There can be only one permanent revolution a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man Leo

Tolstoy.

Hi, there, it's been a while. As you may probably know already, the students who are leading the strike
have decided that it will continue until November the 4th. For me thats way too long. We need to do
something about our class. Until now (with the exception of the information of the video essays -
because we were way behind in the program even before the strike began), I had decided to respect
your right to protest and to let you participate peacefully in the activities, if you wanted. I decided not
to blackmail you into participating in the strike (by actually supporting it) or into ignoring it (by
pretending it is not there and asking you for a lot of homework). I stepped back, remained silent, and let
you think for yourselves about the situation. I dont think that our job as professors is to tell students
what to think, but to help you build tools to become a better thinker. It is my believe that my duty is to
teach you to think and how you can think, not what to think.

So, I am not going to tell you now what to think about the strike, but what I think about it. I have not
participated actively in the strike because I am not a collectivist. I do not believe in masses, or in big
social movements -although I respect them a lot and understand they have a great value. I usually agree
with their ends, but not with their means. I believe in the individual, in individual power. Thats why I
believe especially and foremost in self development, in self responsibility, individual responsibility. The
one you have towards yourself and towards the society you live in. I think for myself, and do not like to
tell other people what to do or believe, and hate it when people try to tell me what to think, what to
believe or what to do. Thats why I do not engage myself in organizations, I do not follow masses and,
especially, I do not follow leaders.

My leaders (although mentors is the better word) are Seneca, Kant, Voltaire, Montaigne, Orwell,
Wilde, Thoreau, Tolstoy, Russell, Nietzsche, Paglia, Peterson, Campbell, Stuart Mill, Twain, Stirner,
Spencer and some others. And I do not follow them blindly I wouldnt do them honor if I did. I shared
some of them in the program of my literature classes (did you even read them?). Tolstoy wrote: In our
world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself. They did. They
have some smart things to tell us. And their voices are particularly relevant in moments like this, when
you hear in protests and strikes that we have to change society, to start a revolution and overthrow the
government. No social change can happen if the individuals who make part of it do not change
themselves first. And I believe no strike can do that. Only you can.

Nevertheless, I like when students make part of this movements (for a while). Theres more value and
knowledge in living experiences like this than in any book. And it is in moments like this when you can
put into practice the ideas you have read, when you can experience them, weigh them and consider
them. You learn about humanity: about struggles and politics, about leadership and organization, about
power games and persuasion, about egos and ambition, about successes and failures. In short, you learn
about life. I cant promise you are going to like what you live, only that you are going to learn. Youll get
street-smarts, experience points. But you have to be there! And even more now when people are
making decisions for you. If you do not agree with such a long strike, you should be there and speak. If
you do, you should too. Passivity is never a real option: if you do not make a decision, someone will
make it for you. And then the life you live is not yours anymore, because you didnt choose it.

I am not selling universal truths, nor deep philosophical theories with this post (Im not interested in
that). Its just my point of view and the reasons for my silence so far. Weigh it and consider it.

So, if your Millennial (and by millennial I mean super short) attention span allowed you to read the
text up to this point, I say openly, I do not agree with such a long strike. One week was enough. We need
to do something about our classes. I know most of you are not even participating on the strike, so this is
my proposal: I will upload materials with the topics of the program that we need to cover. I will upload
exercises, web pages and videos that can help you. I will also upload additional videos and readings
about different topics, so you can keep on practicing reading, listening and pronunciation. These topics
will be evaluated in the final exam, and once they are uploaded, I will assume they are covered. You
have to do this on your own. Its either this, or to cover all the topics of the second part of the semester
in just 2 weeks (which I consider not only unhealthy but also meaningless). The University will not give
us more time to make up for the time of the strike, thats for sure.

Also, you know the texts you need to read and the movies you need to watch, so do it. I will evaluate it
at the end as well. When we return, I can help you with the grammar topics in tutoring sessions, and the
groups who have not presented their projects can do it with no rush in class.

The groups that have not been able to present their texts need to upload their presentation in a video,
as I wrote before. You have one week to do it, starting the original date of your presentation. You still
need to read the texts (they are more valuable now than ever!), and I will evaluate you about them in
the end. Ill have to change the grading system; I will let you know about the changes as soon as I think
of a strategy. So keep on reading and watch you classmates videos.

That is my proposal. Do you agree? Do you have a different one? Tell me something, do not be passive!.