A Modest Proposal

I gave my students a truncated version of “A Modest Proposal.” I read the first of two pages to them, and asked them to read the rest.

While looking at responses, I called students who I could tell hadn’t read it over for a chat.

Typical conversation:

Me: So what was Dr. Swift’s proposal?

Student: they wanted to help the poor people.

Me: Yup, and how did he want to do that?

Student: I don’t remember.

Me: He wanted to eat the babies.

Student: WHAT?!

It was a fun day.