Questions Numer 11 about Ender's Game.......the assumptions the teachers made at Battle School was that in order to save the human race, manipulation of children ws necessary. What do we think? Do any of you out there have any thoughts other than manipulation isn't an acceptable practice in our society, but we do it anyway, a lot of the time without realizing it in the classroom.

Actually Janlee, I think manipulation is an acceptable part of our society. Think back to Savage and to the Grotton (sp?) video. The common belief among the rich and powerful seemed to be that manipulation is a necessary part of the game of life, just as it was in the game of the Buggers. Am I making any sense?

As far as the classroom, I agree with you that we manipulate our kids. Only we rationalize our manipulation by deeming it "reverse psychology" or "for their own good."

I may be rambling. I hope this makes at least some sense.

regina

I agree with you Regina. I totally feel I manipulate my students. I use a lot of reverse psycholoy and persuasion. First graders will believe anything and they want to please me. I got my whole class to switch to drinking milk at lunch just by telling them how my son loves milk and has never had a broken bone because it made his bones so strong. They all want to be strong now. It does worry me that someone could be a teacher and have a different kind of manipulation on their students that would not have good results.

You know you guys are right. We do manipulate kids in the room. Of course we all think we are doing it for their own good- I hope that is the case. Cathy- your milk story reminded me of a conversation my husband, another teacher, and myself had a few years ago. We were, in good humor, discussing the things we could get children to do in the classroom just by asking. I don't remember what they were now because they were so ridiculous but through the laughter my husband stopped and said "WOW! Think about it. You guys really have a lot of power." Suddenly our laughter stopped as we thought about his statement. He's right, we do have a lot of power.

Kristie I'm glad that you mentioned, "power". Manipulation is a clever way of gaining control increasing our for power and being in control.

I definitely agree with everyone that manipulation is certainly a way I
get students to cooperate with me. I do not manipulate them in a harmful
way, I only manipulate them into doing the important assignments that
I need for them to do. Hopefully this manipulation will pay off at the end
of the year and I can see their years growth.