Hicks Friends with Boys
CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING
Ask students if they know the
reference being made to
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
What might Hicks have intended
with that allusion?
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5 Identity and Society
TEACHING IDEA
Ask students to work with a part-
ner to compare Matt and the
volleyball team to Whitney and
the preps from “The Geeks Shall
Inherit the Earth” (p. 176), if they
have read it. Ask students to
share their ideas and use a Venn
diagram under a document
camera to record student
observations.
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Hicks Friends with Boys
CLOSE READING
How is the silence depicted in
panel 4 on this page different
than the lack of words occurring
on pages 186-9? How do we as
readers know the difference with-
out Hicks even needing to visu-
ally depict it as she does on
page 200?
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5 Identity and Society
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Hicks Friends with Boys
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5 Identity and Society
CLOSE READING
Note the repetition of the “Play
Practice” poster on this page.
What might be the purpose of
this? If we interpret it as fore-
shadowing, what might it indicate
for Maggie for the rest of the
comic?
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Hicks Friends with Boys
TEACHING IDEA
In connection with Connecting
Q2, ask students to compare the
maps on pages 203 and 205, and
then discuss the growth that is
represented by the change
between them.
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5 Identity and Society
TEACHING IDEA
How do we interpret Daniel’s face
in panel 7 of this page? Ask
students to write a stream of
conscious style flow of ideas as
they might have been occurring
in Daniel’s mind.
204
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Hicks Friends with Boys
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TRM SUGGESTED 5 Identity and Society understanding and Interpreting 3 How would you characterize the relationship that
RESPONSES Maggie has with her brothers? What textual and
1 What seems to be Maggie’s biggest fear about visual evidence can you use to support your response?
Suggested responses to the attending high school outside her home
questions for this reading can be environment? Is this a reasonable fear, or is she being 4 Look back at the two maps that Maggie draws
found on the Teacher’s Resource overly cautious? Explain. to help her navigate both the building and the
Flash Drive. social environment of the school. First, what do the
2 Maggie talks about her first day of school as a places that she chooses to identify reveal about her as
TEACHING IDEA - “rite of passage” (p. 193), an event which is a character and her attempts to understand school?
ANALYZING Q2 normally considered to be a transition between Second, what does she add to the second map and
Have students work in pairs or significant stages in one’s life. Looking carefully at all of what does this show about her development at school?
small groups to create the the panels after she is first on her own, describe at
dialogue in panels with multiple least three rites of passage that Maggie faces on her
people, each getting to be the first day. Does she overcome these challenges or not?
voice of one character. For panels Explain.
featuring only Maggie, partners
could brainstorm internal mono- analyzing language, Style, and Structure
logues separately, then come
together to compare their writing 1 The first four pages of this piece have no dialogue 3 Look closely at the panels that show the two boys
and work with their shared ideas at all. What does this reveal about Maggie’s in the cafeteria (pp. 199–201). The author does not
to come to consensus on the character and her surroundings? provide much context for the conflict: we don’t really
monologue. know who the boys are or why they are fighting. In
2 Throughout the excerpt, there are a number of other words, we are just like Maggie, who is watching
TEACHING IDEA - panels in which there is no dialogue and author from the side. What strategies does Hicks use—lines,
CONNECTING Q1 Faith Erin Hicks relies on the expressions of the shading, framing, angles, text, or other tools of the
Consider allowing students to characters to suggest specific ideas about school. comic book artist—to portray this conflict?
trace the panel they choose for Select one panel in which there is no dialogue, and
this exercise, slightly altering the write dialogue that would be appropriate for the scene. 4 What does Hicks do artistically to establish
character’s features or expres- The dialogue can be either the thoughts of a single Maggie as an outcast on her first day of school?
sion to fit the student’s experi- character or a discussion between characters. Explain
ence. Have them use other comic why you chose that dialogue and how the added 5 How does the author distinguish flashbacks from
features such as thought bubbles dialogue affects the meaning of the scene. the present? What do the flashbacks reveal about
or caption narration to further Maggie?
express the experience.
connecting, arguing, and extending 3 Maggie’s experience shows a lot of the positives
and negatives of both homeschooling and public
1 Select a panel in which you can closely identify schooling. Which one is more effective at educating
with what a character is experiencing. This can be students? Locate a research article or two about the
any character in the selection. Discuss the visual cues benefits and challenges of homeschooling as
Faith Erin Hicks uses to bring that experience to life, compared to education in the public schools. How
and then compare and contrast your experience does each group of students perform? Why do some
to what the character is going through. If you were students and parents choose homeschool over
to draw a panel of a similar experience from your traditional school settings?
life, what visual cues might you use to bring your story
to life?
2 Look back at the two maps that Maggie draws to
help her navigate her school. Create your own map
for a section of your school and include labels and
drawings relevant to your experiences.
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(describe and reference relationship with Maggie?
Understanding and Interpreting Brother (cite exact text Explain how.
Question 3: Create a graphic location of image)
organizer for students to answer from dialogue)
this prompt.
Daniel
Zander
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Against School Gatto Against School TRM VOCABULARY
John Taylor Gatto John Gatto A list of challenging words from
this reading can be found in the
A three-time Teacher of the Year in New York State, John Taylor Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.
Gatto (b. 1935) has become one of public schooling’s fiercest
critics; in fact, he resigned his teaching job in a 1991 editorial in TEACHING IDEA
the Wall Street Journal, stating “I can’t teach this way any Create a graphic organizer for
longer. If you hear of a job where I don’t have to hurt kids to students to take notes during a
make a living, let me know.” The title of one of Gatto’s books, second read of “Against School.”
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Have them take note of words,
Schooling (2002), reveals his attitude toward the public school phrases, and sentences that
system. Gatto notes that it forces attendance and promotes utilize ethos, pathos, or logos.
standardization and conformity. In this essay, which was published in the Use these notes for debate in
September 2003 issue of Harper’s, Gatto wonders whether children even class on whether Gatto is effec-
need school at all anymore. tive at arguing his point, to
connect them to Analyzing Q6, or
I taught for thirty years in some of the worst they are trapped inside structures even more to develop a body of evidence for
schools in Manhattan, and in some of the rigid than those imposed upon the children. a critical analysis of Gatto’s
best, and during that time I became an expert in Who, then, is to blame? essay.
boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my
world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, We all are. My grandfather taught me that. CLOSE READING
why they felt so bored, they always gave the One afternoon when I was seven I complained Have students examine para-
same answers: They said the work was stupid, to him of boredom, and he batted me hard on graph 3 and identify instances of
that it made no sense, that they already knew it. the head. He told me that I was never to use that aggressive, combative language.
They said they wanted to be doing something term in his presence again, that if I was bored it What tone does this create? Why
real, not just sitting around. They said teachers was my fault and no one else’s. The obligation to might Gatto have chosen this
didn’t seem to know much about their subjects amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, particular tone? How does it
and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. and people who didn’t know that were childish establish a sense of Gatto as a
And the kids were right: their teachers were people, to be avoided if possible. Certainly not to person, and as a teacher?
every bit as bored as they were. be trusted. That episode cured me of boredom
forever, and here and there over the years I was
Boredom is the common condition of able to pass on the lesson to some remarkable
schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time student. For the most part, however, I found it
in a teachers’ lounge can vouch for the low futile to challenge the official notion that bore-
energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to dom and childishness were the natural state of
be found there. When asked why they feel bored, affairs in the classroom. Often I had to defy
the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you custom, and even bend the law, to help kids
might expect. Who wouldn’t get bored teaching break out of this trap.
students who are rude and interested only in
grades? If even that. Of course, teachers are The empire struck back, of course; childish
themselves products of the same twelve-year adults regularly conflate opposition with
compulsory school programs that so thoroughly disloyalty. I once returned from a medical leave
bore their students, and as school personnel to discover that all evidence of my having been
granted the leave had been purposely
207
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What do you think Gatto means
in paragraph 1 by the worst and
best schools in Manhattan? What
makes a school good or bad? Is
your definition similar or different
from Gatto’s? Why?
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CLOSE READING 5 Identity and Society destroyed, that my job had been terminated, student what autonomy he or she needs in
Have students find phrases from and that I no longer possessed even a teaching order to take a risk every now and then.
paragraphs 4 and 5 to build a license. After nine months of tormented effort I 5 But we don’t do that. And the more I asked
definition for the word “childish” was able to retrieve the license when a school why not, and persisted in thinking about the
as Gatto uses it in his essay. secretary testified to witnessing the plot unfold. “problem” of schooling as an engineer might,
In the meantime my family suffered more than the more I missed the point: What if there is no
CHECK FOR I care to remember. By the time I finally retired “problem” with our schools? What if they are the
UNDERSTANDING in 1991, I had more than enough reason to way they are, so expensively flying in the face of
How have “2 million homeschool- think of our schools — with their long-term, common sense and long experience in how chil-
ers . . . put that banal justification cell-block-style, forced confinement of both dren learn things, not because they are doing
to rest”? (paragraph 6) students and teachers — as virtual factories of something wrong but because they are doing
childishness. Yet I honestly could not see why something right? Is it possible that George W.
they had to be that way. My own experience Bush accidentally spoke the truth when he said
had revealed to me what many other teachers we would “leave no child behind”? Could it be
must learn along the way, too, yet keep to that our schools are designed to make sure not
themselves for fear of reprisal: if we wanted to one of them ever really grows up?
we could easily and inexpensively jettison the
old, stupid structures and help kids take an Do we really need school? I don’t mean
education rather than merely receive a education, just forced schooling: six classes a
schooling. We could encourage the best quali- day, five days a week, nine months a year, for
ties of youthfulness — curiosity, adventure, twelve years. Is this deadly routine really neces-
resilience, the capacity for surprising sary? And if so, for what? Don’t hide behind
insight — simply by being more flexible about reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale,
time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids to because 2 million happy homeschoolers have
truly competent adults, and by giving each surely put that banal justification to rest. Even if
they hadn’t, a considerable number of
Identify a piece of
evidence from Gatto’s
article that would support
this character’s claim
about school.
Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant
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well-known Americans never went through the 10 These goals are still trotted out today on a Gatto Against School TEACHING IDEA
twelve-year wringer our kids currently go regular basis, and most of us accept them in one
through, and they turned out all right. George form or another as a decent definition of public Gatto lists a number of well-
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas education’s mission, however short schools known Americans who had great
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught actually fall in achieving them. But we are dead success without “graduating
them, to be sure, but they were not products of a wrong. Compounding our error is the fact that secondary school.” Have
school system, and not one of them was ever the national literature holds numerous and students make a list of 5
“graduated” from a secondary school. surprisingly consistent statements of compul- Americans they admire whose
sory schooling’s true purpose. We have, for achievements have been in the
Throughout most of American history, kids example, the great H. L. Mencken, who wrote in last 100 years, then have them
generally didn’t go to high school, yet the The American Mercury for April 1924 that the research the extent of those
unschooled rose to be admirals, like Farragut; aim of public education is not Americans’ educations. Have
inventors, like Edison; captains of industry, like them report this in a slideshow
Carnegie and Rockefeller; writers, like Melville to fill the young of the species with knowl- detailing the accomplishments of
and Twain and Conrad; and even scholars, like edge and awaken their intelligence. . . . the 5 they chose as well as the
Margaret Mead. In fact, until pretty recently Nothing could be further from the truth. The education level each achieved.
people who reached the age of thirteen weren’t aim is simply to reduce as many individuals
looked upon as children at all. Ariel Durant, who as possible to the same safe level, to breed CHECK FOR
co-wrote an enormous, and very good, multi- and train a standardized citizenry, to put UNDERSTANDING
volume history of the world with her husband, down dissent and originality. That is its aim
Will, was happily married at fifteen, and who in the United States . . . and that is its aim Who is H.L. Mencken and what
could reasonably claim that Ariel Durant was an everywhere else. makes him “great”? (par. 10)
uneducated person? Unschooled, perhaps, but
not uneducated. There you have it. Now you know. We don’t
need Karl Marx’s conception of a grand warfare
We have been taught (that is, schooled) in between the classes to see that it is in the interest
this country to think of “success” as synonymous of complex management, economic or political,
with, or at least dependent upon, “schooling,” to dumb people down, to demoralize them, to
but historically that isn’t true in either an intel- divide them from one another, and to discard
lectual or a financial sense. And plenty of people them if they don’t conform. Class may frame the
throughout the world today find a way to proposition, as when Woodrow Wilson, then
educate themselves without resorting to a president of Princeton University, said the
system of compulsory secondary schools that all following to the New York City School Teachers
too often resemble prisons. Why, then, do Association in 1909: “We want one class of
Americans confuse education with just such a persons to have a liberal education, and we want
system? What exactly is the purpose of our another class of persons, a very much larger class,
public schools? of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privi-
leges of a liberal education and fit themselves to
Mass schooling of a compulsory nature really perform specific difficult manual tasks.” But the
got its teeth into the United States between 1905 motives behind the disgusting decisions that
and 1915, though it was conceived of much bring about these ends need not be class-based at
earlier and pushed for throughout most of the all. They can stem purely from fear, or from the by
nineteenth century. The reason given for this now familiar belief that “efficiency” is the para-
enormous upheaval of family life and cultural mount virtue, rather than love, liberty, laughter, or
traditions was, roughly speaking, threefold: hope. Above all, they can stem from simple greed.
