In my 11th year English class I am reading George Orwell, Animal Farm, with the kids. You may know that it is a sort of political fable about a revolution and the subsequent establishment of another dictatorship, until at the end the pigs (the new rulers) and the humans cannot be distinguished any more. Orwell wrote this under the impression of Communist dictatorships, particularly that of Stalin.
It was funny, when we started reading and the students read that the animals were talking, they at first did not know what to make of it. They soon realized that this was not a children's book ("No pictures!") and then someone mentioned the word "fable" and another one "Russian Revolution" and so we got on the right track.
Today we discussed chapter three. The revolution has taken place and life is better for all the animals on the farm. No more oppression, no more being exploited. But already in this second chapter after the rebellion you can see how the three leading pigs establish a privileged position on the farm. It is interesting to see how they do that: a subtle mix of fake altruism ("we are doing this for your good") and threats ("the farmer will come back if we, the most intelligent animals, are not there").
I asked my students if we could learn something from this for our own lives. Because the names are different, but the system of establishing and preserving control is the same, so we can recognize a lot of our politicians' behaviour if we look closely. What I want my kids to do is to be critical and vigilant.
In the break I talked to a colleague teaching politics and we found out that the state curriculum sees the independent critical citizen as the goal of our education. But, of course, there is the "hidden curriculum" of economy as advertised in the media: what is wanted is the obedient consumer slave. It is hard work being a teacher...
But, I have yet to come to a point where I want to give up.
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