality enforced by the government primarily deal with athleticism, physical attractiveness, and intelligence. Author Vonnegut seems to suggest it was absurd to try and enforce these kinds of subjective equality. Students considered the question if there are some kinds of equality that could be considered "good" and therefore worthy of being protected by the government.
• Students were asked to point out relationships between this story and the Time article on Texas.
• Thanks go to today's class historian, 12345, for taking notes during the discussion.

Picture Analysis of Characters in "Harrison Bergeron" - We barely got started on this when, alas, classtime ran out. The PowerPoint is available here.

Thank you for another excellent week, students. Have a great three-day weekend. No new assignments are due, but do try to complete any you still haven't turned in. Happy Labor Day.