Throwing Moses under the Bus: A High School English Teacher Looks at the Ten Commandments
Ebook
Just thinking about terms like morals, law, and commandments seems dull, maybe even mean-spirited. Still, a quick look at social media, the endless news cycle, and magazines in the grocery checkout line show that we love to hear about failure, recovery, and who has crossed the latest moral boundary. At the same time, the argument over whose boundaries matter or whether they matter doesn't ever end. In fact, all these stories and concerns start somewhere in high school and keep going. Who can tell me what to do? Why do I have to do things this way? I can't wait to be free from all these rules. In Throwing Moses Under the Bus, teacher/author John Cabascango examines the ancient rules and stories that show us why these stone-tablet rules still matter in a digital age. Using examples from twenty-one years of teaching, novels, movies, and the American high school hallway, you are invited to see why boundaries matter to people who want to live freely.
“American public educators, like those in jurisprudence,
confront the supposed separation of church and state. There is
something risky about an English teacher’s taking on the Ten
Commandments as a text, and yet the author provides a free-spirited
playfulness and an appealing modesty to this practical discussion
of the Ten Commandments. He does nothing to minimize the awe in
which they are held, but offers a useful and entertaining companion
for serious young adult readers.”
—Richard C. Taylor, Associate Professor, English, East Carolina
University
“As a twenty-five-year teacher in both middle and high schools,
Throwing Moses Under the Bus is a very interesting approach
to view life. Using the Ten Commandments as a filter to write about
culture, and teen culture especially, Mr. Cabascango accurately
depicts the climate of today's schools, of the hearts and minds of
students. His use of literature is fascinating as illustrations of
cultural conflicts with Moses and on-point in showing that ‘there
is nothing new under the sun,’ as the writer of Ecclesiastes said.
This book is a solid resource for those who would seek first to
understand our society's direction.”
—Ron Jones, Retired Teacher, Smithfield Selma High School
Product Details
- Title : Throwing Moses under the Bus: A High School English Teacher Looks at the Ten Commandments
- Author: Cabascango, John
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Publication Date: 2019
- ISBN: 9781532695650
John Cabascango teaches English and Spanish in the International
Baccalaureate program at Smithfield Selma High School in
Smithfield, North Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree in
literature and biblical studies and a master’s degree in
intercultural studies and TESOL from Wheaton College. In addition,
he has a graduate certificate in transnational and multicultural
literature from East Carolina University. He lives in Clayton,
North Carolina, with his wife Sherri and his three sons Esteban,
Santiago, and Cristian, and their dog Fifa. After twenty-one years
of teaching, this is his first book.