Hwk 51

Intro:
For years we have been sent to an institution that claims they are teaching us something, yet not many of us seem to remember what we have been taught. Are we going to school to be educated or are we there to make our minds dull? Society makes us think as if this education will help us out in the future and lead us into a better path, but how will that become reality if not many of the students understand what they are being taught? There are many theorists out there that say that the institution of schooling will help the young minds to prepare themselves for a better future, but these young minds are being brainwashed into thinking that all this information will be used later on in their life. When a student receives a good grade, it is only because they have reviewed the information and have followed what they were told to do so by the teacher; this does not make them smart at all. Everyone is smart, but it is their choice to be told what to do. Some can choose to go against what they are told to do, and this would label them as a “bad student”. School is an institution that forces its students to become dull, making them think the education they are receiving will lead them into a better future, but in reality they will not be able to use much of the information given at all. When teaching styles are altered, students tend to become more attracted to the learning material.

Argument One:
Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and an influential theorist of critical pedagogy uses the banking method of describing the institution of schooling. In this method there is a give and take strategy between the teacher and student. The teacher is always playing the bigger role where she is giving out the information; she is the one depositing all the information into the students mind. The student therefore is known as the taker, he will take the information being deposited into his account. This shows that there is not much happening in the students mind when all the information is being provided. All he is doing is taking the information being given and this procedure is being thought of something being learned, yet in reality the student has not learned anything because nothing has been taught; it has only been given.

When the answer is given, the student will not be able to learn much. This proves why a student is more likely to forget about what has been “taught” because he or she will not be able to remember the experience of being given the information. In the second chapter of his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire writes: “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits.” (Freire) The student is not learning at all because there is no communication. The dull student is being told what to do by the bright teacher who seems like she knows everything, yet she is only a poser. She is only filling his mind with facts that he needs to know, yet will forget in no time because he would never be able to remember such an experience of being taught. Freire believes that schooling is all about give and take, the outcome then leads for the student to become “dumb”.

Argument Two:
As the executive director of the Center for Urban Education and Innovation at Florida International University, Lisa Delpit believes “If teachers make judgments only according to the tests being inflicted on the children by the schools, then they can misunderstand their children's brilliance.” (Delpit) Delpit does not believe in using tests and grades to figure out how brilliant a child is. In her eyes all children are brilliant, but teachers need different ways to approach each child so they can bring out this brilliance locked up inside them. Delpit tries to transform the institution of schooling by using arts so her students can bring out their brilliance to be seen by everyone. She claims that including arts in the curriculum will help the teachers see students as a different person.

When Nile Stanley interviews Delpit he asks “Are their any strategies you recommend for discovering children's brilliance?” (Stanley) She answers: “The biggest strategy I advocate is the arts. Teachers who see their students engaged in the arts have an opportunity to see their students in a different light, whereas before all they saw was what their children couldn't do. The arts show you what children can do. Another strategy is to talk to people who have an opportunity to observe the children outside of school. Teachers should learn about the children's community. For example, some children might not be able to do a worksheet on money; yet the same children may take major responsibility for interchanges with money.” (Delpit) Without the use of art Delpit feels that her students will not be engaged in the activities. They need to be exposed to arts in schooling because it will help them discover new languages and let them interact with others as well.

She doesn’t seem to fancy the idea of the average teaching style which includes determining how well they are as a student by making them memorize unnecessary information for a test. She lets the brilliance of the children come out while they are communicating with others and becoming used to the rhythm of poetry. The use of arts in schooling will help the young become engaged in what they are learning and be able to understand, where as studying and giving a test will make them forget all of what they had forced themselves to learn. Having different methods incorporated into the curriculum of schooling, Delpit feels that it will be able to bring out the brilliance of all students.