1) To make good people. 2) To make good citizens.
3) To make each person his or her personal best. the individual in school conversation
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Paragraphs 6 and 7 list a number
of great American contributors,
but not one of them is female.
What, if anything, can we infer
about Gatto from this exclusion?
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5 Identity and Society seeing connections
The logical extension of Gatto’s argument is that students should not be required to attend school.
Explain why you think Gatto is right, wrong, or maybe just a little off the mark.
How does the accompanying chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics affect your viewpoint?
Earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment
Unemployment rate in 2013 (%) Median weekly earnings in 2013 ($)
2.2 Doctoral degree 1,623
2.3 Professional degree 1,714
3.4 Master’s degree 1,329
4.0 Bachelor’s degree 1,108
5.4 Associate’s degree 777
7.0 Some college, 727
no degree
7.5 High school diploma 651
11.0 Less than a 472
high school diploma
All workers: 6.1% All workers: $827
Note: Data are for persons age 25 and over. Earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers.
Source: Current Population Survey, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
There were vast fortunes to be made, after computers, and then we buy the things we see
all, in an economy based on mass production on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether
and organized to favor the large corporation we need them or not, and when they fall apart
rather than the small business or the family too soon we buy another pair. We drive SUVs
farm. But mass production required mass and believe the lie that they constitute a kind of
consumption, and at the turn of the twentieth life insurance, even when we’re upside-down in
century most Americans considered it both them. And, worst of all, we don’t bat an eye
unnatural and unwise to buy things they didn’t when Ari Fleischer tells us to “be careful what
actually need. Mandatory schooling was a you say,” even if we remember having been told
godsend on that count. School didn’t have to somewhere back in school that America is the
train kids in any direct sense to think they should land of the free. We simply buy that one too. Our
consume nonstop, because it did something schooling, as intended, has seen to it.
even better: it encouraged them not to think at
all. And that left them sitting ducks for another Now for the good news. Once you under-
great invention of the modern era — marketing. stand the logic behind modern schooling, its
tricks and traps are fairly easy to avoid. School
We buy televisions, and then we buy the trains children to be employees and consumers;
things we see on the television. We buy teach your own to be leaders and adventurers.
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UNDERSTANDING
Who is Ari Fleischer, and to whom
did he deliver the quote Gatto
references in paragraph 13?
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School trains children to obey reflexively; teach and attitudes that corporate society demands. Gatto Against School TEACHING IDEA
your own to think critically and independently. Mandatory education serves children only inci-
Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for dentally; its real purpose is to turn them into Have students brainstorm a list
boredom; help your own to develop an inner life servants. Don’t let your own have their child- of descriptive words for teachers
so that they’ll never be bored. Urge them to take hoods extended, not even for a day. If David they have had before (eg. strict,
on the serious material, the grown-up material, Farragut could take command of a captured flexible, lenient, creative, boring,
in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, British warship as a preteen, if Thomas Edison harsh, innovative, etc.), in
economics, theology — all the stuff schoolteach- could publish a broadsheet at the age of twelve, essence creating a character trait
ers know well enough to avoid. Challenge your if Ben Franklin could apprentice himself to a word bank. Then, in connection
kids with plenty of solitude so that they can printer at the same age (then put himself with Analyzing Q1, ask students
learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct through a course of study that would choke a to develop a body of evidence
inner dialogues. Well-schooled people are Yale senior today), there’s no telling what your from paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 14,
conditioned to dread being alone, and they seek own kids could do. After a long life, and thirty and 15 for what kind of teacher
constant companionship through the TV, the years in the public school trenches, I’ve Gatto would have been. Then
computer, the cell phone, and through shallow concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We they should use words from their
friendships quickly acquired and quickly aban- suppress our genius only because we haven’t yet own bank as labels for the traits
doned. Your children should have a more mean- figured out how to manage a population of being proved by their evidence.
ingful life, and they can. educated men and women. The solution, I
15 First, though, we must wake up to what our think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage CLOSE READING
schools really are: laboratories of experimenta- themselves.
tion on young minds, drill centers for the habits Ask students to re-read paragraph
4 How does Gatto link consumerism with the habits 15, Gatto’s conclusion, noting his
understanding and Interpreting of mind taught in public schools? Do you agree or use of rhetorical devices for
disagree with Gatto’s claim that a significant purpose closure. In particular, note
1 What is the main claim that John Taylor Gatto of school is to create consumers? sentence length, diction, repeti-
makes? Find one sentence that states his claim. tion, declarative statements, and
5 According to Gatto, who is most responsible for metaphor. In light of these
2 Gatto begins his essay with an examination of the problems in American education? Is it the devices, is his closing effective at
boredom. What does he say causes this boredom teachers? School administrators? Parents? Students? convincing the reader to become
and what is the result? Politicians? What evidence can you cite to support “Against School” as well?
your response?
3 Gatto says that the purpose of mandatory TRM SUGGESTED
education offered by society is “1) To make good 6 Reread the paragraph that begins with “Now for RESPONSES
people. 2) To make good citizens. 3) To make each the good news” (par. 14). What are the solutions
person his or her personal best” (par. 9), and then he that Gatto suggests for how parents can fight back and Suggested responses to the
attacks these ideas by quoting H. L. Mencken and encourage their children’s education without school? questions for this reading can be
Woodrow Wilson. Summarize what conclusions Gatto Are these solutions that could work within the school found on the Teacher’s Resource
expects his readers to draw from these sources. system? Why or why not? Flash Drive.
05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 211 the individual in school conversation 211 TEACHING IDEA —
ANALYZING Q4
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Jigsaw this question by doing the
For more information on conduct- following: 1. Divide the reading
ing an effective jigsaw in your into sections and label them in
classroom, see the Teacher’s numerical order. 2. Assign
Resource Flash Drive. portions to students by counting
them off 3. Task them with
re-reading only their assigned
portion and answering the
prompts in Analyzing Q4 for just
their section 4. Have them meet
with their classmates who read
the same section and compare
notes, adjusting as needed 5.
Rearrange them into groups
where each section is repre-
sented and have them teach each
other their notes.
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5 Identity and Society analyzing language, Style, and Structure
1 John Taylor Gatto begins by describing his own 4 What vulnerabilities do you find in Gatto’s
experience, a discouraging one, as a teacher. What argument? Look back through the piece and
effect does the inclusion of his personal experience identify a place where you think that Gatto does not
have on his argument? How does the biographical effectively support a claim he is making, or where his
information that precedes the article, as well as the logic seems faulty. Why do you think his writing is not
biographical information Gatto chooses to include, effective in this section?
help to establish his ethos?
5 Gatto’s language moves between informal
2 Gatto cites examples of presidents, inventors, expressions (such as “The empire struck back”)
writers, and wealthy businesspersons to make his and quite elevated language (“Class may frame the
case that compulsory schooling is not necessary for proposition”). Do you find such movement an effective
success (par. 7). He returns to this list at the end of the rhetorical strategy, or does it seem inconsistent?
essay (par. 15). Explain why you do or do not find such Support your response by referring to specific
examples persuasive. passages.
3 Gatto lists three reasons for mandatory public 6 This essay first appeared in 2003 in Harper’s
schooling, as it was conceived in the United States— magazine, a monthly publication appealing to an
and then asserts that they are not truly the principles educated, fairly liberal readership. What are some of
that govern education today. What evidence (including the ways Gatto specifically appeals to this
examples) does he cite to support this assertion? demographic?
connecting, arguing, and extending 2 Toward the end of the essay, Gatto calls on parents
to teach their own children to be “leaders and
1 Choose one of the following assertions that John adventurers,” to think “critically and independently,”
Taylor Gatto or one of the sources he cites makes and to “develop an inner life so that they’ll never be
and discuss how your own experience confirms or bored” (par. 14). Write a proposal for a school that
challenges it: would serve these purposes or that you think has the
promise of achieving some of them. What would be its
a. “[O]ur schools [. . .] [are] virtual factories of child- main guiding principles and characteristics?
ishness” (par. 4).
3 According to some studies, schools in countries
b. “[S]econdary schools [. . .] all too often resemble like Finland, Singapore, and Japan, among others,
prisons” (par. 8). regularly outperform the United States, and could be
judged as more successful education systems.
c. “[T]he aim of public education is [. . .] ‘to reduce Research an educational system in another country or
as many individuals as possible to the same safe culture. Discuss what values it tries to develop in its
level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to students and, based on your research and experience,
put down dissent and originality’ ” (par. 10, quoting develop a position about whether you think that system
H. L. Mencken). is more or less effective than the United States system.
Also consider how Gatto would likely evaluate that
d. “Mandatory education serves children only system.
incidentally; its real purpose is to turn them into
servants” (par. 15).
e. “[W]e must wake up to what our schools really are:
laboratories of experimentation on young minds,
drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corpo-
rate society demands” (par. 15).
212
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212 Advanced Language & Literature
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from The Common School Journal Fotosearch/Archive Photos/Getty Images Mann The Common School Journal TRM VOCABULARY
Horace Mann A list of challenging words from
this reading can be found in the
Horace Mann (1796–1859) is often called the “father of Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.
American Public Education,” because of his strong support
for publicly funded schools. He was the first secretary of the BUILDING CONTEXT
Massachusetts Board of Education, a position from 1837
to 1848. Mann is particularly noted for his contributions to the Understanding Q1 asks about the
Common School Journal, which he founded and edited, and “transitional state” Mann refer-
from which this excerpt is taken. In addition to holding the post ences. To what transitional state
of secretary of the Board of Education, Mann was at different was he referring? How is
times in his life a tutor, college librarian, lawyer, and state legislator. American society in a transitional
state now as well? Consider
Key conTexT Mann once said, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory shifts in gay rights and other
for humanity,” which is now the motto of Antioch College, of which Mann was the first issues of equality - how do you
president. As you read, keep in mind that this excerpt is from 1842, and the United see schools adjusting to those
States was still a newly formed, largely rural and agrarian country. There was not yet transitions (or not)?
widespread agreement on the need for education for all citizens, especially for
children of lower socioeconomic status. It was not until the 1920s that more than half TEACHING IDEA
of the teenage population even attended high school. The question that Mann tries to
answer here is: why is school important to the individual as well as society? Mann’s essay was written in 1842,
almost 60 years before women
Mankind are rapidly passing through a tran- human rights is evolving, and casting off old had the right to vote in the US, so
sition state. The idea and feeling that the institutions and customs, as the expanding body he was extremely progressive in
world was made, and life given, for the happi- bursts and casts away the narrow and worn-out mentioning gender inequalities in
ness of all, and not for the ambition, or pride, or garments of childhood. society and how they left the
luxury, of one, or of a few, are pouring in, like a nation’s daughters disadvantaged.
resistless tide, upon the minds of men, and are In all the towns in our Common wealth, — in More recently Malala Yousafzai
effecting a universal revolution in human affairs. the small and obscure, and perhaps still more in (see p. 378), who, after being shot
Governments, laws, social usages, are rapidly cities and in other populous places, — there are by the Taliban for attending school
dissolving, and recombining in new forms. The many children, — orphans, or those who, in the in her native Afghanistan, won the
axiom which holds the highest welfare of all the curse of vicious parentage, suffer a worse evil Nobel prize at the age of 16 for her
recipients of human existence to be the end and than orphanage, — children doomed to inces- work advocating for education
aim of that existence, is the theoretical founda- sant drudgery, and who, from the straitened rights, particularly for females. At
tion of all the governments of this Union; it has circumstances of the household, from awkward- a speech to the UN Assembly
already modified all the old despotisms of ness of manners, or indigence in dress, never Yousafzai said, “I speak not for
Europe, and has obtained a foothold on the emerge from their solitude and obscurity, and myself but for those without
hitherto inaccessible shores of Asia and Africa, therefore necessarily grow up with all the voice . . . those who have fought
and the islands of the sea. A new phrase, — the coarseness, narrowness, prejudices, and bad for their rights . . . their right to live
people, — is becoming incorporated into all manners, almost inseparable from spending the in peace, their right to be treated
languages and laws; and the correlative idea of years of non-age in entire seclusion from the with dignity, their right to equality
world. This is a true picture of the condition of of opportunity, their right to be
213 educated.” Have students
the individual in school conversation research the current state of
education rights in other nations –
particularly those with whom we
have political conflict – and pres-
ent their findings in class.
