The theme of the book “The Report Card” written by Andrew Clemens is that test scores do not always reflect a person’s intelligence or as Nora puts it, grades are “based on a bunch of stupid information that anybody with half a brain can memorize.” Plot summary: Eleven-year-old and now fifth grader Nora Rose Rowley remembers everything in her life. Everything was easy for Nora. She was able to solve puzzles, read, write and complete schoolwork at an early age; however, she does not want to attract attention to herself. She did not want anyone to know that she was a genius. According to the story, Nora started to imitate her classmates in kindergarten so as not to stand out and therefore becoming ordinary or average. Nora has managed to …show more content…
If you got a bad grade then you would be labeled as stupid. So in Nora’s school, everyone was smart, average or dumb depending on the grades they got. Nora decided to change things by bringing home a bad report card. The author did an excellent job in making me feel like I was there. The fact that a student took home a bad report card and how her parents were not pleased and then they met with her teachers and principal. I could picture that parent-teacher meeting. I could picture Nora being tested to determine whether she had special needs. This happens in schools today. A lot of importance is placed on grades and grades are still used today to indicate intelligence. Students today compete with each other, and use grades to label and place individuals in groups. Each character is believable. There are students with characteristic like that of Ann, her straight A sister Todd, her As and B brother, Stephen, her best friend who thinks he is dumb based on the results of his test, and even Nora who is smart but hides her ability from everyone to name a few. These characters can be found in many schools today and even this class. The teachers and principal like those in the book also exist today. I am happy however, that my parents don’t make us read our report cards to
Hector evidently performs well in courses such as pre-calculus and economics that involve computation and concrete or black-and-white operations. Traditional theories of intelligence do not account for the ambiguity of classes such as philosophy or for the wide range of interests a child can have. For example, contemporary theories such as Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences both account for more than the general intelligence accounted for in traditional intelligence theories.
Results of students who received praise for intelligence: The students in this category had negative results after receiving praising. When asked afterwards if they wanted to do the same level of problems or try more challenging ones, they chose the task that would allow them to look smart and do well on. Consequently, while telling a child how smart he or she is, we are sending a message to not take risks and just look the part. Afterwards, these children were given a hard task, which they performed poorly on, and they know longer liked the problems and did not want to practice them at home. Children also felt “dumb” and when given the initial task (in which they did well), they performed significantly worse. Lastly, their opinions of intelligence reflected that it was an innate capacity as though you cannot improve.
Up until the 1960’s, it was believed that people were either born with or without intelligence. UC Berkeley professor Mark Rosenzweig, performed a series of experiments with rats demonstrating how environment influenced rat behavior. His findings changed society’s outlook of inherited intelligence. Rosenzweig's results presented the idea that all youth have the capability to succeed, although it depends on how the individual develops their own attitude or belief toward their personal intelligence. Carol Dweck, a psychologist from Stanford University interpreted Rosenzweig's experimental results and separated the issue into two outlooks of personal intelligence. “Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone” (Michelle Trudeau). Dweck perceived this as a fixed mindset of intelligence. “Others think intelligence is something you can develop your whole life” (Student’s View of Intelligence). She calls this the growth mindset of intelligence. Dweck wondered if a child’s belief about their own intelligence could contribute to their academic success. She conducted an experiment analyzing the correlation of these elements in 373 seventh grade students who struggled in math. The students were randomly assigned to attend a workshop. One seminar taught how to study well, while the other educated students on the expanding nature of intelligence of the brain. The second group discovered that “the brain actually formed new connections every time they learned something new, and that over time, made the individual smarter" (Student’s View of Intelligence). Those who attended the neuroscience seminar and believed that they could grow and advance in their cognitive development, saw a steady increase in academic performance by the end of the semester. They received better overall grades than the other group
Melinda starts school off in a bad way. She continuously gets in trouble with numerous teachers. She never does any homework. She mostly takes naps. Worst of all, in her mind, she has no friends. This does not change until she meets Heather, the new girl. Heather is...
Nora spent most of her life as a toy. Her father would be displeased if she had separate opinions from him. The masquerade and costumes are her own masquerade; their marriage is a decorated Christmas tree. She also pretends to be the doll, letting Torvald dress her up and tell her to dance. Her husband's use of words, names l...
