In class, upon reviewing why perhaps the wizarding world of Harry Potter is not as appealing as it appears to be in The Prisoner Of Azkaban, I’ve come to the conclusion that education really is only what you make of it. People are naturally attracted to the things that are unavailable to them, and the Harry Potter series acts as the epitome of adolescent escape. Children and young people can read JK Rowling’s novels, and escape into a world that will never be available to them. However, even if it was readily available, would it be a desirable world to spend one’s youth? Constantly evading death and destruction? We discussed this in class, and it certainly made me think.
In the beginning of The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry doesn’t know about his imminent doom until overhearing a conversation between the Weasleys. Because he had no knowledge of this danger before eavesdropping on them, he had no fear when he saw the grim while away from Hogwarts. Once he does arrive at Hogwarts however, he is constantly bombarded with fear, stress, and pessimism from his peers. He is now extremely concerned about seeing the grim again, and his divination professor only makes matters worse, further escalating this anxiety. Kant says that enlightenment is the escape from self-incurred minority, and that it coincides with the truest freedom. In Harry Potter’s case however, he is less free, and more confined than ever after finding out the truth. His freedom from the Dursleys ends up leaving him with more knowledge, but that knowledge doesn’t keep him “free”. Although I don’t personally believe that it is ethical to keep people in the dark regarding things that will upset them, keeping someone ignorant could potentially protect them. This idea presents itself in the conversation between the reverend and Grant Wiggins in a Lesson Before Dying. Mentioned in my prior post, the reverend claims his lies are better for his community than the truth.
Tag Archives: Extra Credit #2
To Sir, With Love
The movie “To sir, With Love” entails the story of an engineer named Mark Thackeray who is given the job to teach undisciplined class at a school. Although, he has a period of being a teacher, he doesn’t look to stay for long because he is hoping to obtain an engineering job in the near future. The movie portrays many themes including the idea of education and discipline.
In the movie, it is shown that the class that the Mark teaches is a roudy, disrespectful, and careless. Initially, none of the students value their education and act as if they were kids. The teacher Mr.Thackerary tries to discipline the students at first, however none of them seem to comply. The teacher remains quite patient with the students until he finally flips out after the girls in the class attempt a ‘disguting prank.’
The story begins to develop as the students realize that they are dealing a a teacher who is serious about his students and education. The theme of becoming adults was portrayed really well in the movie. I really thought the transition of the students becoming adults was great. The teacher begins to teach students based on what they want to learn about and takes them on various trips. It was also interesting to see the students begin to take things seriously in class.
In my opinion, just watching a ‘black’ teacher teach a bunch of white students to become resptful adults was just fantastic. The movie taught many lesson about the ideas of race and education. Mark Thackery was black, well educated, and was able to lead a class to become successful. Not only, did Mr. Thackery change the lives of many students, he decided not to go on his engineering route, and continued to teach students. That was really a heartfelt moment and put a huge smile on my fac.e
Education or Networking
The monster in Frankenstein was different and appeared unique due to which the society kicked him out and this example says a lot about the people. The people kicked him out because he wasn’t human and thought he couldn’t be like one of them and that was true. He couldn’t appear human, but mentally he was able to learn and think like a human. He even learned to read, and write just like humans. His appearance stopped him from gong to school, but that didn’t stop him form learning on his own. Todays society we see this where colored people are essentially in the shoes of Frankenstein and the society represents the white people. Only because of our skin color people are judged and especially blacks because people think they aren’t capable and due to their skin they are underestimated. Still they can learn and even have doctorate degrees, but we live in a society where education doesn’t hold that much weight anymore because today what makes getting a job easy is not your education, but your connections and the people you know. We live in a world where there are definitely better qualified colored people working in over qualified positions and white people working in positions whom other colored people are more deserving. Unfortunately living in a society where white supremacy exists is not fair and makes me think is my education really going to get me the position I want or is it the people I know. I even wonder whether I should spend more time studying and learning or should I just focus more on my networking and getting to know more people who can get me a job easily even if I don’t have all the qualifications for it. So I will always question myself whether education really is what I need when I go to school.
What is knowledge?
Knowledge is defined as facts, information, and skill attained by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Knowledge can be gained through almost anything. It can be gained through books and even experiences. My favorite type of knowledge is experience merely because when I gain knowledge through experience I gain an appreciation on the things that I am learning. “..Nature, men or from other things…the object of our study is man and his environment” (Rousseau, 2). Through Emile, the significance of experiencing is learning everything on your own and finding your own answers to your questions. In the schooling system, we are given classwork/however, answers and are taught by remembering formulas and lessons being taught. But this is memorizing not learning. Learning comes from within one’s self. It’s all about being an individual and learning on one’s own.
“Nature would have them children before they are men. If we try to invert this order we shall produce a forced fruit immature and flavourless, fruit which will be rotten before it is ripe; we shall have young doctors and old children” (Rousseau, 7). Rousseau is accentuating on the fact that in order to have intelligent children we must follow the order of education. Following the order of education, will allow the child to grow and learn and “ripe.”
Rousseau highlights how to teach children. Visually showing a child (learning based) has a significant impact rather than teaching from books. When you visually show a child, they learn and actually have a better understanding of what is being taught. “…Never substitute the symbol for the thing signified, unless it is impossible to show the thing itself” (Rousseau 16.) Rousseau showcases this when Emilie and him were exploring a forest and were trying to find their way back home. Emile was tired and gave up. Nevertheless, Rousseau helped them find their way back. This experience helped Emile actually learn instead of forgetting what one learns if it was a lecture taught at home or school. “Teach by doing whenever you can, and only fall back upon words when doing is out of the question” (Rousseau 20). Experience plays a vital role on learning. Rousseau’s ideology is connected to Locke’s idea about experience.
Happiness of a children’s childhood is very important to Rousseau’s ideology. Every child may not live to become a man and therefore they should enjoy their childhood. Rousseau questions that why should we invest so much time in education if you don’t know if you will live another day. It takes bravery to choose the less taken, hard road and not regret the decisions we choose.