America's School Systems and Brave New World Philosophies

A parallel I found right off the bat from this video, RSA Animate- Changing Education Paradigms, is between the American school system and the society of Brave New World. For starters, the older generations of society constantly drill into their students and kids that in order to be successful in life you need to go to school, get a college degree, to in turn obtain a good job and make decent money. Adults see the importance of this system; however it has been proven that a college degree doesn’t necessarily equal success in life; especially when it takes the identity of the child away to better fit in with the norm. This aspect of American culture best ties into how the society of Brave New World raises their children. Each is treated equally in that they are synthetically born and developed all in the same routine. “Liquor was drawn off from the test-tubes; how it was let out drop by drop onto the specially warmed slides of the microscopes; how the eggs which it contained were inspected for abnormalities; counted and transferred to a porous receptacle…to undergo Bokanovsky’s Process” (Huxley 17). Each embryo is processed identically the same as all the others so that every single being can be equal. Just like the way America’s educational system drills students into taking the same paths to success, the society of Brave New World drills the idea that each embryo needs to be evolved in the same matter to each equal productivity and success.

Also, the narrator of the video demonstrates the idea of divergent thinking; in that there’s no one “right” answer to every single question. As an example he uses the paper clip; how many different ways can a paper clip be used that you can think of? Most adults would range about 10-15 different ways, children on the other hand, before they’re introduced into the school system, can think of around 99 ways. This shows that our school system narrows our minds into thinking there’s only one correct answer, when in actuality there could be numerous answers. This philosophy pertains to Brave New World; everyone in that society believes there’s only one way to do things because the government has told them since they were merely infants. Because it’s all they’ve ever known, they are unable to consider other possibilities to do things.

Finally! The Start of Something New :)

In Brave New World, particularly in chapter 3, the passage demonstrates on how the society of this world is manipulating humans both genetically and psychologically. This society genetically engineers its embryos to fit some sort of purpose later on in life. The scientists of this world produce a certain number of smart people and a certain number of ‘dumb’ or ‘not so smart’ people so that the economic work force can always stay in balance. (For instance, the smart people become the scientists and the dumb people become the factory workers.) To a certain group of children, scientists classically condition their infants into hating books and flowers by giving them an electric shock every time they go to grab one of the two. This allows them to hate books, therefore they won’t accidentally become infatuated by books and fail to attain their true purpose in life; which was the only reason they were created.

“One hole produces a strong jet. However, many small holes produce calm streams of water.” This indicates that the mentality of this society believes that strong human emotion, whether it be inspired by family relationships, sex, and delayed satisfaction of desire, goes directly against stability and productivity. Without this stability, civilizations will cease to exist.

Furthermore, the date of the launch inauguration of the Model T by Henry Ford was chosen as the start of the new, production era. All the crosses had their tops cut off to make them look like ‘Ts’. Soon after, the new discovery of soma reached the shelves, and the problem of old age and suffering was solved; people could retain the mental and physical structure of their 30’s throughout their entire life span. Additionally, no one was allowed to sit alone and contemplate; no one was allowed “leisure from pleasure.”

A Somewhat Weird Warm-Up to the Actual Tempest Essay...

In discussions of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, one controversial issue throughout the play has been whether or not Shakespeare meant to convey a particular view on imperialism. When looking at the opinion of George Will, The Tempest would be about this very issue. Portrayed in the story, Caliban is a native that is “civilized” and taken advantage of by outsiders. This is considered the traditional, black and white-cookie cutter view… what most people consider the play to be about. But could there be another “traditional” view? I mean after all the play was written over five hundred years or so ago. Will argues that “critics strip literature of its authority. Criticism displaces literature and critics displace authors as bestowers of meaning.” So, in this sense, is traditional meaning and historically accepted the same thing?

On the other hand, we have critics like Stephan Greenblatt that believe that “the painful, messy struggles over rights and values” is what ultimately begins progression and prevention of cultural compliance. The Tempest can be interpreted as a direct parallel to someone else’s own experiences, and not just the traditional view. Greenblatt believes that students in this day and age are passive and simply accepting everything they are being told by teachers… just like the traditional way of learning; a teacher lectures, you listen and take notes, study, then regurgitate it on a multiple choice test, forgetting everything the very next week. Stephen Greenblatt would argue that people need to start challenging the ‘traditional’ interpretation of literary works.

All in all, I would have to say that both views have their strengths and weaknesses. Classics become classics because they can be interpreted in ways that can relate to each day in age, every new and emerging decade can benefit from its message. However I do believe it is important to consider its original or perhaps “traditional” meaning.