Though Nomi Nickel from A Complicated Kindness and Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye both possess negative attitudes towards school, only Nomi evaluates her attitudes and grows as a result. Nomi’s ...
is the result of her gender “Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman”
Nora 's character is a little bit complicated. she is a representative of women in her time and shows how women were thought to be a content with the luxuries of modern society without worrying about men 's outside world. However, Nora proves that this idea is entirely wrong. Nora is not a spendthrift as all people think specially her husband. on the contrary, she has a business awareness and she is mature
Nora Helmer was a delicate character and she relied on Torvald for her identity. This dependence that she had kept her from having her own personality. Yet when it is discovered that Nora only plays the part of the good typical housewife who stays at home to please her husband, it is then understandable that she is living not for herself but to please others. From early childhood Nora has always held the opinions of either her father or Torvald, hoping to please them. This mentality makes her act infantile, showing that she has no ambitions of her own. Because she had been pampered all of her life, first by her father and now by Torvald, Nora would only have to make a cute animal sound to get what she wanted from Torvald, “If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very, prettily” (Ibsen 34) she said.
It is through these stage directions that Nora’s playful and slightly immature character is revealed. In Act One many of the stage directions written for Nora is her ‘shrieking’ , this overly excited, erratic behaviour is a common theme from Nora throughout the play and emphasises her immaturity and lack of sincerity, most likely stemming from not having the opportunity of independence. A slightly comical action of Nora’s in the play ‘A Doll’s House’ is when she ‘stuffs the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth’ . This could be compared to a child attempting to hide evidence from their parents either in guilt, or in fear of being caught doing something forbidden; for Nora this is brought about by the strict rules of Torvald. Nora also appears very whimsical and is found to be ‘lost in her own thoughts’ and ‘hums ‘. It seems as if she is blissfully unaware and oblivious of the troubles and misfortune her family is receiving and this highlights her role, not as an equal partner in the family but rather a doll on display. However it is not just the stage directions of Nora that give rise to her childish actions. A significant moment in the play that reveals why Nora acts like a child is when Torvald questions Nora about purchasing macaroons. The stage directions state that he is ‘wagging his finger at her’ , this is an action similar to one a parent would make when telling off a
With this excerpt, we see a child-like attitude not only in Nora's manner of speaking with the statement "Just a tiny, wee bit," but also in her attitude toward money and the unrealistic expectations of making "piles and piles of money." The following example also shows Nora's childish manner in her personal interactions with her husband. Her manner seems more like that of a favorite daughter, acc...
The Growth of Nora in A Doll's House & nbsp; In the play, "A Doll's House", written by Henrik Ibsen, Nora, the main character of the play, decides to abandon her husband, her home and her children in order to find herself. She finally realizes she has to leave when confronted with a problem in her relationship with her husband, who keeps treating her like a doll, reflecting the childish treatment she always received from her father before. She finds the strength to leave with her childhood friend Kristine, who has led a hard life, and has the wisdom to guide and support her. Nora leaves the role of the doll child and doll wife she played her whole life, and becomes an independent self-thinking adult, when she realizes that the world is different than she always thought it was, and that she herself is not who she thinks she is. & nbsp; Nora lives in a dream world, a child fantasy, where everything is perfect, and everything makes sense. She thinks that the world would never condemn a woman who tries to save her husband's life or protect a dying father.
Nora is a dynamic character. When the play begins Nora is viewed and presented as a playful and carefree person. She seems to be more intent on shopping for frivolous things. But, as time goes on it becomes apparent that Nora actually has a certain amount of seriousness in her decisions and actions in dealing with the debt she incurred to save Torvald’s life. Nora’s openness in her friendship with Dr. Rank changes after he professes his affections toward her. Her restraint in dealing with him shows that Nora is a mature and intelligent woman. Nora shows courage, not seen previously, by manipulating her way around Krogstad and his threats to reveal her secret. After feeling betrayed by Torvald, Nora reveals that she is leaving him. Having
At the beginning of "A Doll's House", Nora seems completely happy. She responds to Torvald's teasing, relishes in the excitement of his new job, and takes pleasure in the company of her children and friends. Nora never appears to disagree with her doll-like existence, in which she is cuddled, pampered and patronized. As the play progresses, Nora's true character appears and proves that she is more than just a "silly girl" as Torvald calls her. Her understanding of the business details related to the dept she incurred in taking out a loan to help Torvald's health shows her intelligence and her abilities beyond being merely a wife. The secret labor she undertakes to pay off her dept demonstrates her determination and ambition. In addition, her willingness to break the law in order to aid her...
...on as a disgrace to society because women are not expected to leave there husbands. Nora proved that she can withstand enormous amounts of pressure and that she is capable of doing things when she is determined. She is eventually freed from that doll ouse, as she calls it, and it allows her to leave without being afraid to learn about her and the world around her.