Beat The MACHINE!

Allow me to be colloquial for a moment, but didn’t that video make you feel like crap. We as students especially know that a lot of this is true. We are a system, our learning is a system. Did you know that part of the reason we are in school for such long hours -besides the obvious fact that it allows us for more time to learn- is because we are irresponsible. People simply do not want us on the streets. I understand that some teenagers live up to the stereotype of reckless abandonment that leaves most adults to shy away, but last time I checked I am not inclined to go on some spree. We are given standards, standards that the majority of us do not need. We wake up, come to school, period one, two, three, etc. each signaled with a bell. We are thought things that are on a list of standards, information to simply test us on later. We then go home, again signaled by a bell, and then we do more school work. We are in a constant state of standardization. What if we could chose our teachers? If we could chose if we go to school in the morning or at night. If we had the choice of our class size or what period we took our classes. This simply sounds impossible doesn't it? I'm just a student. Just like people in Brave New World are just Epsilons or Gammas. Lenina says "I am glad I'm not a Gamma," sadly we do not get this choice. I know I should be drawing parallels between school and Brave New World, but I can't leave this with out this point. In Brave New World everyone has an identity. They all have a job. They understand the point of the standardization. We do not. As students we are forced into one pot. We learn every standard, not just those of our job. I understand the need for variety in classes, and I understand we all need basic English and math skills, but what is after that? I want to get an art degree, and if this were to fail I am glad I am gaining knowledge in English and history, but math is not in my future. I don't get a choice in the matter though, none of us do. We are forced to learn things we do not want to. To waste time siting in blue plastic chairs listening to a teacher who probably wants to be there as much as I do. In the past two years alone I could have taken an art class. I could have spent 180 hours on art. When multiplied by two years this would equal 360 hours. This could have been added to the 30,000 some hours I need to be a so called expert at art. Instead I have spent 360 hours in a class I would have rather not been in. This is why I believe Bernard was searching for the savages. People who seem more primitive and dimwitted than himself, though are more reformed than he is. I would be intrigued by a new look at school as he was in a new way of life.