On tyranny book professional#

On election day, two high school seniors came in to canvass.

In the 2018 election, I was volunteering with the Mikie Sherrill campaign at a staging location for canvassers. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. But it’s also important to remember to teach students to be thoughtful and critical consumers of information – not mindless consumers. One research based method of improving civics education is to teach about current events. He also makes the keen observation that most forms of media are becoming increasingly perfunctory. This lesson speaks directly to the topic of media literacy and digital literacy.įake news is increasingly prevalent, and social media has increased the natural echo chamber effect that leads people to consume media that they agree with. Take responsibility for what you communicate with others. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad). Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you.

Subsidize investigate journalism by subscribing to print media. Lesson 11: Investigateįigure things out for yourself. They were intelligent and skilled, but they had lost their way ethically and so their skills were used for evil purposes.Įducation without ethics is dangerous. In this lesson, Snyder discusses how lawyers and other professionals played a key role in the establishment of the Nazi regime. What’s the point of preparing a student to be a lawyer or a businessperson if you’re not going to give them the tools to make ethical decisions? Think about the focus of most schools today: college and career readiness. This lesson reminds us that character education isn’t just an afterthought. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges.

On tyranny book professional#

When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. He has identified weaknesses of democracies throughout history, and a robust program of civics education is the antidote.Īs an example, here are three of his lessons that speak to this point. Ultimately, it is a reminder of how important civics education is. While I don’t disagree with him, it may be a bit too critical and controversial to use in class unless you are going to present an opposite viewpoint with it.īut the reason I’m sharing it is that I think it is an excellent read for civic educators. His thesis is that we are in danger today of falling into an authoritarian regime, and he is critical at points of President Trump. Although you may find some excerpts to use in your classes, I wouldn’t assign it to your students in its totality. It’s a quick read, and it’s one that is particularly relevant today. He tends to focus on Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, although he sprinkles in some other references here and there. In On Tyranny, Tim Snyder draws on the history of the 20th century to share some lessons for those concerned about the future of democracy. Today is Constitution Day, so I thought it would be timely to share a book review of a quick read that you might enjoy – On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder.