Teaching While Being a Graduate Student

I know I have talked about this before, but I keep thinking about how hard it is to give my full attention to a class when I have so many other things going on. Especially when it is a pre-fabricated cookie cutter class. I feel like I am just working with the system, being part of the factory mill that is undergraduate education. If you speak up about the system, people take it personally and become offended and nothing gets changed. You can subversively add some interesting things here or there, but the reality is that you are teaching a class that really doesn't have much substance. Now, the powers that be would argue that you are given a lot of freedom to make the class whatever you want it to be, but they would be wrong. I feel like some live in this delusional world where everything is great and never needs to be changed. Critism is only allowed if it isn't about the system itself. I guess that I have become frustrated with the academic structure of BG.
Recently I read a book about FDR and how he managed to changed the structure of American government because he had the War and economy on his side; people were desperate for change (granted he did a lot of illegal/unethical things). Now we are in a similar situation with the colapse of higher education as we know it, but we are not willing to take chances, to change the way we look at education. We would rather go down with the ship with our hands in our pockets than actually try and push the system. I am frustrated because here is the perfect chance to really change the world, and we aren't doing it, myself included. I mean, the likelyhood of me getting a job in four years is pretty slim. My friends department is shutting down around him, cultural studies is being put on the back burner, and we (young CS academics) are mostly screwed, so why not buck up against the system? Perhaps it is because our assistantships are always held over our heads?

Perhaps I will teach this class differently next semester.