Here we are now. Entertain us.

1.
I mentioned earlier that I've been reading Kafka's "In the Penal Colony" with most of my classes this week. What I didn't tell you earlier is that on Tuesday, in two of my classes, there were so many students who hadn't completed the reading that we couldn't have a meaningful discussion.

2.
Which brings us to yesterday. Many of the students who hadn't read on Tuesday had read the story by Wednesday, even if they admitted to having difficulty understanding it. But when I asked one student about the story, he told me that he hadn't read. "At least he's being honest," another student was quick to remark, as if honesty somehow excuses bad behavior.

3.
Another student compared reading "In the Penal Colony" to reading Titus Andronicus, which we read earlier in the year. With Titus, he said, at first he thought it would be boring, but then he found it entertaining after he started reading. When he tried to read "In the Penal Colony," he said, it never entertained him.

4.
Much to my chagrin, several students agreed with this assessment.

5.
As if the purpose of education were to entertain.

6.

Kurt Cobain got this right, if nothing else.

7.
From Amusing Ourselves to Death:

You will find it said--Plato and Dewey emphasized this--that reason is best cultivated when it is rooted in robust emotional ground. You will even find some who say that learning is best facilitated by a loving and benign teacher. But no one has ever said or implied that significant learning is effectively, durably and truthfully achieved when education is entertainment (146).

Neil Postman got it right, too.