Explore Dickens presentation of education in Hard Times Essay Example for Free

Explore Dickens presentation of education in Hard Times Essay Explore Dickens’ presentation of education in Hard Times and comment on how this reflects a Dickensian vision of Utilitarianism Dickens’ presents The Victorian education system in ‘Hard Times’ in a fundamentally negative way, Dickens’ expresses the idea that having an imaginative aspect to our education is essential. He does this through satirising the education system and mocking the characters. Throughout the novel, it is a purpose of Dickens being satirical towards the education system. Dickens opens the novel with a satirical description of Thomas Gradgrind and his utilitarian educational methods as he teaches the room full of students â€Å"Facts alone are wanted in life† (9) Dickens satirises Gradgrind’s commitment to an education comprised only of facts as Gradgrind exaggerates that facts are the only essential thing in life. â€Å"Fancy† (14) symbolises imagination and wonder compared to facts. Dickens emphasise â€Å"Fact† more than he does with â€Å"Fancy† he does this by repeating â€Å"fact† itself, sounds more forceful. Gradgrinds view on education is his children are to never imagine or wonder. Gradgrind rejects the concept of fancy or imagination; ‘fancy’ has nothing to contribute to understanding; only things that can be measured are important. Gradgrind’s disapproving rant on fancy â€Å"You don’t walk upon flowers in fact† (14) to the students underlines that fancy is bad and it should be â€Å"facts! † (14) In his satirical description of Gradgrind, Dickens’ aim is of what he experienced in the industrial England during his time when education varied vastly, according to location, gender, and class, meaning that Dickens view on Utilitarianism is shown in a satirical way, and his beliefs stood out throughout the novel, this indicates how the education system was controlled. Dickens uses characters’ names to continue his satire of the utilitarian education system prevalent in Victorian Britain. Mr Gradgrind breaks into the word â€Å"Grind† as a means to crush, signifying his method of grinding down the students’ individuality and any imagination they may have entered the school with. Mr M’Choakumchild, breaks into â€Å"me, choke, child† Dickens’ exaggerates with the name as we don’t think the new teacher is literally choking the children in his care, that this Fact-obsessed creature will only choke imagination and feelings out of them. â€Å"If he had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better be he might have taught much more! † (15) This highlights that the utilitarianism system would function much better, if it were not so strung on facts. If Mr. M’Choakumchild had learnt less and been practically involved with his students more and would have taught far better. This is criticizing the way the system works. Dickens is suggesting that in the utilitarianism system, suggesting that ramming facts into students might not be the most effective way of teaching them. Not everything can be reduced to facts alone. Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby are the main representations of utilitarianism and followers of the system. In Louisa’s proposed marriage to Bounderby, Dickens shows us a disastrous consequence of Gradgrind’s system that denied everything but facts. â€Å"You have been accustomed to consider every other question, simply as one of tangible Fact† (97) This illustrates that Gradgrind, who is incapable of expressing his emotions effectively toward Louisa, edges her into a marriage with Bounderby by stating various facts and statistics to her. Louisa is hesitant to communicate her feelings towards him â€Å"she returned, without any visible emotion† (96) David Lodge’s ‘How Successful Was Hard Times? ’ (1981) argues that Gradgrind’s ideology in his system is questionable, Lodge explains that it is a â€Å"primary index of what is wrong with his system† Mr Bounderby is also a character with utilitarian beliefs, doubtlessly one of the major characters that has a firm belief in the system, â€Å"you may force him to swallow boiling fat, but you shall never suppress force him to suppress the facts of his life† (23) He signifies the very essence of his ruthless principles that only has room for facts and statistics. ‘Hard Times’ outlines that a utilitarian approach to life is unsuccessful and costs those who follow their imaginations become robotic and inadequate to the system. Imagination and heart is found in the circus where Mr Bounderby and Mr Gradgrind despise â€Å"No young people have circus masters or attend circus lectures about circuses† (23) Gradgrind implies that circuses are not like a practical schoolroom. Dickens represents Sissy Jupe as an influential character of the novel who presents the value of a warm heart and embodies feelings and emotions. She is seen as a complete failure of Gradgrind’s system. However Dickens and the reader judge her as a success. The young innocent girl mocked by the teacher and presented as the dumb girl in the start of the novel, gradually turns out to be the most key character in the whole novel. Since the foundational significance of fact and the removal of fancy that Gradgrinds education obliges, Sissy Jupe will never succeed. Nevertheless, in spite of the education, Sissy becomes a young woman who is able to maintain her own principles and beliefs. The contrasting descriptions of Sissy and Bitzer are shown in their appearance. For example Sissy is described as radiant and warm â€Å"dark eyed and dark haired† (11) referring to her as someone who is the face of vitality. However Bitzer is portrayed as â€Å"what little colour he ever possessed† (11) and â€Å"His cold eyes would hardly have been eyes† (11)) Demonstrating that he is cold and emotionless with no heart and all calculation. Dickens uses Bitzer to demonstrate that other students are influenced by him, showing that he is a follower of Gradgrind’s system, whereas Sissy is the foreigner to the system. The Utilitarian education system relates to the industrial town ‘Coketown’ which consists of factories and â€Å"large streets like one another people equally like one another† (27) The town is linked to a â€Å"painted face of a savage† (27) that is described as barbaric and uncultured, the children are being deprived from the â€Å"ill-smelling dye† (27) Dickens suggests the society that the children/workers are living in is unsanitary â€Å"Jail† (28) indicating that they have no escape from their problems. The utilitarian system stamps out all imagination in the pupils and prepares them perfectly for the life of drudgery. Dickens describes as their lot as ‘hands’ in Coketown’s factories. Education presented in Hard Times is shown as satirical in Dickensian vision of Utilitarianism. This is because Dickens is able to create a fool out of the system cunningly. Furthermore it is certain that what Dickens has presented is humorous and convincing with making the utilitarian ideology seem absurd through the novel. I find David Lodge’s argument towards Dickens opinion as liberal and potent.

