Discussion on a Current Issue

This morning, at the very beginning of class, I had Classes 214 and 209 read a short passage from The Taipei Times as follows:

Justice chief defends stay of executions

FALLIBILITY: Wang Ching-feng said judges are ‘people,’ not ‘God,’ and the Constitution protects human life. She also said she would rather ‘go to hell’ than order an execution

Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said yesterday she would rather step down than execute any of the 44 individuals on death row.

 “I will not execute any of the people on death row during my term. I would rather go to hell,” Wang, a devout Buddhist, told reporters after publishing a statement titled “Reason and Forgiveness — Suspension of Practicing the Death Penalty” on Tuesday, in which she expressed her opposition to capital punishment....

By Rich Chang and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Thursday, Mar 11, 2010

This has been a hot issue these days. I had the students read the passage for 1 minute and then asked them what the main idea was. They gave an enthusiastic response. After that, I asked them to find the English equivalents for some Chinese expressions, for example, execution, death penalty, capital punishment, Minister of Justice, people on death row, step down, etc. Finally, they had a pair discussion about whether they were for or against the abolishment of death penalty, followed by my spot check.

I remember that about two years ago a professor in his speech said that there were too many facts in our textbook, which made it hard to elicit students' thinking. I agree because if something is a fact, we cannot take sides. He suggested having more literature in the textbook. Besides literature, I believe current issues are good sources for discussion.