Is an Education Worth It If It Makes You Stupider?

       Well I have watched the video and must say Sir Ken Robinson is absolutely right; but also paints a disturbing picture of what our educational system has become and that it sometimes closely resembles the world of Brave New World. Sir Robinson as a part of his discussion describes the so called "ADHD Epidemic." He tells us that ADHD medication is given out to kids who just can't sit still or concentrate; but why can't they do this. Robinson poses that it is not a legitimate medical reason but that the curriculum and entire learning experience is boring. So what do we do, feed them drugs to calm them down; and stifle their active imaginations at the same time. And well in Brave New World  there is "...always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon; returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction..." The people of the novel utterly disappear in this substance and become restrained by it; and of course it sponsored and handed out by the government. The only difference here is that the government knowingly restricts the peoples minds. At another point in his discussion, Robinson also discusses how the schools are now organized on factory lines, we educate children batches, and its as if their "date of manufacture" (age) is most important. In Brave New World, these are things necessary to their world motto is "Community, Identity, Stability." It is scary to see these parallels and we need to find a way to escape the hold of these wrong teachings and ideals hopefully escaping these parallels to Brave New World and hopefully find safety and a different way.         

The Loss of Modern Civilization in Huxley's "Brave New World"

       In this quotation from Mustapha Mond:  "Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment." the reader is given the uncomfortable feeling of something slightly off. There is an unsettling quality in the words of the Resident Controller of Western Europe, yet that does not stop him from being absolutely correct about how the value system of Brave New World. This is a world which runs on "Community, Identity, and Stability"; everyone has their own place in the world, Alpha pluses at the top and Epsilon minuses at the bottom; and all work and are treated according to their position. And in this world of pleasure run a muck, the only ones who can lead it are the ones not prey to the pleasures; with their goal of maintaining a unified and controlled society.
       Humanity is now under the control of the government and manipulated for their own means. The word "family" is nonexistent in the sense that we have today. "Mother" and "father" are considered "smutty" words. To be a "parent" is to be an outcast. Monogamy is even a foreigner experience than parenthood, and is in fact has disappeared. It is considered normal and appropriate to "'Have somebody else from time to time...'" as opposed to staying with the same person the entire course of a relationship. People are encouraged to act impulsively and that "'Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness: it depends on the force of the current, the height and strength of the barrier. The unchecked stream flows smoothly down its appointed channels into a calm well-being.'" Feeling is almost nonexistent, as the D.H.C. stated, "No pains been spared to make your lives emotionally easy-to preserve you, so far as that is possible, from having emotions at all." It is a place that is driven by desire and pleasure and in this way this world's people are trapped.     
    

Taking a Stand on Literature

       In the analyzation of literature, especially those of controversy ( really all literature is controversial, I know), such as Shakespeare's The Tempest, one issue has been brought up that is quite serious and the decision on this issue can heavily impact the educational community and the analysis of this play; that is, the issue of whether to judge a piece of literature on at its face value (by what is on the page), or by its history and its context (the story behind the story). On one hand, we have George Will, a political commentator for Newsweek. He sets his  position on the former of the two sides. He believes that people should go on what is presented them on the page and that the over analysis of literature makes "...the literary canon...an instrument of domination..." and "...radically devalues authors..." He thinks that the text itself is the "concrete" that should be tread upon in analysis. Thus something as The Tempest is to be judged primarily or solely on the fantastical revenge story presented. On the other hand, we have Stephen Greenblatt who believes that the historical context is extremely necessary, and in the case of The Tempest, all the stories behind the story makes for a better, more detailed, and righteous analysis of the text. However, my own view has yet to be seen, so thus I have to say that there needs to be a balance been the two because the fact is that both are extremely important for a full analysis; and to find that The Tempest has more to say than the text presents and presents a view on colonialism and its treatments of its victims that was appropriate for the times but considered wrong for the present day. In my analysis I plan on using both arguments to support my thoughts as well as Aime Cesaire's A Tempest because it insinuates Shakespeare's intentions. That's all folks, buenos noches.