so, as i often do, i'm teaching thoreau's civil disobedience in my political philosophy class. i asked how many read the thing in high school and got a respectable show of hands. but the idea of teaching this essay in a large public high school is absurd. how would you behave in high school if you followed only the dicates of your own conscience? how would any administration treat any kid who did? and indeed, now grading through my quizzes, i can see (again) that a lot of students simply cannot read it; they cannot believe he's actually arguing that we ought flatly to disobey unjust laws, withold taxes in time of war, etc.