Argument Three:
Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir, is a story about an English teacher who decides to teach at an all-boys preparatory school. Mr. Keating comes in the first day to teach at the school, where the students are ready to learn. He tries his best to keep his students interested by planning a class that would make his students have fun physically and mentally. He uses text as well as activities that will keep them engaged in school; he takes them outside so they can read lines from poems and take out their emotions by kicking balls across the field. He asks them to rip out pages of a book; usually this is not what a teacher tells his students to do, but this is why Mr. Keating shows that he is not an ordinary teacher. Because the students start to become engaged with his curriculum, they start to take interest in what is being taught in class. They start to follow the instructions given out by Mr. Keating and soon find themselves in a literary group named the Dead Poets Society.

Unlike most of the teachers in our society today, Mr. Keating cares a lot about his passionate, but he has even more care for their emotions and poetry because at the end, that is what matters the most. “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” (Keating)

Usually teachers only care about providing information for students so that they will be able to determine their future and how well their future looks. They only want to direct them to the right path by completing their job the easy way. In Dead Poets Society, the teacher wants his students to have a fulfilling life while doing something they actually love using the knowledge they have had loaded into their system, instead of having it just given to them. This is how they are able to create a literature group and take part in what is going on in class. They are actually interested in learning the material because of their teacher’s teaching style.

Conclusion:
When information is simply given to a student, he is forced to make it a part of his mind; there is so much material that a mind can be given. When the teaching style is switched around, the mind starts to work better at catching all the material and this way the student is able to understand much better. When the banking method is used, not much is being taught to the student, they are forced to be “learning”, but at the end they will figure out that they are wasting their time since they will not remember much of the material “taught” to them. Delpit and Mr. Keating are able to structure their curriculum in a way so that their students become more engaged and interested at what is being taught. This will be able to help them understand all the information being received resulting in actually understanding the concept instead of being forced to learning it then forgetting it at the end. The student will be attached to learning when he is not dominated by their teacher.

Citations:
Freire, Paulo. "Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed Chapter 2." N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2010. .
Delpit, Lisa. "Interview with Lisa Delpit: Discovering Brilliance in Our Children." N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2010. .
Keating, John. "Memorable quotes for Dead Poets Society ." IMBD. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2010. .

Hwk 50

Gatto:
In the article The Six-Lesson School Teacher, Gatto discusses the six common “lessons” that are taught throughout schools in the states. In the first lesson, he says that students are forced to become used to the school environment and accept it. They have no where they can escape so they need to become used to what school life is about, where their intelligence is determined by their test taking skills. Depending on how well these skills are they will tend to do better in their future. In the second lesson, he talks about the students having a on and off affect. Where they have moments when they are very intense with their thoughts and deep thinking, and then there is a moment where there is a pause and it all stops. This is when they move on to their next subject, and have the same thing done again. It’s a cycle that goes on a number of times throughout the day. In the third lesson, Gatto says that as a teacher, it is their right to become a part of a dispute between others. They feel as if it is their job to “intervene in many personal decisions”. In the fourth lesson, the teacher is in power. He is the one who controls what will be taught and how his class will go. This then sifts the good kids apart from the bad, the students who behave like responsive robots are known as the good kids the ones who listen. The bad kids would be the unresponsive ones, turning their heads away from what they are told to do so. In lesson five, it discusses the evaluation of each student done by the observer. He is the one that will determine what will be said to notify the guardians in a number grade. The students are evaluated based on tests and grades, and the outcome is a number grade showing how much they are worth as a percentage. Lesson six talks about how all students are being “watched” whether in school or at home, they are always doing something that ties them back to the school environment; they are never free because the thought of school is always in mind somehow.

