This post is a response to Jenny Chou’s post.

The distinction Jenny made between one of Rousseau’s theories and Jose’s experience with schooling and education in Joseph Zobel’s novel Black Shack Alley was very clear. She made a clear statement conveying how Rousseau felt about education being received in a cruel way, “cruel education… burdens a child with all sorts of restrictions and begins by making him miserable…” (Rousseau 4).

The connection made between this statement by Rousseau and the experiences Jose and his classmates had in the novel was very good. Jose and his classmates were beaten in school for not knowing answers. “scold or punish [Raphael]…with a bamboo cane on his legs, or a ruler in the palm of his hand” (Zobel 65). She stated that often times, the teachers would look for an excuse or reason to beat the kids, or at least that is how it seemed to the kids in the novel.

Obviously, if a child is anticipating physical pain when going to school in return for some education, the child would not think it is worth it. The student will be very discouraged to go to school because he won’t be able to look past the physical pain. Children have a very fragile state of mind, and any bad experiences may cause repercussions that last throughout their whole life. Therefore, constant beatings at school would make children hate learning, which would indeed negatively impact them as they get older. Therefore, this method of educational discipline would defeat the whole purpose of schooling.