This article is very interesting. From what I got from the reading, the author is saying that kids should disobey. She says that, "we must begin to seriously question whether Johnny is capable of disobedience" (41). So is she implying that children should disobey their parents, teachers, preachers, etc? I can understand when the author says, "We must get in touch with our own liberating ludicrousness and practice being harmlessly deviant" (41). Being harmlessly deviant is like a war protest or a rally against abortion. I read this article at night, so maybe I was too tired to really get a grasp on what she was saying, so could somebody please help me understand!

I think the author's main point in "Why Johnny Can't Disobey" is students are being taught the "virtue" of obedience in schools. It's not that she is encouraging disobediance neccessarily- rather she is discouraging blind, unquestioning obedience that can lead to pathological obedience- resulting in tragedies such as mass suicide. She is encouraging people to question authority- don't accept what a teacher/ parent/ preacher/ the government says just because you are supposed to. Teaching students to question the world around them and to think for themselves should be the goal- even if it means having a classroom of students who are "out of order".

I do agree with both of the responses so far. We do need individiuals with a bold since of "freedom" to challenge stern authority figures IF those authority figures try to take individual rights away from any given population. I think harmless disobedience helps keep authority figures in check. I also believe that with the "virtue " of obedience one must keep a fair and rational mind.