Teaching beyond the test, to make room again for current events

05-23-2011

By Michael Winerip/New York Times

To Robert Barry, a senior at Farmington High School, it seems normal to have a war or two going on while you’re growing up. “Afghanistan started when we were in third grade,” he said. “We heard about it, but it’s in the background — we stopped noticing it.” Julia Morrow, also a senior in this upscale suburb of Hartford, said that she and her friends “grew up not following the war and got used to not following it.” For their classmate Samantha Selldorff, the indifference is a reminder of a lesson in Advanced Placement biology. “We studied how animals stop reacting to a stimulus after a certain length of time,” she said. “That’s what the war has become to us.” None of this was fine with Chris Doyle, who teaches A.P. United States history here. (more...)

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Teaching beyond the test, to make room again for current events

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