C L O S E05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 213 R E A D I N G bursting out of its limiting notions. T E AC H I N G I D27/E10A/15 7:29 PM
Later, in paragraph 3 he uses the
Ask students to examine Mann’s imagery of insect metamorphosis Have students use their notes
motif of metamorphosis in this to convey the positive growth from the Close Reading on the
selection by rereading two effect education has on youth. motif of metamorphosis to create
passages. In paragraph 1 Mann Compare the language of these a comic representation of the
talks about the growth of the analogies and consider their process of evolution students
phrase “the people” in connec- effectiveness on the reader. would undergo in Mann’s ideal
tion with the growth in human educational world.
rights, and how it is effectively
Teacher’s Edition 213
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5 Identity and Society seeing connections
Horace Mann argues in this piece for the importance of universal education.
Look at this chart and, first, make a claim about the trends in the graduation rate in the United
States. Then, based upon what you have read in the Mann piece, explain what you
believe might have caused these trends.
50.8
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE 6.4
BY YEAR (PERCENTAGE) BY YEAR (PERCENTAGE) 19201900
2.0 6.4
2.0
1870 1880 18901870 19001880 19101890 19301910 19401920 19501930
CLOSE READING many children in every town in the State. sentiments are pure and elevating, — who can
Paragraph 2 vilifies parents and Although there may be a few exceptions, in display the beauty and excellence of knowledge,
the circumstances of children’s regard to sons, as to the effects which these and win others to obtain what they cannot fail
home lives. Have students read misfortunes of birth and parentage tend to to admire. The most which this class of children
this paragraph again noting the produce, yet there are scarcely any such excep- would be likely to see of any educated men,
language of failure in connection tions in regard to daughters. At the age of sixteen would be when the clergyman should make his
with parenting, and then compare or eighteen, a vigorous-minded boy may break brief annual parochial call, or when the physi-
it with the language of success away from the dark hovel where his eyes first cian should be summoned to administer to
connected to teachers and schools saw the light, and go abroad in quest of better diseases brought on by ignorance or improper
Mann uses in paragraph 3. fortunes; but there is hardly any such option in indulgences, or when they should be carried
regard to girls. As a general rule, they will remain before the courts to answer for offences which
TEACHING IDEA at home, until, perhaps, the relation of marriage their untaught and unchastened passions had
Mann’s vision of school rests on is entered into with some individual of fortunes prompted them to commit. But let a company
the idea of teachers “whose similar to their own, when it will become their of well-educated, well-trained, devoted teach-
manners are refined, whose turn to rear up children after the model which ers be sent into the school districts of the
tastes and sentiments are pure was furnished in their own degraded and Commonwealth, to hold intercourse and
and elevating – who can display degrading birthplace. communion with these children, week after
the beauty and excellence of week and month after month, — let their
knowledge” (par. 3). Write a short Now, in the common course of events, and qualities of knowledge, dignity, kindness,
narrative about the teacher you without the instrumentality of schools, this purity, and refinement, be brought to act upon
have had who best fits that class of children, during the whole period of the ignorance, vulgarity, squalidness, and
description and the effect they their minority, would never be brought into obscenity, of these neglected and perverted
have had on you. communication or acquaintance with a single beings, — and how inexpressibly beautiful it
educated, intelligent, benevolent individ- would be to see the latter gradually enlightened,
ual, — with one who loves children with a wise purified, and humanized, by the benignant
and forecasting love, — with one whose influences of the former, — to see them casting
manners are refined, whose tastes and
214
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Mann’s description of the trans- down the use of descriptive
formation children could experi- language, imagery, personifica-
ence through being educated by tion and other author’s craft
amazing teachers is incredibly devices.
vivid. Have students carefully
re-read the section of paragraph
3 from “But let a company” to
“around their own doors” noting
214 Advanced Language & Literature
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77.1 77.1 Class of 2010 Class of 2010 Mann The Common School Journal TEACHING IDEA
50.8 69.9 87 Asian 87 Asian
Mann died before the Civil War
8749W.8hitAell students 8749W.8hitAell students even began and there is not a word
69.971 Hispanic about race and the inequities it can
71 Hispanic engender in societies. Based on
67 Black 67 Black the arguments Mann puts forth,
65 American Indian 65 American Indian what can we assume he felt about
compulsory education for
non-white citizens? Re-read the
essay to gather evidence to
support your view. Connect this
with graph on pages 214-15.
SOURCES: EPE Research SOURCES: EPE Research BUILDING CONTEXT
Center, 2010; Center, 2010;
U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Education Mann references “civilization and
Christianity” as assumed struc-
19601940 19701950 19801960 19901970 20001980 20101990 2000 2010 tural values that educated
Americans possessed and shared
Sources: EPE Research Center, 2010; U.S. Department of Education in common. Have a discussion
about what those values implied
off not only the foul exuviae1 of the surface, but civilization and Christianity; and it is time that and entailed. What are shared
the deeper impurities of the soul! By wise those who call upon us to send our wealth to values do we feel modern
precepts, by patterns and examples of what is other lands should bestow a thought upon the educated Americans possess?
good and great in human character, how many barbarism and heathenism around their own (paragraph 3) Tie this discussion
of them may be led to admire, to reverence, and doors. It is time that the current of public senti- to Connecting Q2.
then to imitate! O, how beautiful and divine the ment should be changed on another point, and
work by which the jungles of a society that calls that the honor and glory of a people should be CHECK FOR
itself civilized, can be cleared from the harpies, held to consist in the general prevalence of UNDERSTANDING
the wild beasts, and the foul creeping things virtue and intelligence, rather than in the
which now dwell therein! This is the work of production of a few splendid examples of What does Mann mean in his last
genius and knowledge. In the great march of statement about “our duty”?
1exuviae: Skin shed by an animal, usually referring to the molting of society, it is rather our duty to bring up the rear (paragraph 3)
an insect larva. —Eds. than to push forward the van.
TRM SUGGESTED
understanding and Interpreting 3 Despite the fact that at the time he was writing RESPONSES
women were unable to vote in the United States,
1 Summarize the “transition state” that Horace Mann takes the time to describe the unique Suggested responses to the
Mann suggests mankind is passing through circumstances of young women who are not educated. questions for this reading can be
(par. 1), and explain how this historical movement Explain how the plight of women at the time that he found on the Teacher’s Resource
relates to the idea of universal education. describes helps to make his case for universal Flash Drive.
education.
2 According to Mann, what is the effect of the CHECK FOR
widespread use of the new phrase “the people” the individual in school conversation UNDERSTANDING –
(par. 1)? UNDERSTANDING Q3
215 This prompt references the fact
that women had not yet won the
right to vote at the time of Mann’s
essay. Clarify that students know
much time elapses between his
essay (1842) and the right to vote
being granted to American
women.
05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 215 T E AC H I N G I D27/E10A/15 7:29 PM
All developed nations have some
amount of compulsory education,
yet all over the world there are
critics of this approach, including
John Taylor Gatto. Have students
research other arguments for and
against compulsory education
and write an essay on this ques-
tion: should we have compulsory
education – why or why not?
Teacher’s Edition 215
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5 Identity and Society 4 Reread the first part of paragraph 3, which begins 5 Explain what Mann means in the final sentence
“Now, in the common course of events,” and of the excerpt: “In the great march of society, it is
identify the main goal that Mann believes schools rather our duty to bring up the rear than to push
should attempt to achieve. forward the van” (par. 3).
analyzing language, Style, and Structure
1 Horace Mann tries to draw a clear contrast 3 Notice how both the beginning and the end of the
between life for students outside school and for excerpt take the reader outside the geographical
students inside. Make a T-chart of the words and boundaries of the United States. What is Mann’s
phrases that Mann uses to describe each, and then purpose in doing so, and how effective is this choice in
explain how his word choices help to support his making his case for universal education?
argument for universal schooling.
TEACHING IDEA –
ANALYZING Q2 2 Reread the long sentence that begins with “But let
a company of well-educated . . .” (par. 3). How do
Divide the class in half and have the language choices in this sentence attempt to
one half examine the language of convince the reader of the value of education?
this sentence that references chil-
dren/students, and the other half connecting, arguing, and extending 2 Near the end of this excerpt, Mann says that
examine the language of the education is the work of civilization and of
sentence that refers to teachers. 1 One of the arguments that Mann makes about Christianity. And yet today, Mann is known for being a
Have them Think, Pair, Share with universal education is the effect that it can have on secularist in education, meaning that he felt that
a partner who read for the oppo- women and society as a whole. Look at the following religion did not have a place in the public schools.
site purpose, then debrief as a chart and conduct additional research in order to Additionally, the concept of the separation of church
class to address Analyzing Q2. explain the effect that educating women in developing and state appears in the First Amendment to the U.S.
countries today can have on a society. Constitution, adopted in 1791, which says, in part,
TRM THINK, PAIR, “Congress shall make no law respecting an
SHARE Total Fertility Rates by Women’s Education establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
Level in Less-Developed Regions of the World exercise thereof.” There are many examples of how the
For more information on how to conflict between secularism and someone’s right to
conduct an effective Think, Pair, 6.4 5.4 practice his or her religion openly plays out in schools.
Share, see the Teacher’s 7 In your opinion, what is the proper place for religion in
Resource Flash Drive 5.8 school, and what evidence can you provide to support
6 5.5 4.5 5 your position?
TEACHING IDEA – 4.7 5
CONNECTING Q1 Children per woman 3 Mann describes school as a place where
5 4.1 4.6 young people should be in the company of
Have students do research on the “well-educated, well-trained, devoted teachers” who
link between women’s level of 4 3.7 3.6 3.5 share “their qualities of knowledge, dignity, kindness,
education and their income, and purity, and refinement” with their students. To what
then create a graph showing their 3 2.8 2.7 3.5 3.9 extent has this been your experience with teachers
findings. Have them compare throughout your experience, from elementary school
their graph to the connection 2 2.6 into high school? Be sure not to identify specific
between education and fertility teachers by name in your response.
depicted in the graph in this 1
question.
0
LSatuSiWbonNe-uostASrtthaemherheeanarrirsntcaAasnAAifsariAifarciaca Education Level
Oceania
None
Primary
Secondary
or higher
216
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216 Advanced Language & Literature
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from Horace’s School: Brown University Archives Sizer Horace’s School TRM VOCABULARY
Redesigning the American High School
A list of challenging words from
Theodore Sizer this reading can be found in the
Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.