Gatto seems to be against all these six “lessons” of a school teacher. I go against it as well, when these lessons are being taught to the students it seems as they are being treated as slaves, doing what they are told to do so. They are treated as if they are in a prison cell with no where to escape. The students are treated as if they are in factories where they are to come in at a certain time and be watched by others while producing work that is said to help them out in the future. This is nonsense because after these 12 or more years of schooling how will we use the material we have “learned” in the outside world? After studying for all those tests and quizzes how will those number grades evaluate how well we do in the future? Will we ever use what we studied for hours locked in our bedroom after we are done with our schooling? Or will the material we had “learned” just determine where they will end up in life, and after taking that occupation it will be something consisting of the past? I think that it’s absurd that we have to go to school for something that will only determine where we will be in the future, because after that we will not do anything at all with what we have been taught for the past decade and more. It’s like we have been working in this factory since we were four year olds, and we were brainwashed into thinking that we were being taught something. At the end all we were doing was being prepared for getting our minds ready to do well on the tests that will prepare us for our future. If that’s the only outcome of school then why do we waste all this time being “taught” something that we wont use any time soon? They are all excuses used to make us feel as if we were doing something important, when in reality we aren’t.

Freire:
In Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire discusses how we all recite something that we think we need to know in order to survive in the community, when in reality we are just training ourselves to know something yet don’t know the origin of it. She relates the students and teachers as certain objects in which case the teacher is always the one that is “filling” the students mind with what they are being taught, and the student is then receiving all this information from the “subject”. The teacher is always the one who is the giver where the student is always the receiver. The teacher is never really educating the students about much, she is just there depositing information expecting the students to pick up the information she is giving off. Freire relates this student/teacher concept to the banking system. The teacher is always “depositing” and the students are forced to take what is being “deposited”. The relationship between the student vs. teacher is not one of the student and the teacher. They both play separate roles, where they are never on the same level. The teacher is always one above the students, where the students are there doing what they are told to do so. This shows that the student role always accepts or is forced to accept the role they have to play, they are not allowed to have a choice. The banking system shows that there is inequality shown since the two roles are not in the same level. The student is always below the teacher which is shown in the banking system, Freire doesn’t like this concept.

I agree with Freire somewhat with what he has to say, but then again there are some things that I disagree with as well. I agree that in many societies the schooling system is related to the banking system of education where the teacher is the bigger figure giving out the information and the student has to receive the information. This is always the case in schooling because the teacher is supposed to be in charge of what the students will be learning and how they will be using the knowledge being given out. This is how the school system is brought up and students always tend to receive what is being given out but I feel like they aren’t actually learning much and they wont be able to use it when they are 12 or 15 years into their future. I think that what we are taught is only needed to help us in our next year of schooling, but after schooling it wouldn’t be considered much. I have used much of what I was taught in school, but only in school. Other then that I haven’t applied much of the material I learned in school outside of the learning environment. I feel like when we are all doing our jobs in the outside world we will be committed into doing our job. We wouldn’t use anything that we had learned in school. School is a big test that will determine what job we will have at the end. After obtaining a job, school would be something of the past and we wouldn’t go back to it again.

Delpit:
Lisa Delpit focuses on the schooling of colored children and has written a book on the topic as well. Delpit feels that the brilliance that all students have is very hard to bring out. They all have brilliance, but there is a different way for each student to bring it out and many teachers are not aware of the right way to do so. Not all students can bring out their brilliance in the same way, it varies. Because many teachers only use one method of bringing out one’s brilliance, it fails to bring out the brilliance of a number of students while it may work out for others. In Delpit’s mind, the best way for a child to learn is through the use of art. It opens up their minds and they are able to receive all the information while having more interactions with others. She feels that students learn better when they work with something they are comfortable with, for example the use of language. They will learn a second language better if they are able to answer their first language before they move on to the second. She wants the child to feel comfortable and for the teacher to make their curriculum based on their child’s need. The teachers need to be willing to meet with their students needs in order to have them learn something.

I agree with Delpit in many cases, I feel that each person is different and needs a different way to shine. Many teachers only follow the curriculum based on the standards given by the DOE, and I feel that the curriculum is too structured. We are not allowed to switch around the way we are taught or what is being taught because there are standards we have to be taught by. In Delpit’s case, it seems as if they are allowed to teach in which ever way their students feel comfortable. I think that having students learn using different methods shows what way each student can learn best. I remember from my own experience in Ms. D’s ninth grade humanities class. That was one class where I felt that we used many different methods of learning and this is why I found that class so interesting. One day we would be watching a documentary, the next day she will have a friend of hers come in to talk to us, another day we would be drawing about what we had learned in the past week. That was one class where I felt there were many methods used to teach kids like me, and this is why I was always engaged and prepared to go to class. The teaching methods of Delpit and Ms. D. seem to be connected in many ways, and I feel this is why so many students are interested in learning when they are exposed to a variety of methods in schooling.

