posted by
orichalcum at 03:35pm on 21/03/2007 under teaching rome
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So, I'm planning out my first lecture for Roman Civ next week. One of the things I want to do is stress the differences between Roman society and life and modern American life, and to do this I want to talk briefly about demography. My idea is to use the students themselves as a model and start knocking people off, i.e.:
1. Raise your hand if you're a second or third daughter and you have a brother, or if you're a third or fourth son. OK, your family probably couldn't afford to raise you, and you were tossed out on the dungheap. You're dead.
2. OK, everyone in the back half of the class, you die before the age of 2.
3. Next three rows - you die before the age of 15.
4. OK, half of the women who are left? You die, probably in childbirth, before the age of 30.
And so forth. I think this is a great way to demonstrate the demographic reality, but it might really unnerve students. What do folks think?
1. Raise your hand if you're a second or third daughter and you have a brother, or if you're a third or fourth son. OK, your family probably couldn't afford to raise you, and you were tossed out on the dungheap. You're dead.
2. OK, everyone in the back half of the class, you die before the age of 2.
3. Next three rows - you die before the age of 15.
4. OK, half of the women who are left? You die, probably in childbirth, before the age of 30.
And so forth. I think this is a great way to demonstrate the demographic reality, but it might really unnerve students. What do folks think?
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