Theodore Sizer (1932–2009) was one of the leading figures in
the American school reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s, CHECK FOR
pushing schools to be more effective places for students to UNDERSTANDING
learn. A former high school teacher, professor, and college How and why do Sizer’s descrip-
dean, Sizer is probably most well-known for his work in tions of the students in para-
founding the Coalition of Essential Schools, which is an graphs 2 and 3 and anecdotal
organization designed to support school leaders who are narrative about his lesson in
undertaking the kinds of reform Sizer promoted. Specifically, the Coalition paragraphs 4-8 help our under-
focuses on what Sizer called the Common Principles, which include learning standing of his later points about
to use one’s mind well, “less is more,” depth over coverage, and personalization. what needs to change in
schools?
Key conTexT This excerpt is taken from Sizer’s book Horace’s School: Redesigning the
American High School (1997), which is the middle volume of a trilogy examining the
state of American high schools and making suggestions for their improvement. In all
three of the books, Sizer utilizes an unusual storytelling device that he calls “nonfiction
fiction.” Sizer invents the character of Horace Smith, a teacher and school leader (and
likely named as homage to Horace Mann) at a fictional school called Franklin High,
which he says is a composite of a number of schools he visited. This excerpt begins
with Sizer’s own personal account of a real classroom he visited, but ends with a
fictionalized scene of Horace leading a faculty meeting. In his introduction, Sizer
suggests that this device “carries its own sort of authenticity.”
When seeing schools as a visitor, I often ask However, not every kid presented the
to take a class. Sometimes teachers let essence of fourteenness. Of the twenty or so
me, though rarely with the brisk assent I youngsters eyeing me doubtfully, there were
received in a northeastern city high school little and big ones, the bearded man and the
when, on a moment’s notice, I was handed a childish boy, the women-girls looking like moth-
ninth-grade humanities group for a period of an ers or children, sometimes both. They were
hour and a half. I inherited the topic under surely a tough lot, on the whole; they had prob-
study — crafting an essay — and plunged into ably seen much of life, much that was foreign to
questioning the kids on their topics. Each essay my own experience. The class was predomi-
was to center on an incident involving a close nantly black and brown; there were no Asian-
family member and was to include, in one Americans or Asians.
graceful way or another, a portrait of that person,
the narrative of the incident, and a description Some talked easily about their work; most
of the writer’s deeper or differing sense of his did not. Two large girls stumbled badly in
relative on the basis of that incident. It was a English; their whispers to each other were in
demanding topic for fourteen-year-olds. rapid, easy Portuguese. The most vocal student
was a stringy, slouched boy wearing a black
217
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05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 217 B U I L D I N G C2O7/10N/15T7E:29XPTM
In paragraph 1 Sizer takes over a
freshmen humanities class at a
moment’s notice while they are
crafting essays. What is it like
when someone new comes in to
teach? What if they are a student
teacher? A sub? A guest speaker?
Teacher’s Edition 217
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5 Identity and Society T-shirt emblazoned with the face of a recent film isolated white girl, could write easily but could
character and a Chicago Bulls cap with the visor not tell me clearly what they wanted to express.
BUILDING CONTEXT turned to the back. He had a quick retort for This student of the kneeless jeans presented a
everything, usually spoken into thin air, not to tangle of notions. Whatever her technical writing
In paragraph 5, Sizer says, me or even to his classmates. These comments skills, she lacked a coherent story to tell. She was
“Although one tries to rein in were usually apt, always funny, clever, bordering childish, not so much naïve as living in a world
one’s judgments, one still makes on but never crossing the line of insolence. He of flat simplicities.
them.” Looking around your own was utterly unignorable. He was intensely
classroom, what kinds of judg- watched by a virtually mute bigger boy, a partic- Some had no idea of what a narrative was.
ments or assumptions would a ular friend, obviously, who grinned and nodded Others created tales about their brothers that
stranger make based on what assent from time to time. would have dazzled Steven Spielberg. Some
they would see? What might they loved writing, seemingly losing themselves in
assume about you? In one corner, leaning against the wall, the concentration. Chicago Bulls whipped off a
tablet of her desk teetering, was a slight white pageant of paragraphs, his bon mots1 of the
girl, apart from the rest of the group but attend- earlier discussion now finding their way to
ing with care. She wore studiously unkempt paper. His work was sloppy but wonderful.
clothes, jeans well ripped at the knees. She took Others slouched, pencils relentlessly tapping,
her time to talk, but when she did her language gazing around, a few words put down, not even
was standard English, her references from a a sentence, utterly unengaged. Only the
different part of town. Her language separated Caribbean-American proved true to form. He
her even more than her race, but the others whispered and wrote as he had talked publicly.
ignored her. She seemed oblivious of her isola- He exuded assurance.
tion. By contrast, the group’s central figure was
an older-looking tall boy, whose talk was care- As their attention waned, I shifted the
fully phrased, melodious with Caribbean into- activity to a discussion of a historical incident
nations, and as precise as it was predictable. He that once raised and still raises some enduring
seemed the class’s leader, an Eagle Scout in issues of fundamental justice. As I go among
deportment, an ad for a college admissions schools, I like to use this particular exercise,
brochure. because it gives consistency to my class watch-
5 My impressions of these kids and my ing. The merchant vessel Emily, out of Salem,
conversation with them immediately evoked Massachusetts, in 1819, dropped anchor in the
stereotypes. I guessed from their appearances harbor of Canton, China, to sell and buy goods.
alone who they were. I knew that this mental While the captain carried out the major trans-
sorting-out was happening; it happens to us all: actions, several Chinese entrepreneurs tied
we try to make sense of strangers, the quicker their junks up to the ship and noisily hawked
the better. Although one tries to rein in one’s their wares to the men on board. One of the
judgments, one still makes them. seamen, named Terranova, was swabbing the
deck near the tethered boat of an especially
After a time, the students set to work on their persistent woman peddler. Somehow a large
essays, I traveled among them, peering over pottery jug on deck was loosened and fell onto
shoulders, reading the starts of their work. the hawker’s junk. The peddler fell overboard
Different people — different stereotypes — and drowned. The Cantonese authorities
emerged. Some could barely write simple prose
but could whisper to me rich ideas they were 1bon mots: Witty remarks. —Eds.
struggling to put to paper. Others, like the
218
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Sizer’s telling of Terranova’s toward either releasing Terranova
Canton legal issue is purposely to the Chinese government or for
ambiguous in the wording around the Captain to refuse. Make a
the actual events leading to the T-chart to keep track of the
woman’s death so as to leave evidence and arguments for each
space for argument. Re-read the and use this to answer
story in paragraph 8 closely look- Connecting Q2.
ing for clues that sway you more
218 Advanced Language & Literature
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demanded that the captain turn Terranova kind of day was each student having? Where was Sizer Horace’s School CHECK FOR
over for trial by a Chinese magistrate. The his mind this morning? Could she understand UNDERSTANDING
justice of Canton harbor was balanced, the what I was saying? Did a word I used mean Sizer shifts gears in his writing in
captain knew, on different scales from those something different to him from what I paragraph 10, finishing out his
of Massachusetts. The question to the students: intended? Did my “style” smother one but narrative section with a series of
If you were the captain, would you turn provoke another to do what he was “unsupposed” reflective questions meant to
Terranova over? to do? Beautifully complicated these students emphasize his perspective. Read
were, and to pretend otherwise would be to this section again and consider
The case can elicit all sorts of responses: fact deny humanity. the effectiveness of this rhetorical
gathering, weighing of alternatives, separation of approach. Connect this activity
the immediate situation from principle, empa- How can teachers know the students, know with answering Analyzing Q4.
thy for a different cultural position, the need to them well enough to understand how their
understand trade, Salem, and Canton in the first minds work, know where they come from, what TEACHING IDEA
part of the nineteenth century. And more. The pressures buffet them, what they are and are not Sizer’s first “remedy” is small
kids jumped in, at first tentatively, then more disposed to do? A teacher cannot stimulate a class sizes and manageable
vociferously. I served as a human encyclopedia, child to learn without knowing that child’s mind student loads in order to facilitate
a fact giver; I expressed no opinion. The Cape any more than a physician can guide an ill teachers’ getting to know
Verdean girls took positions of principle; patient to health without knowing that patient’s students to better meet their
Chicago Bulls looked for a quick way out. Just physical condition. Tendencies, patterns, likeli- learning needs and styles. Write a
pull anchor and sail away, he argued. Others hoods exist, but the course of action necessary short narrative about the impact
protested. What about the Emily’s trade next for an individual requires an understanding of that class size has had on you at
year? What about the rights of the family of the the particulars. one point in your education,
drowned woman? And more. Some refused to whether positive or negative. Did
make a decision, paralyzed. Again, patterns of And so, what to do? Remedies are actually you have a great connection with
response were different; now different stereo- obvious. They promise, however, to challenge a a teacher and a smaller class?
types emerged. The quick portraits I had twice clutch of traditional educational practices. Were you lost in the sea of a room
formed disappeared again. Eagle Scout, for bursting at the seams with too
example, was silent. He could not make a deci- First, the number of students per teacher many classmates? Reflect your
sion. What might be right for him was not only must be limited. Teachers, even the most experi- opinion on Sizer’s remedy in your
unclear but unfathomable. I was unfair to push enced, can know well only a finite number of narrative.
for a decision. He and a few others angrily individual students, surely not more than eighty
resented my final call for each student to put on and in many situations probably fewer. The typi-
a slip of paper his or her “answer” to the authori- cal secondary school teacher today is assigned
ties about Terranova’s release to Cantonese law. anywhere from 100 to over 180, coming at him,
10 The complexity of young people was rapid fire, in groups of twenty to forty. Horace
displayed in a ninety-minute spread in the Smith daily sees five groups of some twenty-four
restricted world of a high school classroom, even students each for three quarters of an hour. Can
to a stranger who had had no briefing about he really know well how each youngster thinks,
these kids and who had his hands full simply how each one is progressing and why, what each
maintaining order, no less being amateur one cares about?
ethnographer. My impressions changed several
times. One “cut” at establishing what each People, adolescents included, are compli-
youngster could or could not do, even with a cated and changeable, and knowing them well is
test, carefully crafted, was not the answer. What not something one can easily attain or hold on
to forever. Kids seem different to different adults;
they respond in different ways to different
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How does your personal experi-
ence connect with Sizer’s view in
paragraph 10 that “one cut” or
attempt was not enough for
students to really show their skills
and knowledge?
Teacher’s Edition 219
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5 Identity and Society seeing connections Attached are complete financial records
for the family assigned to you, including the
Throughout Horace’s School, Sizer describes a return filed by that family last year. In addition,
series of Exhibitions, which are long-term proj- you will find a blank copy of the current 1040,
ects that students complete, and which he also including related schedules, and explanatory
includes in the book to demonstrate the princi- material provided by the Internal Revenue
ples he is promoting. Look at the Exhibition Service.
included here and explain how it connects to one
or more of the significant ideas Sizer raises in this You will have a month to complete this
excerpt. Additionally, compare this Exhibition to work. Your result will be “audited” by an
some of the assignments you are asked to outside expert and one of your classmates
complete in school. In what ways are the princi- after you turn it in. You will have to explain the
ples Sizer values present—or not—in the work financial situation of “your” family and to
you are asked to do? defend the 1040 return for it which you have
presented.
An Exhibition: Form 1040
Each of you will serve as a “co-auditor” on
Your group of five classmates is to complete the return filed by a student from another group.
accurately the federal Internal Revenue You will be asked to comment on that return.
Service Form 1040 for each of five families.
Each member of your group will prepare the Good luck. Getting your tax amount
1040 for one of the families. You may work in wrong—or the tax for any of the five families
concert, helping one another. “Your” in your group—could end you in legal soup!
particular family’s form must be completed
by you personally, however. ...
situations or when studying different disciplines. 15 Accordingly, and reflecting the ambiguous
Few students open up to older people they do nature of each student’s progress or lack thereof,
not know or trust; to know a youngster in order wise teachers, knowing that they must be diag-
to teach her well means knowing her first as a nosticians of the youngster’s progress, take coun-
person. Moreover, there are no perfect tests one sel regularly with their colleagues about the
can administer to get a permanent fix on a child, student, sharing impressions, hunches, and
no matter how educators struggle to create such suggestions. Teachers confer with parents. And
devices and to believe in them. Current research teachers make time to confer with the student
on learning and adolescent development is full himself, privately — formally or more likely infor-
of speculation, of conflicting findings and mally — not only in the rush of class time. [. . .]
incomplete results, and it gives no simple All this personalization can be taken too far,
answer to the nature of learning or growing up. or worse yet can be bureaucratized with solemn
In sum, teachers (like parents) are very much on Meetings called on a Schedule to examine Each
their own, drawing on a mixture of signals from Student’s Brain and Navel. Compromises and
research, from experience, and from common common sense and flexibility are always needed
sense as the basis for their decisions. in schools, just as they are in good families.
