Dickens' Attitude towards Education in Hard Times

Dickens' Attitude towards Education in Hard Times

In the first chapter, Dickens introduces us with a glimpse of the

story, with a descriptive insight into the school and its policies. We

are not revealed the names of the characters in the opening chapter,

but it introduces the schoolmaster by mere description of character

and appearance. This, rather than introducing us by name, gives us a

close and detailed description of one of the main characters, the

schoolmaster, his views and manifestation of the school itself. This

will help us understand the schoolmaster, Mr Gradgrind, and brings us

to a clear understanding of his most important policy, a constant

motif throughout the chapters, ‘Facts’. We are also unaware of the

setting but, again introduced by appearance. This is all significant

to the story itself, as this is all a factual description, underlining

the schools factual education.

‘Now what I want is, Facts’, this is our first insight into the

school’s basic principal, Fact. The first indication we get, to the

importance of facts is that it is given a capital letter, ‘Fact’, this

gives it emphasis, signifying its value to the school’s manifesto.

‘Plant nothing else, and root out everything else…..nothing else will

ever be of any service to them’ this exemplifies the school’s

education policy in just a few words. Gradgrind bases knowledge and

understanding on mere fact, obliterating any other idea of perception.

‘A plain, bare monotonous vault of a schoolroom’, this epitomizes the

school on a whole, its lifeless and dull. As we see later on

everything, the school is lacking of colour, pupils look pale, colour

drained from their face, a reflection on the school itself, boring and

tedious. The pa...

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...his factual educational policies on his

pupils. ‘A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are

four, and nothing over’, Gradgrind sticks to the basic facts and

principle, this is essential because, as we see later on Gradgrind

demands (when asking how to describe a horse) only brief facts, to the

point, no in depth description. Gradgrind it seems, is portrayed as a

perfect, almost faultless, ‘With a rule and a pair of scales, and a

multiplication table always in his pocket’, he is never lacking

information, mathematical information or factual. The passage then

continues to say that his mentality can never be altered or hindered

‘You might hope to get some nonsensical belief into the head of George

Gradgrind or John Gradgrind………, But into the head of Thomas Gradgrind-

no, Sir’, this implicates his stubbornness towards his beliefs, and

ideas.