Ms. D.:
In our class interview with Ms. D. she discussed her personal experiences as a school teacher and how she made a decision to become a teacher even though she had a choice of many other occupations with the education she had received. At first she shared with us how she used to work with young girls who had problems at home and struggled. She told us how she became very close to them and had a limit to how close they were, she would never force them to tell her anything. After learning about these experiences from others she started to learn that she wanted to do something that would help others, so she decided to choose a career in teaching. Even though she finds it hard to connect with each and every student of hers, she tries to make each student take part in class by creating a curriculum that consists of the standard curriculum and her own ideas as well. She had once thought about the idea of becoming a counselor, but she felt that she wouldn’t be able to make many deep connections with her students.

I feel like Ms. D. is right in many ways about how she isn’t able to connect with each and every one of her students. I feel that it is a tough job as a teacher to try to reach out to every student in a different way so the teacher can learn about the student in a way that the student is comfortable with everything. There also needs to be a certain limit where the student/teacher relationship is not too close. I think that it was her personal decision to become a teacher because she felt she had to help others, personally I think I would try to be a part of another career and if that doesn’t seem to work out I would try out the position of becoming a teacher. If I do have a shot at becoming a teacher I would try to make my curriculum fun and creative like Ms. D. did with her humanities class. It would be hard to keep the state standards in mind while constructing this curriculum, but if others can pull it off so can I.

Hwk 49

Our class voted for Carrie’s idea to be filmed, unfortunately we were not able to complete the filming. The outline was about a teacher who had the “good students” and then there were the students that were labeled as “the bad students”. The role I played in the film was one of the teacher’s pets. Kate, Remy, YuXi and I were all playing the teachers pets; we were the ones that the teacher liked the most. Whenever the teacher had a question to ask, our hands were the first ones up. Kate played the main role of the teacher’s pet because she is the one who gets called on when the teacher asks the question. I supported Kate’s role by sitting next to her and discussing all the class work being done at the time. After she gave her answer to the teacher, I would always be giving her a smile or thumbs up so it could be seen that our characters were close. My role was important in showing how our small circle of teacher’s pets were better known than the small circle of the tough kids in class.

To me the main point of the film was to show that sometimes teachers do not give all students equal credit. Just because some students may be doing outstandingly better than their fellow class mates, it does not mean the teacher can have his/her favorites. The students that aren’t very likeable by the teacher shouldn’t be judged on their performance in school, yet they should be looked at who they are as a person. Later on in the film we were supposed to show how the leader of the tough crowd aces a test. We wanted the viewer to see that a student cannot have a label put on them based on their character in school. Just because they don’t fit the role of the “good student” doesn’t mean that they are a failure. When she passes her test with a good grade by studying hard, the teacher gives himself all the credit for being a good adult figure into teaching her all the content she needed to succeed in his mind. Instead of arguing, she stays quiet and lets him have his moment. This shows that even though not all students are able to fit into the “teacher’s pet” role, they are able to succeed when they are willing to do so; it’s a balance between the teacher and the student for the student to succeed.

Our film was intended to be different from those other savior teacher films. In the films like Freedom Writers and Dangerous Minds the teacher came in to a class full of students that didn’t care much about their education; they were slacking off and had personal problems outside of school to deal with. The teachers would try to comfort their students and find a solution for all their problems even though they were hesitant at first. In our film we did the opposite; the teacher did not show much sympathy or love for his students. His relationship with the students wasn’t personal and deep. He only cared about his students doing the work, which would be the teacher’s pets. He did not want to have a heart felt relationship with each student. He only showed a limited amount of care towards the students playing the teacher’s pet role. He would only give most of his attention to the “good students”; the other students would just be the back drop. In the other films the teachers were there to fix the lives of their students as if they were some angel sent down by God to help these poor kids out. In our film it was more like if you want to learn then learn, if not then no body really gives a damn because it will all eventually fall on to you.

