Today, Christopher Pyle, Professor of Politics, Mount Holyoke College talked to us about "Free speech and Civil Discourse in America today". Freedom of speech is a constitutional right in the USA. As an example of what this means and can lead to, professor Pyle told us the inspiring story of his two sons who fought for their right to free speech from their school days on when they were wearing T-shirts with messages the school did not approve of. The law suit lasted for three years; as a result, students in Massachusetts now have the broadest rights of students in the United States.
After the break, professor Pyle talked about a question that puzzles many people, all over the world, namely: How could a president of the United States institute a policy of torture and get away with it? He explained the system of the secret government, a weak Congress, 'hard power' vs 'soft power'.
The class were hanging at his lips. It was perhaps not the most optimistic image of the US that we received, but it tried at least to give us an honest view of what goes on behind the face we mostly see.
After lunch professors Barbara Madeloni and Nicole B. Graves put us into groups and asked us to brainstorm on language learning and culture. Most groups came up with 'communication' as the main answer and then we had to explain what 'communication' means. It was a lively debate followed by a similar on 'Culture' and how to define it.
At 3.30 pm, Alistair from Scotland, Julie from Australia and I were picked up by Sharon who teaches and lives in Springfield. We were invited to her house where we had some lovely lemonade and wine with appetizers. Then we went downtown to a typical bar to eat delicious ribs, corn bread, macaroni cheese and spring greens. Sharon drove us through the different neighbourhoods and to the statue garden of Dr Seuss with the characters from his children's books. Her cousin Jennifer joined us.
We had a lovely time together and shared our points of view on teaching, couch surfing, house swaps, cricket, Michael Jackson, foods, books, ghosts, etc... :-)
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