Brave New Education?

First off, I would like to draw the comparison between the RSA Animation video and Brave New World and then I'll tell you what I think. The strongest comparison to me was the ADHD drugs and soma. Sir Ken Robinson points out that Ritalin among other ADHD drugs are given to children that seem to be unable to force themselves to focus on the boring material they are being force fed in schools. They are given drugs that make them "turn their senses completely off" in order to 'pay attention' in school. Instead of livening their senses and stimulating them with exciting activities and information, they are basically putting them to sleep to say they are learning through paying attention in class. Soma has a similar purpose in Brave New World. Lenina showcases this purpose when she tells Bernard, "..take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them. And instead of being miserable, you'd be jolly" (92). Instead of letting natural senses take place in the society, the government issues soma to make the citizens so apathetic they are just happy all the time.

Now back to the education system itself, I like Robinson's point that all these problems educators are seeing have risen along with the rise of standardized testing. Instead of students figuring out what they like and teachers being able to dive even deeper into subjects it seems their students are genuinely interested in, they are made to force feed facts to their students so they can regurgitate them on a test. Instead of learning to question and be creative, all anyone learns anymore is the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and 2+2=4. Especially considering the economic system no longer guarantees a good job along with a high school or even college diploma, students should really be allowed to study into what they like to learn about. If a student got to specialize starting in high school or even maybe junior high, in the subject area that interests them, they would be such specialists in that area they would be much more competitive for jobs once they get out on their own. I understand that everyone does need a basic knowledge of all subjects, but specializing even earlier could greatly improve a student's chances of finding a job once they are fresh out of college.

Brave New World

Brave New World is a novel based upon a "utopian" society, much like the society created in Orwell's 1984, however instead of basing the control of the government on fear, it is based upon contentment. The values of today's world are manipulated so that everyone is happy at all times, and if they are not, they can just pop a pill and they are back to feeling fantastic. Basically the goal of the government is to make every aspect of life acceptable to the public, so that they will not complain, and they will work very hard and efficiently all day long.
The value of monogamy is one that is completely destroyed and is very apparently destroyed when Fanny says to Lenina, "everyone belongs to everyone else". Promiscuous sex is encouraged because if there is no sexual frustration that gets built up between partners, then people will be that much less distracted at work and be that much more efficient.
The concepts of impulse and desire in our society today are viewed as good sometimes, but at other times they should be controlled. This is due to a stronger set of moral standards than are present in Brave New World. In that society anything that is distracting should be acted upon to get rid of the inefficiency of being human. In short, the government is trying to dehumanize all the citiziens and literally make them machines, moral standards are gone, and the manipulation of people and humanity is present in literature once again.

The Tempest Prep

In order to prepare to write about The Tempest we have been instructed to think about 'traditional' ways of reading the text versus newer spins on the story. However, what is defined as a 'traditional' reading of The Tempest, maybe I am getting a little too abstract here, but aren't there a few different ways that can be considered 'traditional'?

According to people like George Will, The Tempest would be about imperialism, and how Caliban is portrayed as a native people that is transformed and taken advantage of  by outside settlers. That's it. End of story. It is true that many people would argue that this is the 'traditional' view of the text simply because historically, that is what most people tend to believe the inner meaning is. However, couldn't it be argued that people for the entire four hundred years or so since the play was written have been seeing different or deeper meanings in it? Just because they were not super verbal about it, does not mean they did not exist. So the  new question for me becomes, are traditional and historically accepted the same thing?

Then we have people like Stephen Greenblatt, who thinks that students are becoming passive and simply accepting everything they are told, who would probably be an advocate for personal reading and analysis. He would more than likely argue that people have been challenging the 'normal' interpretation of literature for hundreds of years and they are no more right than those that have been supporting the 'normal' interpretation.

In all honesty, I am not entirely sure I have entirely answered the prompt given, but this is what came to mind after reading our prompt, but I am more for interpreting the text based upon what I have experienced and how I interpret Shakespeare based on my own reading.