In our society many teachers feel as if they become the parent figure for their students in school, which is true in many cases. They act as if they are there to help their kids with all the problems they may be having and always be there for them when needed. They feel as if it is their duty to take part of their student’s lives and guide them into what they as an adult feel is right for them. The teachers in our society today treat their students as if they are an experiment; they brainwash us into thinking that all we need to survive is an education. Without an education we would all be seen as failures. I understand why they feel as if they have to guide us to a better pathway, but they should let us experiment ourselves so we can learn from ourselves as well. If we have someone guiding us the whole way, then what would we have learned at the end? We don’t need to be babied while being educated; this is why we can’t seem to remember what we learned in the past decade. We need to be given an education in which we are given material, and we figure it out ourselves. We won’t have a teacher to guide us through our whole life; we need to prepare ourselves by standing on our own feet.

Extra Credit

The incident involving Souleymane was disappointing and it seemed to be very unfair the way he was being treated. I would hold the teacher responsible for what was done, but it was also other students who were involved in the event. Mr. Marin, Esmeralda and Louise were the three characters that caused Souleyman to get expelled. Because Esmeralda and Louise were the class representatives, it was partly their fault for making the poor decision of letting some students in the class know about what the teachers had said about them. Later on in class, Mr Marin seems to make the situation a huge deal, when he could have gave Souleyman some time to relax and talk the situation over with him after class when no one else was around. I guess these 14-15 year olds are partly responsible for their own choices, but Mr. Marin is part of making these choices as well, so it’s not only on the shoulders of these young kids.

This also causes Mr. Marin to be held responsible for trying to “solve” the problems for his class. He was the one who made the decision to call the hearing regarding Souleyman. Yet when the event was taking place in class, he was trying to stop Souleyman from having a temper tantrum; he was doing what a teacher is supposed to do. I would say that this is more of a systematic issue since this event was caused by the way the school is run. Because of the class reps sitting in on the meeting the teachers had, it caused the information to leak through the students which caused Souleyman to get mad. It was the choices of the individuals and the system itself that caused the outcome at the end. I feel that it isn’t appropriate to have students sitting in on teacher meetings when they are discussing confidential information regarding their students/classmates.

A question that I had in mind when watching the scene where Esmeralda and Louise were sitting in on the meeting was who choose these two girls to be the class representatives? Because throughout this whole scene these two girls were laughing and seemed to be enjoying the situation. There was no real point of them being there because they weren’t including their opinions or taking the event seriously. If these two students had not sat in on this meeting, Souleyman wouldn’t have been expelled and this situation wouldn’t have happened because nobody would have known what was being discussed at the time. Obviously after watching this, it can be seen that the class representative system doesn’t work out for these students because all it did was cause many problems for others. It caused Mr. Marin to call the two class reps “skanks” which caused him to be in a bad position as well in the hearing, it also caused a student to be expelled. The idea of having class reps does not seem to work in Mr. Marin’s class at all.

By viewing the decision of the class representatives, it can be seen that they weren’t trained well enough to be playing such a huge role. They do not at all show that they are serious about having this job. They are not mature enough, and this is partly the systems fault of having such students take part in such a role. This shows that they have poor discipline because of their actions. Throughout the whole film there are many students that don’t seem to follow what the teacher wants them to do. There is no higher authority, they are all at the same level. If the teacher wants a student to do something, they start to complain and don’t follow any of the instructions given. For example, at one scene a student named Khoumba is called on to read a part from a reading (Anne Frank?) and she refuses to do so. She starts to say that she doesn’t want to read because the teacher could have called on anyone else. This shows that there is no respect at all for the teacher. They are all attaining the same level and there is no higher figure; they do not want to be told what to do by anyone else. All these students should be given more discipline so they can be aware of what type of role they are supposed to play in class. They need to know that they are in a school environment, where they are told what to do, not the other way around.

