User blog:Shan48/The Educational Potential of AoT

Hi everyone!

I'm currently studying at university (Slovak language+literature & history) in order to become a teacher. So while facing a new imputs, I'm usually asking to myself - ''Could it be useful in the educational process? Could I use it also for my future students? Can this be useful for making the educational process more interesting (for both students & teachers alike)? ''It was only a question of time till I would start thinking about the incredible world of AoT the same way. ''And you know what? I seriously think that AoT and the manga as a whole should'' make its way into our classrooms. Here are some of my crucial arguments:

1. The attractivity of the topic. The sole reason why we are so focused on the current face of literature is its actuality and attractivity. For kids, it's way easier to listen about someone who is still alive and active. So why we are so disinteresed when it comes to comics and manga?! Comics and manga are tremendously popular nowadays and (as for the future trends) it seems that their popularity is going to rise rapidly, especially among the younger generations of readers. So why we, future teachers, are still ignoring the world of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman or Eiichiro Oda?! I'm quite sure that this would change at some point in the future. And Attack on Titan would make just perfect example of the shonen manga genre (minus the oversized breast, of course :-)

2. ''The current globalization trends. ''Our way to another cultures is nowadays (thanks to various types of media) much shorter than it used to be. And this trend is also going to be continued at the future. So why not use Attack on Titan for this purpose? As an ideal example of western material (settings, mythology, most of the characters) being adapted by an author using eastern perspective while adapting these themes. Perfect multicultural bridge! Good work, Isayama!

3. ''The upbringing potential of the AoT. So, nowadays, we are trying to find role models, that children could follow (in a positive way :-) So (again) why not use Attack on Titan? ''The large amount of different personalities provides a good chance that every kid is going to find his/her favourite hero and possible role model. The characters of AoT surely are living in a cruel world, but their actions usually provides some good lessons of high moral quality. Armin could be viewed as an example of why the intellect is so important, Eren, on the other hand, could be admired because of his courage and strong will, while Mikasa can teach us about the importance of physical development (and I'm still not mentioning the moral lessons about the crucial importnace of family and friendship!). And these are just some of the upbringing aspects that Isayama's masterpiece and its great characters provides.

I hope that this blog post gave you some good material to think about. '''Please, let me know if you like/dislike the idea of AoT (and manga as a whole) being part of the educational process! '''