In teaching Discipline and Punish for the last two weeks to a mixed class
of undergraduates (with a few sophomores) and graduates students at all
levels, the high school analogy was brought up more than once. All
students whether they are in the five percent or not, have the concrete
experience of the microscopic regulations of high school.
The difficulty in teaching D&P is in explaining how disciplinary power
constitutes identity, how it is productive as opposed to repressive.
Every rebellious teenager can feel the burden of the panopticon, but not
many are as quick to see the ways in which they are themselves created in
a positive sense by the powers brought to bear on their actions. This
less romantic angle to the operation of power comes out most clearly for
students in Foucault's discussions of examinations. Academically
successful students certainly acknowledge how the dynamics of examinations
shape their identities, both in terms of inculcating discipline and in
positioning students within an institution.
Daniel Purdy
Columbia University
Germanic Languages
On Sat, 13 Mar 1999 12:34:19 -0500 Jude Hollins
<jlhollin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote, among other things:
>
> Accordingly, I'm curious about how folks approach TEACHING Foucault. I
> have in mind 18 year olds, and not just the charming 5% who "get it"
right
> away for whatever reasons. This too is part of history and the ironic
> Enlightenment project. Who here hasnt "used" Foucault?
>
i would offer that all 18 year olds
understand prison. on some level,