Go Ask Alice By Anonymous Essay -- essays research papers fc

Teenagers of every race, religion, and clique relate deeply to the words of the anonymous teenager within the book Go Ask Alice, by an anonymous girl whose life enters a place where, as most teenagers, she has no idea who to turn to, or where to go. "Oh dear god, help me adjust, help me be accepted, help me belong, don't let me be an outcast and a drag on my family," (Anonymous, 13). With these words, we are accepted into the girl's life, and into her heart and mind. I chose this quote because it is one quote that I think relates to the theme. She writes in her diary about her life, and her diary is like a best friend. It is someone she can spill all of her secrets to and something to express her feelings. Everyone needs to share his or her feelings in order to live a healthy life. This anonymous girl is a normal fifteen year old teenager who just wants to be popular and fit in. In this book, she goes through many different so-called friends, or people who she thinks she likes. Many of her friends at first, were just plain ordinary kind of dorky kids and she wanted something new. She discovered a new crowd who she thought she could be popular with, but they only lead her to make the wrong decisions and to ditch the good friends that she had before. They brought her into the seductive world of drugs. She kept all of her secrets in her diary and she never thought to tell anyone. Not only did she hide it from her good friends, but also she hid it from her parents, who...

Richard Rodriguez- Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood Essay

â€Å"Aria. † an extract from the memoir â€Å"Hunger of a Bilingual Childhood. † histories for the writer. Richard Rodriguez’s. childhood experience with larning English as a 2nd linguistic communication. Throughout his essay he represents the power of the person to get the better of the linguistic communication barrier and how he overcame this peculiar job as a kid. Bing lacerate between conforming to the â€Å"public† linguistic communication or remaining true to his â€Å"private† linguistic communication. he discusses subjects of familiarity and linguistic communication. Throughout his extract. he presents statements against the thought of bilingual instruction and it’s negative effects on ESL pupils. like himself. Born in a Mexican immigrant household and traveling to a metropolis in California. Sacramento. Rodriguez had already known from the start that he’s â€Å"different† from the remainder of the kids in the country. He was Hispanic. He felt the difference expressively at school and it was non merely because of his physical visual aspect. The difference of is what isolated him the most. They differed socially. He felt a gulf between Spanish. the linguistic communication he used at place which offered comfort. versus English. the linguistic communication used in the public universe which to him was foreign. Rodriguez felt the separation from his English-speaking schoolmates. as he struggled to get the hang this â€Å"public† linguistic communication and hopefully derive credence. Since its initiation yearss. U. S. had ever been a runing pot of diverse ethnicities. Welcoming fledglings while take a firm standing they learn and embrace its civic civilization. It was suggested that those who come here in America should go Americans. Upon come ining grade school. it was a monolithic civilization daze for Rodriguez. He was put in an ESL category expected to larn English. to talk English. and communicate in English. but of class in a â€Å"English as a Secondary language† puting. It was a ambitious passage. nevertheless. with pattern. Rodriguez began to slowly follow the English linguistic communication giving him and his household assurance and deriving a sense of individuality among his equals. However. every victory came at a monetary value. Rodriguez had ever considered Spanish an intimate linguistic communication he used amongst his household. The more English he spoke intend the less Spanish. Not long after. he felt that connexion easy and to him he associated that as a â€Å"departure† from his childhood. In Greek. way means â€Å"emotions† and for Aristotle. poignancy is an entreaty to those provinces of head that have an emotional constituent. Since it is a memoir. his emotions were vivid in every individual page. He begins by showing himself as a immature Hispanic male child. go toing an American school for the the first with really small cognition of English ( Rodriguez 163 ) . The reader’s inherent aptitude is to experience understanding for the immature male child drowned in strangeness in his new environment. a new group of people. a new manner of life. and a new linguistic communication. He