War is Kind

We are reading "Reflections from the Civil War," a selection from our 8th grade text books. One of the assignments was supposed to write a letter from the point of view of a civil war soldier.


My sixth hour moved from the civil war to discussing the current wars. They took the entire hour to debate the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did it get out of control - I can't say. I love and hate debate. The kids did too. I can't decide if I was uncomfortable because I hate disagreement or because the kids were out of control. Was I ready to let the kids debate 7th hour? NO. I was "debated out" after sixth hour. Should I let seventh hour debate too? Perhaps- wish me luck on that one.

I plan on reading Stephen Crane's "War is Kind" to see what they think of his point of view on war. I hope they give it a chance. And think about their debate - and think about what war really means.