Friday, March 25, 2011

Traumatic Events in History

A true story from the battlefield of teaching.

Me: In 1914 an event took place in Europe that would change the world. It caused the kind of global trauma that transformed the way people thought about themselves and the world at large. Who knows what event I'm talking about?

Students: The Titanic!!

Not 1914, not in Europe and not that significant. But there was a cheesy Hollywood movie about it, so they know about that one.


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely they were speaking metaphorically. The world was sinking...

Anonymous said...

Face. Palm.

Pagan Topologist said...

Hmmm. Ok, was it the assassination that began the Great War? Archduke Ferdinand, if I recall the name correctly...

The Titanic had sunk two years earlier, of course. Bertrand Russell said that no one born after 1914 could ever be truly happy.

Kira said...

My first association was the Titanic, the second - the First world war. I would not answer about Titanik in the classroom.