quoted. â€Å"I heard her sound it out: Rich-heard Road-ree-guess ( Rodriguez 162 ) † . Readers can sympathise with relatable feelings of being immature and vulnerable. when first being faced with the existent universe. Besides. he remembered being outnumbered in his school by people of different cultural backgrounds. Again. readers’ natural inherent aptitude is to sympathise with anyone who might experience like the â€Å"underdog† or person who feels excluded and different. And in conclusion. another large illustration was when Rodriguez notices his mother’s face vanishing from the school on his first twenty-four hours. he said. â€Å"Quickly. I turned to see my mother’s face dissolve in a watery fuzz behind the pebbled-glass door ( Rodriguez 163 ) . Again. the readers as worlds are of course inclined to sympathise with a kid confronting a new and potentially baleful experience without the aid and counsel of it’s female parent. therefore it is a terrific experience. It is apparent that Rodriguez felt many negative emotions being a minority in a foreign topographic point. he felt fright. and under appreciated for who he was. For Aristotle. the ethos of a talker is persuasive when the address demonstrates practical wisdom. moral virtuousness. and goodwill towards the audience. On his first twenty-four hours of school. Rodriguez commented that although he felt nervous on his first twenty-four hours of school. he knows that the other kids besides felt nervous as good. he observed his schoolmates being â€Å"uneasy†¦finding themselves apart from their households ( Rodriguez 162 ) † . He hence showed his sense of equity and his deficiency of self-pity. which reflects on his low character. Another illustration. is when Rodriguez carefully explains the ends of bilingual instruction as those ends are understood by it’s advocate. He states. â€Å"Bilingual schooling is a plan popularized in the 1970ss. that decennary when middle-class â€Å"ethnics† began to defy the procedure of assimilation— the American thaw pot ( Rodriguez 172 ) . † Once more. he present himself as carnival minded and nonsubjective. Besides. while he was showing his resistance to bilingual linguistic communication his used of the word â€Å"force† in â€Å"I hear them and am forced to state no†¦ ( Rodriguez 180 ) † implies that his point is non fiddling. It is something he feels he need to voice to do other ESL pupils feel more comfy. His phrasing suggests that he feels theta he has no other ethical pick but to state war he genuinely and unfeignedly believes. This proves that he is true and unfeignedly to what he believes and is honorable and caring about the well being of other kids who feels â€Å"different† . Sons are explained as the â€Å"text of speech† by Aristotle. And in conclusion. Talking as an intelligent and educated grownup. Rodriguez introduces the subject of bilingual instruction. He shows that he knows when his thought was foremost proposed. by whom it was proposed. by whom it was foremost proposed to. and the grounds that led people to suggest it ( Rodriguez 172 ) . His deduction proves him to be good informed and trusty observer. Next. Rodriguez reports more of his ain household background. connoting that his resistance to bilingual instruction will be rooted in really practical grounds with which he is rather familiar. he states â€Å"Bilingualists insists that a pupil should be reminded of his difference from others in mass society. of his heritage ( Rodriguez 173 ) † . His resistance will non be irrational but will alternatively be the consequence of grounds he personally knows all excessively good. The point Rodriguez is doing in his essay through the usage of rhetorical entreaties is that turning up as an ESL scholar was hard. but it enabled him to set up a public individuality in his English-Speaking community. He felt he had the right and duty to larn English. Rodriguez does non hold with â€Å"Hispanic American activists† who support a bilingual instruction for ESL scholars. He feels that teaching the kids in Spanish instead than English might detain their ain entryway in the public universe of English-speaking society and ache them in a long tally. He strongly feels that school should be taught in standard English. the same manner how other pupils are taught. Alternatively of seeking to absorb the difference in societal civilization. schools and pedagogues should promote pupils to encompass their roots. while seeking to larn the English linguistic communication. ESL Students should non experience the demand to maintain their primary linguistic communication sole when in the adult-life holding a 2nd linguistic communication is a great advantage. The positive facets of the place of ESL scholars should decidedly be emphasized in a school scene.

