Noam Chomsky comes to class
04/Feb/2007 16:24
The
Guardian says "Chomsky ranks with
Marx, Shakespeare, and the Bible as one of the ten
most quoted sources in the humanities."
The
Nation describes him as "a major
scholarly resource," and that "not to have read him
is to court genuine ignorance." What I found so
impressive about Noam Chomsky when he came to class
last Friday was his ability to offer an analysis of
every topic we raised with him (although he declined
to comment on union organizing, on the grounds that
we know more on that topic than he does). He
expressed himself so clearly and simply. But judge
for yourself. I taped the class and posted the series
of audio files below. After the class, I introduced
myself to him as union educator and asked what advice
he would give union members on how to sort through
what goes on in the world. He said there really isn't
a better source of information than the newspapers.
What is the best way to teach critical thinking
skills so that people can analyze what they read and
hear? He replied the best approach is to study
specific events: Take an event, read about it,
discuss it with others, think through what motivates
people or countries to do what they do, and figure
out who wins and loses as a consequence. A good
endoresement of the case method used in the Harvard
Trade Union Program, I think.