Main Points of Barry Hines' "Kes"
In this essay, I intend to discuss three main points highlighted in
Barry Hines’ play, ‘Kes’. The main theme that I will explore is how
Barry Hines viewed teachers in the 1970’s (when the book was first
written). Kes brought up the question of whether corporal punishment
worked or not. I aim to conclude to whether or not corporal punishment
worked. Another aspect of the education system in the 1970’s that I
will explore is if pupils from poorer backgrounds were disadvantaged
and treated differently. Kes is the story of a young boy named Billy
who struggles in life to really do anything. At school, he is always
getting into trouble and fights, at home; his relationship with his
mother is non-existent because she is not a very good mother. When
Billy finds a young Kestrel and decides to train it his life changes
and suddenly he realises his potential in life.
One of the main differences from our education today that is shown in
Kes is how the teachers treat and act towards their pupils. In this
section, I will explore how the play depicts teachers in the 1970’s.
The headmaster, Gryce, is an excellent example of how the typical
1970’s teacher is viewed. In scene 11, The Headmasters study; Gryce is
shown to be a short-tempered man who seems to enjoy caning pupils. For
example you could tell that the messenger had never been in trouble
before because when Billy, Macdowall and the smokers asked the
messenger to keep the cigarettes he says, “I don’t want them, your not
getting me into trouble as well”(p18). Pupils who had often been in
trouble would not have said something like that, as they would have
been used to getting into bother. Another reason to think this is that
...
... middle of paper ...
.... The teacher will know this and is
just being cruel to him. This shows that children who were poorer were
disadvantaged when it came to school.
Having explored the main points of teachers in the 1970’s shown in Kes
I have concluded that although there is a few dreadful teachers there
are good teachers as well. Gryce and Sudgen being the worse teachers
and Mr Farthing being a great teacher. I concluded that Corporal
punishment did not work although I thought it did in a way because I
felt it worked well on pupils who were not getting into trouble very
often like the messenger but for pupils like Macdowall the belt would
not be so bad as they would get quite used to it eventually. Pupils
from poorer backgrounds were disadvantaged in their education I felt,
mainly because they had a bigger reputation for getting into trouble
and not really for being poor.
I do not totally agree, nor do I totally disagree, with the point about grammar that Kyle Wiens’ argues in his article. As an employer, Wiens has the right to make any of his potential employees write a grammar test and deny jobs to those with poor grammar. In my own experience, I notice that people who have poor grammar skills tend to be less meticulous in their work, just as Wiens suggests in the article. Good grammar is virtually paramount for businesses such as the ones owned by Wiens, which are heavily language based. As well, especially in the new millennium, quality workers and employees are becoming increasingly harder to find among the expanding, figurative sea of qualified post-secondary graduates. Thus, I agree with Wiens’ policy of making all of his potential employees write a grammar test. His policy seems like an effective way of determining the best possible people to hire.
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge,” verbalizes Andrea Dworkin. Gender-roles have been ingrained in the every-day life of people all around the world since the beginnings of civilization. Both One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Hamlet portray typical female stereotypes in different time periods. Due to the representation of women in literature like Hamlet by William Shakespeare and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey, and pop-culture, evidence of classic gender-based stereotypes in a consistently patriarchal world are still blatantly obvious in today’s societies.
In his poem “The History Teacher,” poet Billy Collins sends a strong message of those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Collins uses dramatic irony to reinforce this theme by having the history teacher downplay tragic events, lie to his students and create an unrealistically rosy picture of the world. The teacher thinks that he is “trying to protect his students’ innocence” (Collins 1), by shielding them from many horrific things that have happened in the world. The reader realizes that an ironic situation is unfolding in which the students are acting terribly even though the teacher has tried to shield them from the historical rotten things that have taken place.
The teachers represent the general society, a society of similar people with middle-class ideals and goals, as well as expectations that their students will aspire to these same goals. This society, however is hostel toward those who are different and unusual. His red carnation, as well as all his other mannerisms, belies this difference. Because of Paul’s behavior they conclude that there is “something wrong about the fellow�(Cather 178). They judge him mercilessly and so contribute to his isolation from his known society.