Hwk 48

It will be the first day of school soon and a fourteen year old boy Casious is more then ready. He arrives to school with all his new materials and stands outside to take a look., he thinks to himself that this is where I will be going to school for the next four years. He says to himself. He finally arrives to first period class and sits in the seat with his name card on it. Students start to walk in, and take seats at their assigned desks. The room consists of desks in rows with a board in the front. There is a bulletin board with a huge map of the world. It is 9:00 and the teacher still hasn’t walked in to class yet. All the students are seated facing the front, and the doorknob turns. The vice principal walks in to inform the students that their teacher, Mr Lin will be late because he had an emergency to attend. It is a half hour later and the teacher still hasn’t arrived from this emergency. The bell rings and Casious is off to his next class.

The next day Casious walks in to his history class after lunch and he sees a young man sitting in front of the classroom at his desk writing away on a notepad. He stands up and Casious notes that he is very short, maybe 5'1. He seems to be very nervous while he writes on the board and his handshakes. All the other students start to come back from lunch and as they walk in notice the short Asian man who is in the front of the room. Two of the boys, Kyle and Victor start to eye each other and start to smirk. They all start to get really loud and act very tough to get his attention, but he still continues to write on the board. After a few minutes pass everyone is in the classroom is seated; Kyle and Victor aren’t seated in their assigned seats. The teacher turns around after finishing writing on the board.

He eyes all the students and adjusts his glasses on his face, he tells everyone to get up. At that instant the Victor and Kyle look at each other wide eyed. The teacher has no accent and has a very deep voice. This does not hold them back from what they do next. Everybody else in the class is standing by their desk while the two boys Kyle and Victor stay seated. The teacher glances over at them and tells them that they should stand up and they shouldn’t expect him to repeat himself next time. The two boys still stay seated and Victor starts to question the teacher. The teacher ignores his questions and walks back to his desk. All the students have their eyes on the teacher excited to see what happens next.

Mr. Lin is written on the board in cursive with a few other sentences stating where he is from and his goal for this year. He says what he has written on the board and instructs the students to form a circle and do the same method of introduction. Casious eyes the two boys who are still seated, and so do a couple other students. At this point they start to look foolish and immature. Everybody else is prepared for what is to come at them. They will probably be the kids that will be receiving the bad grades anyways, so why bother caring for them.

After everybody has introduced them self in front of the class, Mr. Lin turns to the two boys seated in the middle. He asks them if they would like to introduce themselves, they stand up and start to speak mumbling their words. They seem to be very nervous, they were not expecting this to happen. They had planned on taking over the class and making funny jokes about the teacher. Finally the bell rings and Mr. Lin dismisses his students. Everybody leaves their class one by one to go to their next class. Kyle and Victor are the first ones out, almost running as if they are desperate to get to their next class. Casious is behind them and overhears what they have to say about the teacher. He figures that they would have to be serious after all about what they do in class, and that is the behavior he sees the next day in class. They are like the rest of the students that pay attention in class. Everybody has seemed to forgotten what had happened the day before.

