Educacion

This video that we watched was actually quite interesting, once you get past the squeaky noises at the beginning. The way it was presented obviously made the speech more interesting and easy to follow, which was good because it portrayed the otherwise slightly boring stream of words in a more upbeat visual aspect, which actually helped his message in the long run.
In regards to the relation of Sir Ken Robinson’s observations and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, there are many similarities, but at the same time, they are at different ends of the spectrum for whatever it is. For example, Sir Robinson comments on the ‘epidemic,’ it seems, of ADHD, in which children across America are just fed pills such as Ritalin or Adderall, in order to strengthen their focus in school and help them pay attention better. In comparison, this relates to the soma in Brave New World, because it is, in essence, a drug that helps the people to all think alike and focus on the same thing: losing themselves in pleasure and happiness.
Another similarity between the two is when Sir Ken Robinson describes the ‘date of manufacture,‘ which is what kids are grouped and labeled as. This is similar in Brave New World, as a “bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide…[producing] from eight to ninety-six… embryos.” These embryos grow up into people, technically as huge sets of twins, worked like machines all living near the same lives. Their ‘date of manufacture, as Sir Robinson would describe, would be when they were concocted like a Bokonovsky science experiment, emerging out of the tubes they will have spent eight months ‘growing’ in.

My neighbors just brought some homemade butterscotch cream pie, just so you know.

"Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment."
This passage from chapter three of Brave New World is describing the value system in that warped society. It is referencing the mechanical and somewhat robotic system of life that they live by, making sure to note the men that are used to make sure this mechanical way of life runs smoothly.Their society is basically a system of robots, in human form. The people are literaly created, as if to be science experiments, and raised to be used and manipulated in their specific role in society, wherever they are placed. Once they are too old to function or unneeded, they are merely disposed of. This form of life is not really living. They are not to experience true love or marriage, or really any other form of feeling. I can only really relate it to a human robot, because they have figured out a way to produce in massive numbers, whenever they please. There really is no point in living for them, because they really are not living, yet they have no sense of this, because this is all they know.

“Or the Caste System. Constantly proposed, constantly rejected. There was something called democracy. As though men were more than physico-chemically equal.”
This quote references the past, prior to the days of Ford’s presidency, and it proves that what they know as life is completely normal to them, rather than actually being people and being able to live your life freely with thoughts and feelings. It refers to democracy as something in the distant past that was more of like an idea or myth, as if it didn’t really happen. This is because they have no idea; the idea of democracy was long gone, as well as the idea of being able to express yourself as person or human being, not just a physical entity that was created to serve a specific purpose.

Discussion?

Happy October! :)
Ok, so The Tempest. 
Last week, in the literary analysis essays between Stephen Greenblatt and George Will, we learned that there are different opinions on literary analyisis. Pertaining to the Tempest by William Shakespeare, there can be over analyzation, just as with anything, but there are some rather obvious points to consider. The main concepts referring to Prospero, and how he basically took over the island that was rightfully Caliban's, as well as manipulating and controlling Caliban. Regarding this, I automatically think of the story of Pocohontas. The Native Americans being Caliban, and Prospero representing the English visitors that feel they have the right to take over the land from the "savages," as Caliban is often referred to. Aime Cesaire's A Tempest depicts just this in a play depicts the unfairness and brutality from Shakespeare's original work, in order to further his efforts to restore the cultural identity of black Africans. The play is a simplified version of Shakespeare's classic without such elevated language, and the second scene of act I and first scene of act II blatantly depict the controlling Prospero in his attempts to change and perhaps colonize the native Caliban, who technically owns and should reign the entire island. 

In this portrayal of a classic, one could argue that this is the main point of Shakespeare and the sole purpose of the play is to explain colonialism, and George Will would most likely agree  However, this may not be true. Stephen Greenblatt would argue that although this a good analysis, it may not be the author's sole intent; therefore, by ignoring any other analysis or ideas of the play, this could be described as over analyzation. Greenblatt feels that literature should be open to more than one interpretation, especially since there is no real way of understanding the original author's original intent.