Teaching at Twilight

This book delivers an unsettling but urgent message to all educators . . . Today, humanity finds itself on the cusp of a long period of inexorable decline and disruption, the likes of which no previous generation has experienced. Large-scale behavioral changes are imperative, not necessarily to "save the planet" but to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering. Yet, the vast majority of educators are still functioning in the "normal" mode, teaching the same subjects and skills, year after year, even as the nature of the challenges our students will face is undergoing dramatic changes. This mismatch is causing a moral and spiritual crisis that is threatening to make our lives and our work meaningless. Teaching at Twilight invites all educators to take an unflinching look at the rapidly deteriorating state of the earth's life-support system, become aware of its implications for human civilization, and rethink their responsibility in light of that awareness. The book attempts to answer, from an educator's viewpoint, the practical but challenging question that Roy Scranton posed a few years ago: "We Are Doomed. Now What?"