We've just completed orientation for new students; the new academic year begins Monday! But after a year as dramatic as last year, can we just go on as if nothing had happened? Not if the anarchist students behind some of the last year's protests can help it! They've put together a
guide which fills new student
s in on what happened last year, asserts that The New School is at the center of fighting capitalism in NY, and suggests things students should and should not do. One thing they should not do, it turns out, is homework. Work is still work. It is the theft of your free time, by an authority disguising itself as something for your own good, an agreement you have entered in exchange for a reward, be it academic skills, knowledge, grades, a paycheck, whatever. It is miserable bullshit, and yet as of our present condition we must work, as employees and as students. What to do? Read on: some students you thought were just coasting were in fact unwitting anarchists.
In the end, their argument is not against engagement with your classes, but against a mercenary attitude to learning. You should give time and effort to your study because it is an expression of freedom and creativity, not because it's assigned or expected or rewarded. If the subject matter excites you or you discover you have a unique angle, if your views are something you want to talk about, share or even publish, if Suddenly you want to integrate the philosophy you read into your daily life ... You have transcended homework. School's out FOREVER! 
This sounds good to me, though I'm "old school" enough to think that often the things you most need to learn are those you don't yet know how to care about. It's our job as teachers and colleagues to show how and why to care more - one thing I've learned here is the importance of doing this. But the process is doomed from the start if a student doesn't know learning's something one can or should care about in the first place.
We've just completed orientation for new students; the new academic year begins Monday! But after a year as dramatic as last year, can we just go on as if nothing had happened? Not if the anarchist students behind some of the last year's protests can help it! They've put together a guide which fills new students in on what happened last year, asserts that The New School is at the center of fighting capitalism in NY, and suggests things students should and should not do. One thing they should not do, it turns out, is homework. Work is still work. It is the theft of your free time, by an authority disguising itself as something for your own good, an agreement you have entered in exchange for a reward, be it academic skills, knowledge, grades, a paycheck, whatever. It is miserable bullshit, and yet as of our present condition we must work, as employees and as students. What to do? Read on: some students you thought were just coasting were in fact unwitting anarchists.
In the end, their argument is not against engagement with your classes, but against a mercenary attitude to learning. You should give time and effort to your study because it is an expression of freedom and creativity, not because it's assigned or expected or rewarded. If the subject matter excites you or you discover you have a unique angle, if your views are something you want to talk about, share or even publish, if Suddenly you want to integrate the philosophy you read into your daily life ... You have transcended homework. School's out FOREVER! 
This sounds good to me, though I'm "old school" enough to think that often the things you most need to learn are those you don't yet know how to care about. It's our job as teachers and colleagues to show how and why to care more - one thing I've learned here is the importance of doing this. But the process is doomed from the start if a student doesn't know learning's something one can or should care about in the first place.