Hester Prynne's Facebook Profile

This year, my Practical English class will be reading The Scarlet Letter. I hope they find the treatment of Hester Prynne as horrifying as I did when I was a freshman in college.

I hope they find the double standards in their own world.  I hope they look beyond their own worries and wonder what judgments they place on other kids.  I hope the lesson sticks.

Of course, many teachers have found the idea of the Facebook Profile as a characterization assignment to go along with any book.

I am curious on how they will portray Hester's relationship status - will they list her as single, married, or "it's complicated"?

I hope they make the connection on how they view others' facebook profiles and offer judgment to the way the townspeople judged Hester.

I guess the learning ought not stop with the students.  I guess I should think about my own condescending view of my own morality.  Maybe, I ought to learn a lesson from Nathaniel Hawthorne, too..  I hope that lesson sticks, too.