10.21 - Character

We started today's class with the following quote and writing prompt. Everyone recorded their responses to the prompt in their writer's journal:

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Prompt: What do you think this quote means? Do you agree with this sentiment? Explain your response using an example of behavior you have actually observed (you can change names/places as appropriate/necessary).

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' answers.

This discussion lead us to another discussion around the following point:

Which statement do you feel represents most people most of the time?

People are inherently good and sometimes they make mistakes and do “bad” things.

OR

People are inherently bad and they only do “good” things when it helps them somehow.

From here, we wrapped up our discussion of WWII / Holocaust topics and transitioned to our next topic (which will deal with human nature) by looking at a comic about Christopher Columbus which compared him to Bartolome de las Casas.

We paid particular attention to a quote from de las Casas at the end of the comic in which de las Casas reflects on his previous opinions on slavery:

"I soon repented and judged myself guilty of ignorance. I came to realize that black slavery was as unjust as Indian slavery... and I was not sure that my ignorance and good faith would secure me in the eyes of God."

In looking at this quote, the comparison I made was to Tradul Junge (Hitler's secretary) and Sophie Scholl (a young woman who was executed for speaking out against the Nazi's). The message here is that while we may understand and try to make sense of someone's actions, what really matters is what they do or do not due. There is always a choice to question what is taking place, find more information, and make an informed decision about what is right to do. This is something that Traudl Junge did not do, but something that Sophie Scholl and de las Casas did do.

At the end of class, we briefly talked about the plane crash activity from last class. We will continue talking about this tomorrow.

Homework:

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 3.