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Sizer capitalizes specific words
for emphasis in sentence 1 of
paragraph 16 – what is his
intended purpose with this struc-
ture? How does it shift his tone,
and how effective is it?
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Here is another educational target. It teaches the importance of accurate, Sizer Horace’s School
It is authentic, painfully so. The importance consistent records, the necessity to read
closely, the nature of the tax system, and who
of the 1040 is self-evident. Knowing how not and what it favors. It also calls for a demonstra-
to be intimidated by the process of filing is tion of arithmetic, logical, and analytic skills.
obviously worthwhile.
It is organized so that students can work
It will appeal to students. It deals with two together, helping one another. Some may
issues paramount in most of their lives: promptly race out and consult a tax expert
money and fairness (the latter particularly if or call the IRS, asking for help. While this is
the families selected come from radically not recommended, it is tolerable: the costs
different walks of life). of such outside help are minimized by the
necessity to withstand and explain an audit.
Taught intelligently, it opens the door wide, Indeed, the act of getting such help may
and for many students in a compelling way, to serve as a powerful teacher. Further, the
a cluster of important disciplines such as necessity to be another person’s co-auditor
microeconomics, politics, ethics, and political requires the display of useful knowledge.
history. It can thereby be the springboard for
sustained serious study in several directions. It allows a teacher to vary the difficulty of
For example, it raises provocative questions material among the students involved, giving
about equality, about what “tax breaks” are a financially simpler family to a struggling
and who gets them and why. It is an example student and a more complex set of issues to
of government at work, with its use of finan- the class tax whiz. The students will, of
cial incentives. In all these respects, it spurs course, help one another, and they all must
teaching, animates it—this is a quality of a stand behind all five returns.
good Exhibition.
Adjustments must be made quickly and Finally, the mores of the school — the ways it
thoughtfully. The key ingredients here are goes about its business — must implicitly show
time during the school day for people to meet, respect for individual students, for the expecta-
schedules that allow the teachers of particular tion that each can succeed, and for the belief
youngsters to gather together, teachers commit- that each deserves success. It is in this context
ted to such gatherings, and a school program that schools’ “dirty little secrets,” incendiary
flexible enough to respond to adjustments issues like race, can be addressed. A school
recommended for each student. Schools should faculty that knows its students has taken each
do no less for students than effective hospitals beyond his or her race, has accepted each as a
do for patients. Good hospitals allow time for person. This is not to say that race or gender or
staff consultations. They expect collaboration ethnicity is not of consequence; it means only
in the diagnosis of problems and the selection that other matters, such as a kid’s personality,
of remedies. Good hospitals consult patients his hopes, his friends, his passions, his family,
carefully. Schools are not hospitals and school his idiosyncrasies, count more. It is one thing to
kids are not “sick,” yet the analogies in this say, “Those three black kids and those two white
case hold. kids over there are . . .”; it is better to say, “Bill,
the individual in school conversation 221
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5 Identity and Society Amanda, Susan, Roger, and Ernest . . .” The academic standards. Comparisons to athletics
person emerging from the caricature can help to were tried, but what kept cropping up was
TEACHING IDEA dissolve the stereotype. A stereotype is one of tracking — with academic varsities, junior
the roots of prejudice, one readily confronted in varsities, and the rest.
In the story of Mary Poppins, the good schools. The “dirty little secrets” will never
Banks children design their own be eliminated or go away: America’s prejudices The problem, committee members knew, was
advertisement for the perfect run too deep for that. The tensions and wran- that the game of life was all played at the varsity
nanny as the ones their parents glings they incite will always be with us, and level. In the use of their minds, if not their passing
have sought and hired were all schools must accept them — but always in the arms and kicking feet, all the young people had to
rather terrible. Sizer similarly context of the reality that no two people, young be made as competitive as possible.
describes in paragraph 18 what or old, are ever quite alike, nor should they ever
the teachers in an ideal school be treated precisely alike. “Take your taxes,” Margaret suggested.
would be like, shooting for the “Everybody has to do his taxes. Taxophobes are
stars in all the “fuzzy, but funda- A thoughtful school “culture” cannot be not let off. Everyone must be able to play that
mental qualities” they should readily codified or structured. An advisory game.”
posess. Thinking about your own period merely offers the possibility of “advice”
experiences and Sizer’s view- given and taken. What happens within that There was laughter. “The Form 1040 is the
point, create your own advertise- opportunity is the nub of it. Fuzzy but funda- test we all must pass . . .” More embarrassed
ment for the ideal teacher. Share mental qualities of caring and honesty, atten- laughter.
your ads in class and create a tiveness both to the immediate and to a young 25 “Not everyone will be able to make sense of
master list of ideal qualities that person’s future, empathy, patience, knowing all that IRS gobbledygook.”
most commonly appeared. when to draw the line, the expression of disap-
Contrast your class’ ideal teacher pointment or anger or forgiveness when such is “Why not?” Margaret persisted. “It isn’t all
with Sizer’s. deserved — indeed, those qualities which char- that hard. It takes time, persistence, careful read-
acterize us as humans rather than programmed ing, good records, patience galore. Why can’t we
robots — mark the essence of a school that is at set those ends as a standard for any Franklin
once compassionate, respectful, and efficient. graduate?”
How do such schools come to be? Through “In the real world, lots of people do their
the leadership of their adults, people who set taxes with others. In our house it’s a collective
and reset the standards, people who stay around late March hassle. And if we don’t understand,
a school long enough to give it a heart as well as we ask for help.”
a program, people who are ready to build a
community that extends beyond any one class- “So, isn’t that OK?” Margaret again. “We
room, people who know the potentials and limi- can’t teach every student the tax code forever
tations of technical expertise and of humane and ever, but we should be able to expect every-
judgment. One does not “design” such schools. one of them to do some sort of tax return. If in
20 Such schools, rather, grow, usually slowly collaboration, so much the better. It will give
and almost always painfully, as tough issues each young person the confidence that with
are met. help as needed he can complete the 1040.”
Horace’s committee seemed stumped about “Can we expect the same of the faculty?” More
how to respect the differences among students laughter. The committee was learning to like itself.
and yet meet the need for some absolute 30 Green: “The 1040 is the Real World. Why
isn’t that a good Exhibition?”
Again someone protested: “It will be too
hard for some of the kids!”
Coach: “It can’t be. They have to be able
to do it.”
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After all the teaching activities for and work on the essays as back-
the 3 essays in the Individual in ground information, set it in a
the School section, ask students school providing fodder for a rich
to write a One Act play involving discussion amongst the 3 men,
a fictional interaction between and demonstrate through the
Gatto, Mann, and Sizer. They dialogue their understanding of
should revisit all of their notes each man’s view on education.
222 Advanced Language & Literature
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understanding and Interpreting 4 Sizer compares an effective school to an effective Sizer Horace’s School TRM SUGGESTED
hospital. While he identifies the effective practices RESPONSES
1 At the beginning of this selection, Theodore Sizer that occur in a hospital, he does not explicitly identify
describes several of his students in simplistic, how these practices would look in a school. Finish the Suggested responses to the
stereotypical terms, but by paragraph 10, he comparison for Sizer by explaining what the effective questions for this reading can be
concludes, “Beautifully complicated these students school practices might be. found on the Teacher’s Resource
were.” What changes for Sizer, and what is the reader Flash Drive.
expected to conclude from his changed perceptions? 5 Sizer suggests that the most important step a
school can take to ensure that all students are
2 What is Sizer’s intention in asking the students receiving individualized attention is to look closely at
about the story of the merchant ship Emily? What “the mores of the school” (par. 17). According to Sizer,
is he hoping to learn? What conclusion is the reader what is an effective school culture?
expected to draw from the inclusion of the students’
responses? 6 In the last section of this excerpt (pars. 21–32),
Sizer switches to the “nonfiction fiction” approach
3 Sizer concludes, probably unsurprisingly, that in and describes the fictional faculty meeting that Horace
order to personalize instruction, teachers have to leads. How does the teachers’ dialogue illustrate the
know their students. In addition to large class sizes, to points that Sizer makes in the preceding paragraphs?
what other factors does Sizer attribute the difficulty of
teachers’ knowing their students well?
analyzing language, Style, and Structure
1 This excerpt is taken from a chapter called “Kids 3 Ultimately, this piece is an argument, making a
Differ.” In what ways does Sizer illustrate the point about the need for individualized knowledge
meaning of the chapter title through his word choice in of students. Why does Sizer start with a narrative?
the first four paragraphs, where he describes the kids How does the story he tells support his argument?
in the class he is teaching?
4 After the narrative opening about the classroom he
2 Select one of the students whom Sizer observes visited, Sizer switches to an expository mode of
while teaching the class at the beginning of the address. Does his attitude toward his topic shift or
excerpt. How does Sizer describe that student upon remain the same? Point to specific language choices in
first encountering him or her, and how do his each part of the selection to support your conclusion.
descriptions change later on? How does this changing
language illustrate a point that Sizer is making about
the individual in school?
connecting, arguing, and extending 2 Reread the scenario of the merchant ship Emily
(par. 8). What is your opinion on the case? What
1 Sizer spends considerable time identifying the might your response reveal about you?
qualities of an effective school culture. Compare
your own school’s culture to the ideal one that Sizer
describes.
the individual in school conversation 223
05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 223 TEACHING IDEA – CONNECTING Q1 27/10/15 7:29 PM
Have students build up to being Social (peers), Academic (their
able to complete this comparison teachers), Extracurricular (sports,
by giving them a graphic orga- drama, etc.), Schoolwide
nizer to collect evidence in the programs (clubs), Administrative
different areas of interaction they (rules, discipline), etc.
experience in school such as
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BUILDING CONTEXT 5 Identity and Society from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings © Wayne Miller/Magnum Photos
Before reading this excerpt of
Angelou’s memoir, check in on Maya Angelou
your students’ background
knowledge of the segregation of One of America’s most well-known and celebrated writers,
this time period, particularly in the Maya Angelou (1928–2014) was born Marguerite Johnson in
South. St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout her career, she published
numerous volumes of poetry, several plays and screenplays,
TRM VOCABULARY and six autobiographies that traced her life from birth all
the way to 1968. Her most famous autobiography is her first,
A list of challenging words from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which recounts her early
this reading can be found on the childhood up to about age seventeen.
Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.
Key conTexT Very controversial when it was released — and still challenged by some
BUILDING CONTEXT groups even today — I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells the story of the often-
Before reading ask students to brutal racism that Angelou (then called “Marguerite”) faced growing up with her
free write to the following prompt brother (Bailey) and her grandmother (Momma) in Stamps, Arkansas, a rural
to help them frame the story in community about two hours from Little Rock. Angelou speaks frankly of the sexual
reference to a personal experi- abuse she suffered as a child, her five-year self-imposed muteness, and the salvation
ence: write about a time when she found in books and writing. In this excerpt, the excitement and pride Marguerite
you felt really proud of yourself feels in her accomplishments are severely tested by “the ancient tragedy” of racism
for an accomplishment, but then during her eighth-grade graduation.
that pride was dented by outside
events or others’ comments or In the Store I was the person of the moment. schools had only that diploma and were
actions. They can then use this as The birthday girl. The center. Bailey had licensed to impart wisdom.
pre-writing while addressing graduated the year before, although to do so he
Connecting Q1. had had to forfeit all pleasures to make up for his The days had become longer and more
time lost in Baton Rouge. noticeable. The faded beige of former times
had been replaced with strong and sure colors.
My class was wearing butter-yellow piqué I began to see my classmates’ clothes, their skin
dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. tones, and the dust that waved off pussy willows.
