Although I agree with many of the points in this article, such as the need for us to help children determine when to obey and when its okay to go against authority, there was one statement that I felt went a little too far. On page 57 the essays states: "Obedience should be added to the list of emotional disturbances requiring therapy." I think this is a little radical. I understand that the author is trying to make a point, but I think this statement is too broad. Of course no child should obey everything they are told to do, but some obedience, especially in the classroom, is necessary.

I also thought that the article went to extremes. At a few points, I felt that the author was advocating anarchy rather than simply encouraging students to have their own mind. The article seemed to imply that any organization was automatically oppressive and that people would disobey anything with which they found a problem. Instead, I feel like we should teach our students to make their choices to obey or disobey based on what they feel is morally or ethically right and wrong. Rules aren't aren't always just, but often, they are necessary in order to actually get anything done.

On top of what Whitney said, can we have a civilized world without obedience? It is not a good thing to mindlessly follow a leader, however following is not a bad thing. For every leader, we also need people to follow. If everyone were to follow only what they wanted to do this world would go to hell very quickly. Learn what you are getting into and know what you are following from the start. I was also insluted when this article implied that faith is a mindless following and christanity is the same thing as a cult.

I think Adam makes a good point that we have to follow authority in certain situations in order for society to still maintain order. Some people feel that disobeying is something to do when you don't want to do something or just to be able to disobey authority. I do think that, as Whitney said, we need to teach our children to make decisions about whether to obey or disobey authority using their morals and values of what is right and wrong. But then comes in the issue of do we as teachers have the right to teach right and wrong to children of different religions, ethnicities and personal beliefs? What values can we instill that will be viewed as stepping over the boundaries to parents? I know this is a sticky issue and I feel that other than explaining values to children and how they can impact their lives we can not tell them that they should follow certain ones just because that was the way we were raised and taught.

I don't necessarily think that we should teach a certain set of religious morals, but I do think that teachers have an obligation to teach the importance of integrity, etc. I don't think that being kind to others and using integrity should have to go along with religious values; I think that it's something that is necessary for one being successful in society. I think that if a teacher adequately teaches values such as these, students will be more likely to stand up against authority figures who appear to have unethical demands for students to follow.