Imagine yourself in one of those 50-minute classes. The now-year-old you would be bored silly by the material, and frantically trying to recall the names of the classmates around you.
Now imagine that 17-year-old you suddenly has the now-year-old you's mind and memories. You have 45 minutes – 5 to persuade the teacher to let you speak, and 40 to address your friends (aka captive audience). What do you say?
"Buy Microsoft" is pretty trivial advice. What do they need to hear? Can you warn them, inspire them, encourage them?
- They're young, and think what they've grown up with is permanent. "Almost all of you will live to see the USSR come to pieces without war." "The country of Poland was in a different place, within living memory!" I'm showing my age here.
- They have no idea yet how much their ideas and values are swayed by popular culture, and how much these will change along with the culture, without any thought on their part. Maybe a spot of Socratic dialog?
- They only think they know themselves and what they need in life. "We need to be needed." or "You want to be happy? Be grateful."
- Do any of them need an apology from you?
- Do they need to be warned that youth are ignorant, despite the popular call to "listen to the youth", and that the only change they'll make in the world is the little that will actually be in their scope?
- Do you explain your current religious or political faith?
- For that matter, are you a creature of current culture? If so, do you actually have any wisdom to impart?
- And, what would you promise the teacher to get permission to take over the class?
Would any of it do any good? Maybe just the apology...
It might be fun to guess how your friends might answer. Everybody at a table secretly writes what they would do, and then everybody guesses who wrote what.
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