She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing Clouds that lazed across the sky were objects of
puckers, then slurred the rest of the bodice. Her great concern to me. Their shiftier shapes might
dark fingers ducked in and out of the lemony have held a message that in my new happiness
cloth as she embroidered raised daisies around and with a little bit of time I’d soon decipher.
the hem. Before she considered herself finished During that period I looked at the arch of heaven
she had added a crocheted cuff on the puff so religiously my neck kept a steady ache. I had
sleeves, and a pointy crocheted collar. taken to smiling more often, and my jaws hurt
from the unaccustomed activity. Between the
I was going to be lovely. A walking model of two physical sore spots, I suppose I could have
all the various styles of fine hand sewing and it been uncomfortable, but that was not the case.
didn’t worry me that I was only twelve years old As a member of the winning team (the graduat-
and merely graduating from the eighth grade. ing class of 1940) I had outdistanced unpleasant
Besides, many teachers in Arkansas Negro
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In paragraph 4 Angelou estab- creates. What is the tone? Follow
lishes the tone of this section this up by doing the same Close
from I Know Why the Caged Bird reading for author’s craft of para-
Sings by using vivid author’s graph 24 when Angelou has a
craft. Read the passage again to major shift in tone, then compar-
locate examples of imagery, figu- ing the two.
rative language, and diction that
contribute to the tone she
224 Advanced Language & Literature
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sensations by miles. I was headed for the free- But to be able to operate at a top level with both Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
dom of open fields. adults and children was admirable.
5 Youth and social approval allied themselves
with me and we trammeled memories of slights His valedictory speech was entitled “To Be
and insults. The wind of our swift passage or Not to Be.” The rigid tenth-grade teacher had
remodeled my features. Lost tears were pounded helped him write it. He’d been working on the
to mud and then to dust. Years of withdrawal dramatic stresses for months.
were brushed aside and left behind, as hanging 10 The weeks until graduation were filled with
ropes of parasitic moss. heady activities. A group of small children were
to be presented in a play about buttercups and
My work alone had awarded me a top place daisies and bunny rabbits. They could be heard
and I was going to be one of the first called in the throughout the building practicing their hops
graduating ceremonies. On the classroom black- and their little songs that sounded like silver
board, as well as on the bulletin board in the bells. The older girls (nongraduates, of course)
auditorium, there were blue stars and white were assigned the task of making refreshments
stars and red stars. No absences, no tardinesses, for the night’s festivities. A tangy scent of ginger,
and my academic work was among the best of cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate wafted
the year. I could say the preamble to the around the home economics building as the
Constitution even faster than Bailey. We timed budding cooks made samples for themselves
ourselves often:“WethepeopleoftheUnitedStates- and their teachers.
inordertoformamoreperfectunion . . .” I had
memorized the Presidents of the United States In every corner of the workshop, axes and
from Washington to Roosevelt in chronological saws split fresh timber as the woodshop boys
as well as alphabetical order. made sets and stage scenery. Only the graduates
were left out of the general bustle. We were free
My hair pleased me too. Gradually the black to sit in the library at the back of the building or
mass had lengthened and thickened, so that it look in quite detachedly, naturally, on the
kept at last to its braided pattern, and I didn’t measures being taken for our event.
have to yank my scalp off when I tried to comb it.
Even the minister preached on graduation
Louise and I had rehearsed the exercises the Sunday before. His subject was, “Let your
until we tired out ourselves. Henry Reed was light so shine that men will see your good works
class valedictorian. He was a small, very black and praise your Father, Who is in Heaven.”
boy with hooded eyes, a long, broad nose and an Although the sermon was purported to be
oddly shaped head. I had admired him for years addressed to us, he used the occasion to speak
because each term he and I vied for the best to backsliders, gamblers and general ne’er-do-
grades in our class. Most often he bested me, but wells. But since he had called our names at the
instead of being disappointed I was pleased that beginning of the service we were mollified.
we shared top places between us. Like many
Southern Black children, he lived with his Among Negroes the tradition was to give
grandmother, who was as strict as Momma and presents to children going only from one grade
as kind as she knew how to be. He was courte- to another. How much more important this was
ous, respectful and soft-spoken to elders, but on when the person was graduating at the top of the
the playground he chose to play the roughest class. Uncle Willie and Momma had sent away
games. I admired him. Anyone, I reckoned, suffi- for a Mickey Mouse watch like Bailey’s. Louise
ciently afraid or sufficiently dull could be polite. gave me four embroidered handkerchiefs.
(I gave her three crocheted doilies.) Mrs. Sneed,
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American society’s limited
In paragraph 7 Angelou adds a perspective on beauty. Have Angelou’s autobiography. Have
note about being pleased with students watch a short portion of students integrate their notes
her hair, which serves to remind the documentaries Good Hair or from the documentary as addi-
the reader that despite all of Dark Girls, taking notes on the tional evidence for their response
Marguerite’s advanced language connections to Marguerite’s to Understanding Q5.
and intellectual prowess, she is perspective on herself and how it
also just an adolescent girl shifts during this excerpt of
concerned with her appearance.
It also connects to the shared
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5 Identity and Society the minister’s wife, made me an underskirt to I was too jittery to attend to chores, so Bailey
wear for graduation, and nearly every customer volunteered to do all before his bath.
CLOSE READING gave me a nickel or maybe even a dime with the
instruction “Keep on moving to higher ground,” Days before, we had made a sign for the
Have students juxtapose or some such encouragement. Store, and as we turned out the lights Momma
Angelou’s passages on memory – hung the cardboard over the doorknob. It read
paragraphs 15-24 demonstrate Amazingly the great day finally dawned and clearly: closed. graduation.
her remembering every detail of I was out of bed before I knew it. I threw open 20 My dress fitted perfectly and everyone said
dress and day, but then in para- the back door to see it more clearly, but Momma that I looked like a sunbeam in it. On the hill,
graph 46 she forgets her role in said, “Sister, come away from that door and put going toward the school, Bailey walked behind
the ceremony in the aftermath of your robe on.” with Uncle Willie, who muttered, “Go on, Ju.” He
Donleavy’s speech. Discuss the 15 I hoped the memory of that morning would wanted him to walk ahead with us because it
effect this comparison has in never leave me. Sunlight was itself still young, embarrassed him to have to walk so slowly.
helping the reader understand and the day had none of the insistence maturity Bailey said he’d let the ladies walk together, and
Marguerite. would bring it in a few hours. In my robe and the men would bring up the rear. We all laughed,
barefoot in the backyard, under cover of going to nicely.
see about my new beans, I gave myself up to the
gentle warmth and thanked God that no matter Little children dashed by out of the dark like
what evil I had done in my life He had allowed fireflies. Their crepe-paper dresses and butterfly
me to live to see this day. Somewhere in my wings were not made for running and we heard
fatalism I had expected to die, accidentally, and more than one rip, dryly, and the regretful “uh
never have the chance to walk up the stairs in uh” that followed.
the auditorium and gracefully receive my hard-
earned diploma. Out of God’s merciful bosom I The school blazed without gaiety. The
had won reprieve. windows seemed cold and unfriendly from the
lower hill. A sense of ill-fated timing crept over
Bailey came out in his robe and gave me a me, and if Momma hadn’t reached for my hand
box wrapped in Christmas paper. He said he had I would have drifted back to Bailey and Uncle
saved his money for months to pay for it. It felt Willie, and possibly beyond. She made a few
like a box of chocolates, but I knew Bailey slow jokes about my feet getting cold, and
wouldn’t save money to buy candy when we had tugged me along to the now-strange building.
all we could want under our noses.
Around the front steps, assurance came
He was as proud of the gift as I. It was a back. There were my fellow “greats,” the graduat-
soft-leather-bound copy of a collection of ing class. Hair brushed back, legs oiled, new
poems by Edgar Allan Poe, or, as Bailey and I dresses and pressed pleats, fresh pocket hand-
called him, “Eap.” I turned to “Annabel Lee” kerchiefs and little handbags, all homesewn. Oh,
and we walked up and down the garden rows, we were up to snuff, all right. I joined my
the cool dirt between our toes, reciting the comrades and didn’t even see my family go in to
beautifully sad lines. find seats in the crowded auditorium.
Momma made a Sunday breakfast although The school band struck up a march and all
it was only Friday. After we finished the blessing, classes filed in as had been rehearsed. We stood
I opened my eyes to find the watch on my plate. in front of our seats, as assigned, and on a signal
It was a dream of a day. Everything went from the choir director, we sat. No sooner had
smoothly and to my credit. I didn’t have to be this been accomplished than the band started to
reminded or scolded for anything. Near evening play the national anthem. We rose again and
sang the song, after which we recited the pledge
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UNDERSTANDING
Connect to students’ background
knowledge of Edgar Allen Poe as
most have studied his more
famous works in middle school.
Do they remember “Annabel
Lee”? Connect the narrator’s
tragic story of love and loss in
Poe’s poem to the circumstances
of Marguerite’s graduation day.
226 Advanced Language & Literature
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of allegiance. We remained standing for a brief stream and then to a trickle. But he cleared his Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings CLOSE READING
minute before the choir director and the princi- throat and said, “Our speaker tonight, who is Teach students the term ‘microag-
pal signaled to us, rather desperately I thought, also our friend, came from Texarkana to deliver gression’ and have them read
to take our seats. The command was so unusual the commencement address, but due to the paragraphs 28-34 and 43-44
that our carefully rehearsed and smooth- irregularity of the train schedule, he’s going to, closely to identify the microaggres-
running machine was thrown off. For a full as they say, ‘speak and run.’” He said that we sions displayed by Mr. Donleavy
minute we fumbled for our chairs and bumped understood and wanted the man to know that and his partner. Have students use
into each other awkwardly. Habits change or we were most grateful for the time he was able to their findings to help them answer
solidify under pressure, so in our state of give us and then something about how we were Analyzing Q3.
nervous tension we had been ready to follow our willing always to adjust to another’s program,
usual assembly pattern: the American national and without more ado — “I give you Mr. Edward TEACHING IDEA
anthem, then the pledge of allegiance, then the Donleavy.” As Marguerite takes in Donleavy’s
song every Black person I knew called the Negro description in paragraph 32 of the
National Anthem. All done in the same key, with Not one but two white men came through the white school in town, we are left
the same passion and most often standing on door offstage. The shorter one walked to the wondering what life would be like
the same foot. speaker’s platform, and the tall one moved over to for her if she had had other
25 Finding my seat at last, I was overcome with the center seat and sat down. But that was our opportunities. Using what you
a presentiment of worse things to come. principal’s seat, and already occupied. The learned by reading the previous
Something unrehearsed, unplanned, was going dislodged gentleman bounced around for a long essays about the Individual in
to happen, and we were going to be made to look breath or two before the Baptist minister gave him School, put Marguerite into a
bad. I distinctly remember being explicit in the his chair, then with more dignity than the situa- school designed by either Gatto
choice of pronoun. It was “we,” the graduating tion deserved, the minister walked off the stage. or Sizer. How would her life be
class, the unit, that concerned me then. different? Might it be the same at
Donleavy looked at the audience once one or the other? Create a narra-
The principal welcomed “parents and (on reflection, I’m sure that he wanted only to tive in her voice as she experi-
friends” and asked the Baptist minister to lead reassure himself that we were really there), ences life at that school for a day.
us in prayer. His invocation was brief and adjusted his glasses and began to read from a
punchy, and for a second I thought we were sheaf of papers.
getting back on the high road to right action. 30 He was glad “to be here and to see the work
When the principal came back to the dais, going on just as it was in the other schools.”
however, his voice had changed. Sounds always
affected me profoundly and the principal’s voice At the first “Amen” from the audience I
was one of my favorites. During assembly it willed the offender to immediate death by
melted and lowed weakly into the audience. It choking on the word. But Amens and Yes, sir’s
had not been in my plan to listen to him, but my began to fall around the room like rain through a
curiosity was piqued and I straightened up to ragged umbrella.
give him my attention.
