What are the different attitudes that the various teachers and students have towards education in Alan Bennett’s play the History Boys? (Up to page 40) It is clear to say that the attitudes towards education alter greatly between the various teachers and students in Alan Bennett’s play the History Boys. One of the most peculiar and interesting characters to look at in the History Boys is Hector. Hector is the teacher devoted to infusing his students with a love of books, words, and even the necessary un-necessaries of life. He manages to override all stereotypical aspects that one might find in a teacher and shows the audience a completely new way of teaching and through this conveys his own view on education.
They tried to adapt to their new environment, just like Saret tried to speak English to be accepted. In my opinion, this TV series was an eye opener about our society. it heightened our awareness about the conflicts that the younger generations dealt with everyday. From my point of view, racism still occurs in these modern times. We need to fight these issues and bring changes to the
I am going to study how Arthur Miller heightens dramatic tension in the performance of Act III, ‘The Crucible’ in terms of language, structure and themes. Language is able to help the reader understand the society in which miller sets his play, as well as the time period. The play shows the harmony and discord between religion, legality and morals, which is reflected in his writing patterns. The language used by the character of proctor shows the conflict he has with himself, throughout the play, as to whether or not he should be moral, admit his flaws but become illegal in the eyes of his society or remain ‘religious’ and ‘illegal’
Standardized Testing The author, Alfie Kohn, opens his argument against standardized testing by comparing the tests to being “swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those horror movies”. Kohn creates a negative outlook on standardized testing, and uses the analogy to create a vivid image to the audience. Kohn begins by informing his readers of his purpose of challenging those who defend the test to assist those who oppose the test, and to “energize and encourage” those who have resigned themselves to the test. He continues his arguments through the breaking down of specific questions and his clear explanations of the answers. Also, Kohn slowly works his way through the process of standardized testing and suggests improvements of the tests as well as any alternatives to the situation at hand.
In the Book thief, this idea is very important and is portrayed to the reader through a range of different techniques. The setting of Nazi Germany is crucial in helping the reader understand the power of words, while the main character Liesel shows us how words can be used positively as well as negatively. Also the different books Liesel acquires through her childhood help us understand the different ways words and literature can be used to affect humans. In
John Steinbeck and The Dust Bowl John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that deals with a broad spectrum of issues and human conditions. Steinbeck deals with topics such as intolerance, labor relations, greed, isolation, poverty, and the human spirit. Even though the original book was published in 1939, the novel is still widely read and in many schools is required reading for English classes. Steinbeck opened the eyes of America with his portrait of human suffering and the working conditions in parts of this country. John Steinbeck wrote from firsthand experience and from what he had witnessed happening in the United States.
Baldwin uses anaphora in his “A Talk to Teachers” speech. This rhetorical device is when word groups are repeated at the beginning of successive clauses. Baldwin wanted to grab the reader/listener’s attention, aid in memory implanting and retention, to lend potency to statements by endowing them with the impression of extra merit and to help make his point clear. This is an example of anaphora used in Baldwin’s speech… “I would try to teach them – I would try to make them know – that those streets, those houses, those dangers, those agonies by which they are surrounded, are criminal. I would try to make each child know that these things are the result of a criminal conspiracy to destroy him.
William Shakespeare and Reginald Rose both use dramatic techniques to make the audience question the world they live in. They achieve this with how they change things like setting and tone which can be a massive eye opener to viewers (about the world we live in today) as the two plays reveal things like racism, justice and sexism. Both plays challenge audiences views on racism. Racism is a key part in both plays showing different societies and peoples (as individuals) views about other race, background and religion. Viewers watching this can see this seemingly made obvious feature of the play may then be able to see something similar happening in real life or relate to it.
February 26, 2012 Journal Entry 10: Reflection on Article Readings: Colorblindness How eye-opening it continues to be for me to read more and more about the contemporary racist epidemic of “colorblindness!” It amazes me that this ‘well-intentioned’ or even ‘politically correct’ perspective of how many of us, particularly educators, view or act towards others and our own students is only further igniting the ever-present problem of racism rather than destroying it for good. Even the word “tolerance” has become a safety net for teachers’ to use or educate with rather than a stepping stone towards educating with and towards a greater awareness of racial inequality and other serious issues. The fact that our expectations of our colored students’ remains low, even on a subconscious level, due to many educators’ stance of “colorblindness” is frightening. Scruggs (2009) states that this “failure to see and acknowledge racial differences makes it difficult to recognize the unconscious biases everyone has” (p. 2). Desai’s article states that this colorblindness many of us believe in are intertwined with “three interconnected realities: 1) the majority of teachers are white, middle class, and female; 2) our student body is racially diverse and rapidly changing demographics point to an increase in students of color; and 3) students of color are more at risk of failing in our schools.
a “professional code” to empower the interests of the elite. Halls also believed that ethnic minorities are continuously misrepresented in the media. However as times have progressed I feel that ethnic groups are beginning to be portrayed in a different and better light as individuals are challenging the norms of the media and breaking the moulded stereotypes. The media extract “Mind Your Language” is an olden day comedy sketch program which portrayed many different ethnic group using very strict stereotypes, among them was the “Indian” stereotype. In the opening scene of the extract we follow the Indian character “Ali” as he makes his way to classroom ready to learn and perfect his English.