After reading to page 103 of Little Brother, I was amazed at how tech-savy Marcus was. Also, I remember talking last semester about how many students feel school resembles a prison (sad but true), and in this book their school definitely resembled a prison. I understand safety, but if I knew Big Brother was watching my every move I would be freaked out. I was amazed at the harsh treatment Homeland Security had on Marcus. Homeland Security was never satisfied with Marcus's answers because they thought he had something to do with the attack. They got what they wanted through scaring Marcus. They took away everything including his freedom "They'd taken everything from me. First my privacy, then my dignity" (p. 66). I found it absurd that whenever Marcus asked a question they just took him away without any explanation, for example when he asked what would happen if he didn't sign the papers. What was also amazing to me is how they were able to treat a minor the way they did. Marcus was only in high school, but then again if you're Homeland Security you can do whatever you want. After Marcus was set "free" I say it like that because he necessarily wasn't they were watching him at all times. They even put a bug in his computer to track his movements.
There are many questions and issues that could be addressed while reading this book. Government vs. Society, is it ethical for wrongful treatment to be covered up by the government? Public vs. Privacy, is it ethical to take away someones' freedom of privacy. I would like to use this in my classroom to address the rights we as citizens have when it comes to technology. After reading just this little bit, it has me wondering: Do I have as much privacy as I think? Which could be a great discussion question in a classroom.
I looked through Cory Doctorow's blog and found that Little Brother is such a hit in schools. The book has been translated into many languages, a song, and a play. Cory must be very tech-savy to have written a book whose main character is a technology genius.
I, too, would enjoy having those same discussions in my classroom. I like that it poses political questions, because a lot of high school history classes don't cover that sort of thing until the students are seniors and, let's face it, senioritis has set in and no one cares what the 14th amendment is and why it applies to you. With this book, you can create politically intelligent students by posing those open ended questions you mentioned, and that's something I think is very important.
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