Hwk 47

1. The principal isn’t seen as an adult figure, instead seen and treated as a student. He is the principal, but plays the student role. How will this have an affect on the way students are in school? The students will probably take advantage of such a opportunity but later on get bored?***
2. The teacher is very lazy and has no curriculum planned, students decide to create a curriculum because they are finally bored of doing nothing. The students take turns in teaching the class or select a person who is in charge of teaching and creating a curriculum. Perhaps a vote?***
3. Having the class in a different environment with a class setting, like the roof? How will the atmosphere have an affect on a students learning? Will students tend to do better stuck inside school, or with a slight breeze outside?***
4. The teacher decides to quit his/her job at school without notifying the students. (reaction from students). Will the students actually give a damn about their teacher and care that he left? Will they have questions or would they go about doing nothing?
5. Teacher builds a relationship with each student to get them back on track. (Dangerous Minds) Does having a one to one relationship actually help the child do better and engage in school? We should show different alternatives to such a situation.
6. Having a really attractive teacher and see how the students get distracted. (Are they really learning anything?)
7. The teacher has no rules or expectations from students. He doesn’t have any care for his students at all. He just sits behind his desk with his legs up on the table reading his daily newspaper. Then some kids go up to him and demand him to teach. What will be his reaction?***
8. Having students sit in same gender classrooms and being taught separately. Will this cause less distractions and have a positive outcome?
9. School is taking place in the night time. How will this affect the students learning when classes take place in a different time of day? Preparing ourself for college...
10. There is no principal or administrative figure, everybody relies on the teacher; he/she is the boss. Will this actually work, or will the students take advantage of such a situation?***
11. The student’s behavior in different classes. (Andy vs. Copeland/ Kinory vs. Manley?)

Hwk 46

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is about a boy named Jerry Renault who attends an all boy’s school. As a freshman in Trinity High School, he faces the Vigils. The Vigils are a school gang lead by Archie Costello who gives out “assignments” to other boys in the school, which tends to mess with the victims mind in a psychological manner. Jerry is called out on an assignment by refusing to sell chocolates in the yearly school chocolate sale. Later on, the Vigils call Jerry back and offer to put an end to his “assignment” but he refuses in doing so. This causes most of the other boys attending the school to do the same and there are not many sales being made. The school gang then makes Jerry feel left out of the social circle which causes the sales to go up again. But this causes no change of Jerry’s refusal towards the chocolate sales; this is why the Vigils decide to make his life terrible. They are messing around with his locker, getting rid of his homework, making phone calls to his house and at last decide to beat him up. Later on another fight goes off between Jerry and Emile; Jerry ends up with many injuries and in no hope of a future.

My topic is: How do alpha males and females in school shape up the school environment for others? In The Chocolate War, Jerry is an innocent freshman who wants to make the school football team and be known as something. Even though the leader of the Vigils is aware of Jerry’s tough life he decides to give this cruel assignment to Jerry. Because the Vigils are obviously the “leaders” of all the other boys in school, they are always given respect. At first Jerry decides to accept the assignment and follows all the rules given, but he later on decides to do what he feels comfortable doing. He doesn’t care what the Vigils have to say, because he doesn’t want them to be in charge of his life in school. The alpha males in this story are shaping up how things are run in school; these are the guys that are in control of the chocolate sale and control the school life of other guys in Trinity. In my own experience it seems that whatever the alpha figure decides to do, is suddenly fine with all the others surrounding them. If someone decides to disrupt class, they usually gain more confidence by the respect of others or the appreciation of others. If someone decides to take a leading role, they cannot be brought down, when they are able to gain much confidence they are able to rule over others. And when they take this position, a strong force is needed to bring them back down.

Because the Vigils are in charge of all the “assignments” and the annual chocolate sale in school, all the other boys in Trinity are supposed to do what they are ordered to do by the school gang. This is how the way things are at Trinity, and this is the same concept shown in different forms in other schools as well. The lead role of the male sets an example and is allowed to boss others around because he is in charge and the others accept that. This is why Jerry does not shut down on the command from the Vigils. He knew that it was something he had to do but had no choice. Later on he doesn’t follow instructions given to him by the Vigils, and he suffers from this decision. Even though he gets tortured by doing so, he doesn’t change his mind and the story ends with him injured. When the victim tries to stand up for himself, the alpha role is still much powerful than the victim. He or she can turn all the others against him/her. Because Jerry does not cope with Archie and his demands, his school life is turned into a very bad image. Which ever way the victim decides to deal with the problem, it leads him to a new set of problems; Jerry either had to follow orders from the Vigils or get tortured when not doing so. The alpha role in school is in charge of sketching out the victim’s school life.