Funny Student Quote of the Day

Lately, I've been teaching my students about absolute and relative truth, the logical problems with the idea of religious pluralism, using their brains for critical thinking, philosophy, and so on. I want my students to know how to deal with ideas that seem smart and logical and reasonable, but maybe they're not well thought out. I want them not to trust someone just because they say something that "sounds smart." I want them to use the other 90% of their brain (that most of us don't use) to analyze what goes in and out! Not to say that it hasn't been a struggle -- not all sophomores particularly want to do this. Here is a funny reaction to what they are learning about:

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(After studying some particular type of logical fallacy:)

Student: I feel like we're at Hogwarts! Kind of......you know? Like, we're going out to battle, but you're giving us these spells to fight people off with. Except for they're not really spells, they're.......(struggles with words)

Me: Using your brain?

Student: Yeah! That! (everyone laughs)

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I had to laugh. It was funny. I apologize if you're not familiar with the Hogwarts/Harry Potter reference. Other times, I just get these squinched up faces, like they're thinking really hard (and most of the time, they are!) Or, "I'm really trying hard to wrap my mind around this. I just can't yet." And that's okay too. I love being a teacher today :)