In this essay, "The Iks" the author Lewis Thomas focuses on the behavior of individual Iks and "group of one size or another, ranging from committees to the nations.". The Iks were a tribe who lived in the mountain valley of northern Uganda. According to Thomas's understandings, these Iks were often recognized to be selfish, heartless. Furthermore, the Iks used to teach their children to grab food from elder people and let them starve to death. According to Thomas, he considers the Iks as a "mean society" since they did not really care about other people, not even their children. Two things which Thomas mentioned in the essay to explain the reason why the Iks were behaving unmannerly. First, the government of Uganda planned to build a national park and so they forced the Iks to stop hunting and start farming on hillside soil. Second, an anthropologist was sent to study their behavior and also wrote a book about them. Thomas proposes that the behavior of the Iks was somewhat similar to the nations. He believes that all the nations' behavior is quite similar to the Iks. "Nations are Ik-like of all. No wonder the Iks seems familiar. For total
At the turn of the twentieth century, sociologist W.E.B. DuBois published "The Souls of Black Folk", a collection of essays revolving around the topic of race and other sociological components relating to African American culture and history. In his three essays "Of the Meaning of Progress", “Of the Wings of Atalanta” and "Of the Training of Black Men", Dubois actively campaigns for racial equality for the black community. He demands equal access to a well-rounded education be granted as it provides the knowledge and life enrichment essential toward advancement in society. Although DuBois champions the importance of a proper education in forming prominent individuals, his demands for education are geared solely towards the male gender. However, DuBois' exclusion of women does not appear to be driven by a personal belief of gender superiority as was
The philosophies of W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington are prevalent in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Jonah’s Gourd Vine”. From childhood to adulthood, John worked towards bettering himself through two ways; uplift black voices through education and working hard to help his family function in society. John’s coming of age are due to the influences of two important women in his life; Amy and Lucy. Amy’s presence in his life taught him how to work for himself, become someone who can support himself and others that depend on him. John knowing Lucy set him for the rest of his life. She influenced his education, the way he chose to carry himself, then consequently lead others the way she led him. Through the uplifting of Amy and Lucy, John was able to
At times Sun hits on a social type perfectly. The principal, Ms. Kennedy, for example, is like so many of the heads of inner-city schools: pragmatic, tough, with little regard for elementary rights, but in her own fashion devoted to educating her students. No doubt the popularity of Sun’s one-woman play among teachers is attributable in part to the fact that she depicts the people inside school buildings honestly.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”~Atticus Finch. This quote shows the personality of Atticus Finch...loving, kind, understanding, and not prejudice. Atticus is the father of Scout and Jeremy Finch. Atticus is a caring father that believes in everyone. He understands what it feels like to be judged and he tries to see things from different sides. As a lawyer for a black man, Atticus goes against his community to protect someone that needs help. Atticus Finch is a role model to all people who live in Maycomb county.
At a young age, children are taught never to be disrespectful or disobey parents or elders. When they don’t show obedience to some authoritative figure, sometimes severe consequences can occur. Going to school every day, all day these young innocent children are being taught by teachers. They teach them many important things in order to be a successful person in the future, and people all around the world put their trust in teachers. Sadly, a Manatee County teacher was arrested recently “for sexual battery of a child between 12-18, molestation of a child between ages 12-16, child abuse for impregnating a student” (Mascareñas). The student could've just been listening to what her favorite teacher was saying, because after all, teachers are always ‘right’. This is an example of an authoritative figure abusing his power over his students and finally paying the price. This is also similar in The Lord of the Flies when Jack used his power as chief to act just like a king “Give me a drink… all sit down…” (pg.
Lawson, John and Harold Silver. A Social History of Education in England. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1973.
It is a teacher’s responsibility to make sure that the student’s behaviour in the classroom is appropriate and well managed, but doing so can be a difficult task. There is often a divide in the classroom between those who want to learn and those who don’t seem too concerned about their education and as Churchill (2013) states “Don’t particularly want to be their”, this can have an effect on everyone (p.56). Students that lack respect towards teacher...
integrity of children, and of education itself—I return time and again to the memoirs of a
Creativity was allowed, materials were available, direction was more specific, and the teachers over all seemed to show great compassion and care for their students. Both of these studies I believe support the claims made by Bowles & Gintis. Bowles & Gintis' claims were based in the fact that education is inherently unequal among social classes and that the children of these social classes are made ready to give their labor power through schools. Anyon adds to this to say that these are the characteristics of the classrooms and how those characteristics are translated into the social class's workplace. Anyon also adds to the argument that schools adds to the inequality of social classes. Lareau adds to the argument that these social dynamics are so engrained into our everyday lives that most of the time it’s not
In the poem “The History Teacher,” Billy Collins uses euphemism, understatement, and diction to illustrate a teacher’s dedication to keeping his student’s naiveté sheltered by not exposing them to the cruelness of the world, thus “[protecting] [the children’s] innocence.”