He told us of the wonderful changes we
He was talking about Booker T. Washington, children in Stamps had in store. The Central
our “late great leader,” who said we can be as School (naturally, the white school was Central)
close as the fingers on the hand, etc. . . . Then he had already been granted improvements that
said a few vague things about friendship and the would be in use in the fall. A well-known artist
friendship of kindly people to those less fortu- was coming from Little Rock to teach art to
nate than themselves. With that his voice nearly them. They were going to have the newest
faded, thin, away. Like a river diminishing to a microscopes and chemistry equipment for their
laboratory. Mr. Donleavy didn’t leave us long in
the dark over who made these improvements
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5 Identity and Society available to Central High. Nor were we to be Washington Carver, as a bootblack, to buy a
ignored in the general betterment scheme he lousy microscope? Bailey was obviously
CHECK FOR had in mind. always going to be too small to be an athlete,
UNDERSTANDING so which concrete angel glued to what country
He said that he had pointed out to people at seat had decided that if my brother wanted to
Why is the audience so upset? a very high level that one of the first-line become a lawyer he had to first pay penance
What is the “ancient drama”? football tacklers at Arkansas Agricultural and for his skin by picking cotton and hoeing corn
Mechanical College had graduated from good and studying correspondence books at night
old Lafayette County Training School. Here for twenty years?
fewer Amen’s were heard. Those few that did
break through lay dully in the air with the The man’s dead words fell like bricks around
heaviness of habit. the auditorium and too many settled in my
belly. Constrained by hard-learned manners I
He went on to praise us. He went on to say couldn’t look behind me, but to my left and
how he had bragged that “one of the best basket- right the proud graduating class of 1940 had
ball players at Fisk sank his first ball right here at dropped their heads. Every girl in my row had
Lafayette County Training School.” found something new to do with her handker-
35 The white kids were going to have a chance chief. Some folded the tiny squares into love
to become Galileos and Madame Curies and knots, some into triangles, but most were
Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls wadding them, then pressing them flat on their
weren’t even in on it) would try to be Jesse yellow laps.
Owenses and Joe Louises.
On the dais, the ancient tragedy was being
Owens and the Brown Bomber were great replayed. Professor Parsons sat, a sculptor’s
heroes in our world, but what school official in reject, rigid. His large, heavy body seemed
the white-goddom of Little Rock had the right devoid of will or willingness, and his eyes said he
to decide that those two men must be our only was no longer with us. The other teachers exam-
heroes? Who decided that for Henry Reed to ined the flag (which was draped stage right) or
become a scientist he had to work like George
The events Angelou © Bettmann/Corbis
describes in her
autobiography take place
about fifteen years before
the court-ordered
integration of Little Rock’s
Central High School in 1957.
In this photo, National
Guard troops protect a girl
arriving to attend school.
What perspective on this
historic event, and this
scene in particular, does
Angelou’s memoir give
you?
228
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228 Advanced Language & Literature
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their notes, or the windows which opened on looked up to acknowledge the grunts of accep- Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings TEACHING IDEA
our now-famous playing diamond. tance — also, we were bound to get some new
equipment for the home economics building In what should have been her
Graduation, the hush-hush magic time of and the workshop. moment of triumph, Marguerite is
frills and gifts and congratulations and diplo- instead laid low by Donleavy and
mas, was finished for me before my name was He finished, and since there was no need to left filled with self-loathing. With
called. The accomplishment was nothing. The give any more than the most perfunctory thank- only a few sentences in para-
meticulous maps, drawn in three colors of ink, you’s, he nodded to the men on the stage, and graphs 26-44 he undoes years of
learning and spelling decasyllabic words, the tall white man who was never introduced hard work and dedication,
memorizing the whole of The Rape of Lucrece — joined him at the door. They left with the atti- reduces pride to shame. Have
it was for nothing. Donleavy had exposed us. tude that now they were off to something really students create a visual of this to
40 We were maids and farmers, handymen and important. (The graduation ceremonies at better interpret the impact of this
washerwomen, and anything higher that we Lafayette County Training School had been a moment. Give them a blank time-
aspired to was farcical and presumptuous. mere preliminary.) line shaped like a mountain and
45 The ugliness they left was palpable. An mark “graduation” at the peak.
Then I wished that Gabriel Prosser and Nat uninvited guest who wouldn’t leave. The choir Using textual evidence from this
Turner had killed all whitefolks in their beds and was summoned and sang a modern arrangement excerpt, have them indicate her
that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” with new words accomplishments and sentiments
before the signing of the Emancipation pertaining to graduates seeking their place in the of pride as marks going up the
Proclamation, and that Harriet Tubman had world. But it didn’t work. Elouise, the daughter of mountain, and Donleavy’s racist,
been killed by that blow on her head and the Baptist minister, recited “Invictus,” and I destructive comments and her
Christopher Columbus had drowned in the could have cried at the impertinence of “I am the resulting feelings of hopelessness
Santa María. master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” and shame as marks going down
the other side of the mountain.
It was awful to be Negro and have no My name had lost its ring of familiarity and I
control over my life. It was brutal to be young had to be nudged to go and receive my diploma. CHECK FOR
and already trained to sit quietly and listen to All my preparations had fled. I neither marched UNDERSTANDING
charges brought against my color with no up to the stage like a conquering Amazon, nor
chance of defense. We should all be dead. I did I look in the audience for Bailey’s nod of In paragraphs 39 and 48 Angelou
thought I should like to see us all dead, one on approval. Marguerite Johnson, I heard the name mentions the works Rape of
top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the again, my honors were read, there were noises in Lucrese and Hamlet – clarify that
whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base, the audience of appreciation, and I took my these were authored by
then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and place on the stage as rehearsed. Shakespeare. What does it make
teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes us feel and think about
with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks I thought about colors I hated: ecru, puce, Marguerite and Henry that they
and spirituals sticking out of their mouths. The lavender, beige and black. can recite Shakespeare from
Dutch children should all stumble in their memory?
wooden shoes and break their necks. The There was shuffling and rustling around
French should choke to death on the Louisiana me, then Henry Reed was giving his valedictory
Purchase (1803) while silkworms ate all the address, “To Be or Not to Be.” Hadn’t he heard
Chinese with their stupid pigtails. As a species, the whitefolks? We couldn’t be, so the question
we were an abomination. All of us. was a waste of time. Henry’s voice came out
clear and strong. I feared to look at him. Hadn’t
Donleavy was running for election, and he got the message? There was no “nobler in
assured our parents that if he won we could the mind” for Negroes because the world didn’t
count on having the only colored paved playing think we had minds, and they let us know it.
field in that part of Arkansas. Also — he never “Outrageous fortune”? Now, that was a joke.
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UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING
To support the close reading of the objects associated with them.
Who were Gabriel Prosser and paragraph 42 described in In the next field, have students In the midst of her haunting
Nat Turner? Analyzing Q4, have students explain how the language and depiction of the “pyramid of
re-read the passage using a objects she chooses for each flesh” in paragraph 42,
graphic organizer. For each race race illustrate Marguerite’s atti- Marguerite pauses to note the
or ethnicity, have students write tude toward racism. exact date of the Louisiana
the line containing the imagery Purchase. What is Angelou’s
about that group, and underline intended effect with this pause?
How does it connect to the tone
of the section?
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5 Identity and Society When the ceremony was over I had to tell Every child I knew had learned that song
Henry Reed some things. That is, if I still cared. with his ABC’s and along with “Jesus Loves Me
TEACHING IDEA Not “rub,” Henry, “erase.” “Ah, there’s the This I Know.” But I personally had never heard it
erase.” Us. before. Never heard the words, despite the thou-
Marguerite disappears inside sands of times I had sung them. Never thought
herself in despair after Donleavy’s Henry had been a good student in elocution. they had anything to do with me.
speech, but is guided back to a His voice rose on tides of promise and fell on
sense of hope when Henry leads waves of warnings. The English teacher had On the other hand, the words of Patrick Henry
the hall in singing the “Negro helped him to create a sermon winging through had made such an impression on me that I had
national anthem.” Have students Hamlet’s soliloquy. To be a man, a doer, a been able to stretch myself tall and trembling and
read Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” builder, a leader, or to be a tool, an unfunny joke, say, “I know not what course others may take, but
and connect it to paragraphs a crusher of funky toadstools. I marveled that as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
50-58 of this excerpt. Henry could go through with the speech as if we
had a choice. And now I heard, really for the first time:
50 I had been listening and silently rebutting
each sentence with my eyes closed; then there “We have come over a way that with tears has
was a hush, which in an audience warns that been watered,
something unplanned is happening. I looked up
and saw Henry Reed, the conservative, the We have come, treading our path through the
proper, the A student, turn his back to the audi- blood of the slaughtered.”
ence and turn to us (the proud graduating class
of 1940) and sing, nearly speaking, 55 While echoes of the song shivered in the air,
Henry Reed bowed his head, said “Thank you,”
“Lift ev’ry voice and sing and returned to his place in the line. The tears
Till earth and heaven ring that slipped down many faces were not wiped
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty . . .” away in shame.
We were on top again. As always, again. We
It was the poem written by James Weldon survived. The depths had been icy and dark, but
Johnson. It was the music composed by J. now a bright sun spoke to our souls. I was no
Rosamond Johnson. It was the Negro national longer simply a member of the proud graduating
anthem. Out of habit we were singing it. class of 1940; I was a proud member of the
wonderful, beautiful Negro race.
Our mothers and fathers stood in the dark Oh, Black known and unknown poets, how
hall and joined the hymn of encouragement. A often have your auctioned pains sustained us?
kindergarten teacher led the small children onto Who will compute the lonely nights made less
the stage and the buttercups and daisies and lonely by your songs, or by the empty pots made
bunny rabbits marked time and tried to follow: less tragic by your tales?
If we were a people much given to revealing
“Stony the road we trod secrets, we might raise monuments and sacrifice
Bitter the chastening rod to the memories of our poets, but slavery cured
Felt in the days when hope, unborn, had us of that weakness. It may be enough, however,
to have it said that we survive in exact relation-
died. ship to the dedication of our poets (include
Yet with a steady beat preachers, musicians and blues singers).
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers
sighed?”
230
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UNDERSTANDING
In paragraph 56 why does
Marguerite repeat the word
“again”?
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understanding and Interpreting 4 A “coming of age” story typically features a Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings TRM SUGGESTED
protagonist who learns a lesson about the world RESPONSES
1 Trace Marguerite’s changing attitude toward her that requires him or her to put childhood aside and
own accomplishments in school at the following start becoming an adult. With this definition in mind, Suggested responses to the
points in the narrative. Be sure to identify a passage consider ways in which this excerpt from I Know Why questions for this reading can be
from the text that supports your response: the Caged Bird Sings can be considered a “coming of found on the Teacher’s Resource
age” story. Flash Drive.
a. before the ceremony (pars. 6–15)
b. during and immediately after Mr. Donleavy’s 5 This excerpt is from about two-thirds through BUILDING CONTEXT –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Make an UNDERSTANDING Q4
speech (pars. 24–44) inference about how Marguerite’s thoughts about
c. after Henry Reed begins to sing (pars. 50–56) racism and her own sense of self might evolve in the Ask students to list stories they
remainder of the autobiography. Point to specific know that fit the definition for
2 What are some of the differences between passages from the text to support your response. “coming of age” given in this
Marguerite’s school, Lafayette County Training question.
School, and Central High School, the white school in
the same town? How does Marguerite feel about these
differences?
3 Look back closely at the speech that Mr. Donleavy
delivers. What is the content of his speech and
how is his message received by his audience? Why
does the audience receive the message this way?
analyzing language, Style, and Structure
1 There are a number of allusions to specific texts in 3 Look back at paragraphs 43–44 and explain how
this excerpt, including the “To be or not to be” Angelou uses style to reveal the obvious
speech from Hamlet, and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” indifference and racism of the two white men.
referred to in this piece as the “Negro National
Anthem.” Explain how each of these texts helps to 4 Reread paragraph 42. The imagery is brutal and
illustrate Marguerite’s inner conflicts with the effects of shocking, compared to the rest of the excerpt, as
racism. the narrator imagines a pile of dead people of all races.