Auguste Comte and His Role in the History of Sociology

Auguste Comte was born on January 20, 1798  (according to the Revolutionary calendar then used in France), in Montpellier, France. He was a philosopher who is also considered to be the father of sociology, the study of the  development and function of human society, and of positivism, a means of using scientific evidence to discern causes for human behavior. Early Life and Education Auguste Comte was born in Montpellier, France. After attending the Lycà ©e Joffre and then the University of Montpellier, he  was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Paris. The École closed in 1816, at which time Comte took up permanent residence in Paris, earning a precarious living there by teaching mathematics and journalism. He read widely in philosophy and history and was especially interested in those thinkers who were beginning to discern and trace some order in the history of human society. System of Positive Philosophy Comte lived during one of the most turbulent periods in European history. As a philosopher, therefore, his aim was not only to understand human society but to prescribed a system by which we could make order out of the chaos, and thus change society for the better. He eventually developed what he called a system of positive philosophy, in which logic and mathematics, combined with sensory experience, could better assist in understanding human relationships and action, in the same way that the scientific method  had allowed an understanding of the natural world. In 1826, Comte began a series of lectures on his system of positive philosophy for a private audience, but he soon suffered a serious nervous breakdown. He was hospitalized and later recovered with the help of his wife, Caroline Massin, whom he married in 1824. He resumed teaching the course in January 1829, marking the beginning of the second period in Comtes life that lasted 13 years. During this time he published the six volumes of his Course on Positive Philosophy  between 1830 and 1842. From 1832 to 1842, Comte was a tutor and then an examiner at the revived École Polytechnique. After quarreling with the directors of the school, he lost his post. During the remainder of his life, he was supported by English admirers and French disciples. Additional Contributions to Sociology Though Comte did not originate the concept of sociology or its area of study, he is credited with coining the term and he greatly extended and elaborated the field. Comte divided sociology into two main fields, or branches: social statics, or the study of the forces that hold society together; and social dynamics, or the study of the causes of ​social change.   By using certain tenets of physics, chemistry, and biology, Comte extrapolated what he considered to be a few irrefutable facts about society, namely that since the growth of the human mind progresses in stages, so too must societies. He claimed the history of society could be divided into three different stages: theological, metaphysical, and positive, otherwise known as the Law of Three Stages. The theological stage reveals humankinds superstitious nature, one that ascribes supernatural causes to the workings of the world. The metaphysical stage is an interim stage in which humanity begins to shed its superstitious nature. The final and most evolved stage is reached when human beings finally realize that natural phenomena and world events can be explained through reason and science. Secular Religion Comte separated from his wife in 1842, and in 1845 he began a relationship with Clotilde de Vaux, whom he idolized. She served as the inspiration for his Religion of Humanity, a secular creed intended for the veneration not of God but of humankind, or what Comte called the New Supreme Being.  According to Tony Davies, who has written extensively on the history of humanism, Comtes new religion was a  complete system of belief and ritual, with liturgy and sacraments, priesthood and pontiff, all organized around the public veneration of Humanity. De Vaux died only a year into their affair, and after her death, Comte devoted himself to writing another major work, the four-volume System of Positive Polity, in which he completed his formulation of sociology. Major Publications The Course on Positive Philosophy (1830-1842)Discourse on the Positive Spirit (1844)A General View of Positivism (1848)Religion of Humanity (1856) Death Auguste Comte died in Paris on September 5, 1857, from stomach cancer. He is buried in the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetery, next to his mother and Clotilde de Vaux.