What are the objects she imagines that the people from
2 Before Mr. Donleavy’s speech, Maya Angelou uses each race have with them and how does the language
a strikingly different tone to describe the she chooses illustrate Marguerite’s attitude toward
graduation ceremony than she does after the speech. racism? What might this paragraph be like if Marguerite
Choose two short passages, one from each section, had a more optimistic view of the world? Rewrite the
identify the tone, and explain how Angelou uses diction paragraph with this more optimistic tone.
to create it.
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ANALYZING Q2
Have students use a T chart to
keep track of notes for
Marguerite’s language describing
the graduation ceremony before
Donleavy’s speech on one side
and after it on the other.
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5 Identity and Society connecting, arguing, and extending occasional exceptions, are almost always funded
at far lower levels than the schools that serve white
1 In this excerpt, Marguerite has her expectations of and middle-class children. Nationally, on average,
a wonderful day dampened — at least a school serving primarily black and Latino
temporarily — by someone else’s actions, actions that students gets $1,000 less per pupil than an
are beyond her control. Write about a time in your life overwhelmingly white school. That’s a lot of money
when you have experienced a similar event. Be sure, as when you realize that kids aren’t educated
Angelou does, to include a reflection on what caused individually but in a class of 25–30 kids — that’s a
this disappointment. difference of $25,000–$30,000 every year for every
class.
2 Leading up to the graduation ceremony, we learn
that there are two schools in Stamps, Arkansas: What is the racial and socioeconomic background of
one for whites and one for African Americans. About the school populations in your area? Does this cause
twenty years later, in 1954, the Supreme Court, in any disparities that you can see? Write an essay that
Brown v. Board of Education, ruled this type of proposes specific solutions to the issues of
segregation illegal, and schools throughout the country segregation and funding that Kozol raises and Angelou
began to integrate. And yet, according to Jonathan demonstrates.
Kozol, an education researcher, today’s schools may
be just as segregated by race as they were during 3 Angelou has said that she took the title of her
Angelou’s childhood. In an interview about one of his autobiography from the poem “Sympathy” by Paul
books called The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration Laurence Dunbar. Read the third stanza from the poem
of Apartheid Schooling in America, Kozol said, and explain how the poem’s speaker faces a situation
similar to that of Marguerite in this excerpt. How is the
It goes to the question of whether we are going to message of the poem similar to or different from that of
be one society or two, whether our children will Angelou’s autobiography?
grow up to know one another as friends or view
each other eternally as strangers, and especially as I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
fearful strangers. But it also speaks directly to When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
academic issues, because overwhelmingly When he beats his bars and would be free;
segregated schools in the United States are the It is not a carol of joy or glee,
schools that have the lowest scores, the highest But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
class sizes, the least experienced teachers, and But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
the most devastating dropout rates. And of course I know why the caged bird sings.
these are the schools that always receive the least
amount of money. Segregated schools, despite
232
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CONNECTING Q3
Have students compare the
section of Dunbar’s poem cited
here with the singing of the
“Negro national anthem” in para-
graphs 52-57. How can we see
the connection between these
texts in title, theme, and tone?
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ENTERING THE CONVERSATION
THE INDIVIDUAL IN SCHOOL
Making Connections 3 While Horace Mann clearly values universal 233
education (p. 213), John Taylor Gatto suggests that
1 Read or reread the section from the Central Text of compulsory education turns citizens into “servants”
this chapter, “Shooting an Elephant” (p. 114), in (p. 211, par. 15). How would Mann respond to Gatto’s
which the narrator is standing in front of the crowd of arguments, and which position do you support? Why?
Burmese who silently urge him to shoot the animal,
even though he states clearly that he does not want to. 4 What is a problematic aspect of school on which
Compare the social forces at work in that passage with Theodore Sizer and John Taylor Gatto might
those Alexandra Robbins describes in her piece. Are agree? What are the differences in their proposed
there any research studies that she cites that would be solutions to the problem?
applicable to the actions of the narrator in “Shooting an
Elephant”? 5 Based on your reading of Theodore Sizer’s
Horace’s School, what would Sizer likely identify as
2 In the excerpt from The Geeks Shall Inherit the being the strengths and weaknesses with the
Earth, Robbins describes the biological and social districtwide and specific-school culture described in
factors that often force high school students to Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?
conform. What visual and textual evidence shows What solutions would Sizer probably suggest to
these factors at work in the excerpt from Friends address these concerns?
with Boys?
along with your own personal experiences, what would
Synthesizing Sources you say are the most important qualities that make a
supportive learning environment? Write your response
1 John Taylor Gatto, the author of “Against School” in the form of a letter to your principal to inform him or
(p. 207), wonders if we really even need school her about the attributes that he or she should consider
anymore. With so much of the world’s knowledge when making changes to the school.
accessible with a quick Google search, what is the
purpose of school in the twenty-first century? Be sure 4 One attribute that seems to run through many
to support your own ideas with those of the authors in of these texts is the power that school—peers,
this Conversation. teachers, the institution itself—has to enforce
conformity among students. While we often think of
2 The great majority of American high school “conformity” in a negative way, some of the texts point
students are educated in a traditional learning out that inculcating students with certain values and
environment: a group of a few hundred to a few skills that society thinks are important can be a positive
thousand students move from class to class in one outcome of the educational process. A case could be
main building, studying subjects like English, math, made, however, that schools have no business
science, and so on; they are taught by teachers who indoctrinating their students and that students should
take attendance, give tests, grade papers, and assign resist all pressures to conform to a school’s or society’s
homework. While there are students who are intended outcomes. Referring to two or more texts in
homeschooled or take high school classes online, the this Conversation, explain what role conformity ought to
traditional learning structure has not significantly play in the educational process.
changed since the invention of the American high
school in the nineteenth century. Propose a new model 5 Imagine that an incoming ninth grader asked you
for high school that meets the needs of today’s for advice on how to handle high school. What
learners, referring to at least two texts in this suggestions would you offer? Why? What advice would
Conversation as support for your proposal. one or more of the authors of texts in this Conversation
offer?
3 Many of the texts in this Conversation include
descriptions of both supportive and hostile school
environments. Considering at least two of these texts
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readIng worKShop analyzIng poInT of vIew
TEACHING IDEA Imagine that three of your friends got into an argument when you were not around, and
then two of them tell you their sides of the story, separately. Their stories are very different
Ask students to take pictures from each other. Which friend do you believe? How do you know the truth? And what
of your school and choose one about that third friend who never got to tell her side? Where’s her story? Now imagine that
photo that they think is most you have to tell someone else what happened. Think about how your perspective as
representative of your school. someone who did not even witness the conflict would shape the events even further.
Display each of these in class
and discuss how different points The point is: perspective matters. Your friends have their own points of view, you have
of view present different perspec- a point of view, and inevitably those perspectives will shade the story slightly, even
tives of your school. subconsciously; each individual comes across better in his or her own version of the story.
acTIvITy
Look at the following pair of images of the Taj Mahal in India. How does the photogra-
pher’s perspective affect how we view the subject? What is included and excluded in
the frame, and for what purpose?
Marvin Bartels/500px
Pankaj Nangia/Bloomberg via Getty Images
CHECKING FOR The effect of point of view in narrative
UNDERSTANDING
Just as perspective matters in real life—whether with friends or photographs—it also
Since the purpose of this work- matters in storytelling, whether the narrative is nonfiction or fiction.
shop is to take a closer look at
how point of view influences a As you likely remember from Chapter 2, writers tend to choose from the following
reader’s response to a literary points of view:
text, be sure to take time to
review these definitions and First Person Narration: uses “I,” and is a character in the story (often, but not always
return to Chapter Two for further the protagonist).
discussion, if necessary. Third Person Narration: uses “he,” “she,” “they,” and so on, and is not a character
within the story. There are a few different types of third person narration:
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• Omniscient narrators are ones who know the thoughts and feelings of every character 5 The Effect of Point of View in Narrative CHECKING FOR
and can move easily through time. UNDERSTANDING
Ask students to paraphrase these
• Limited omniscient narrators are ones who know the thoughts of just one character. different possible effects of differ-
• Objective narrators are ones who report actions and dialogue and describe the setting, ent points of view.
but do not know the thoughts and feelings of any of the characters. TEACHING IDEA
An interesting discussion could
But more than simply being able to identify the type of narration an author chooses to use, be held on the role and purpose
the goal of analyzing a text for its point of view is to consider the effects of that choice. of “selfies” in our culture today.
Each point of view creates a unique relationship with the reader based upon what the What is the point of view of a
narrator is able to reveal or not; for instance: selfie? Why are they so
prevalent?
Intimacy: how close or removed does the reader feel to or from the characters and
events in the story?
Reliability: to what extent does the reader believe or trust the narrator’s perspective
on the events in the story?
Depth and breadth of knowledge: how much or how little information does the
reader receive about events and characters in the story?
Treatment of time periods: does the reader learn about the past or future of the char-
acters in the story, or is what he or she learns limited to events in the present?
Multiplicity of viewpoints: does the reader see different perspectives on the events
and characters within a story?
acTIvITy
Look at the following images. The photo on the left is taken from the visual equivalent
of the first person, while the one on the right is taken from a third person point of view.
What is the effect of each point of view, especially on the audience of the photographs?
What do we see or not see? What is lost or gained in the choice of each point of view?
lechatnoir/Getty Images
lechatnoir/Getty Images
analyzIng poInT of vIew readIng worKShop 235
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5 Identity and Society A Model Analysis
CHECKING FOR Below is an excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou about her
UNDERSTANDING eighth-grade graduation ceremony at an all–African American school in the 1940s. She
Ask students to summarize the and all of her classmates are excited about the ceremony until a white politician speaks,
conclusions presented in the praising the graduates solely for their athletic accomplishments, while talking about the
“model analysis” and share with academic accomplishments and facilities at the nearby all-white school. In this section,
a partner or small group. the narrator has stopped recounting what the white man said and we hear what she’s
thinking.
CHECKING FOR
UNDERSTANDING We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we
Be sure that students can identify aspired to was farcical and presumptuous. [. . .]
specific words and phrases from
the excerpt that create this sense It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young
of intimacy with the reader. and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no
chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on
236 top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base,
then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the
Negroes with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their
mouths. The Dutch children should all stumble in their wooden shoes and break their
necks. The French should choke to death on the Louisiana Purchase (1803) while silk-
worms ate all the Chinese with their stupid pigtails. As a species, we were an abomina-
tion. All of us. (pars. 40–42)
In this case, the first person narration allows Angelou to paint a very intimate portrait of her
pain. A third person point of view could never capture her absolute frustration when she
says that she has “no control over [her] life” or that she has been “trained to sit quietly.”
Those words belong to the narrator directly, and describe her own anger. Through this inti-
mate first person perspective, we too feel her anger. Angelou’s narrator then takes the
audience deep into her own tortured imagination, picturing a “pyramid of flesh.” The
reader is likely to be horrified at her fantasy here, but it gives us a picture of the lasting
effects of racism.
acTIvITy
1. Look at this excerpt from George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant.” Refer to the list
of effects on page 235 and identify which Orwell creates through his choice of a
first person point of view. Consider especially Orwell’s level of intimacy and rela-
tionship with the reader.
As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a
job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners
huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term
convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been flogged with bamboos — all
these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt. But I could get nothing into
perspective. I was young and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems in
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236 Advanced Language & Literature
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the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. I did not even know 5 Connecting Point of View and Theme
that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the
younger empires that are going to supplant it. All I knew was that I was stuck between 237 CHECKING FOR
my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who UNDERSTANDING
tried to make my job impossible. (par. 2) Specifically, ask students to iden-
tify what is gained and lost in this
2. Read this excerpt from “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell, in which the switch of narration.
narrator describes being a young British police officer stationed in Burma in the
1930s. Like the authors of most personal narratives, Orwell uses the first person TEACHING IDEA
point of view. Using the list of on page 235, as a reference, consider the effects This switching of narration is a
Orwell’s choice of narration creates, especially in terms of his reliability and the very good exercise to help
viewpoint the reader receives. students understand the power
of point of view. Ask students to
As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to select a passage from another
do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee text from this chapter with a first
(another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter. This person point of view (Devils
happened more than once. In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met Thumb, Against School, My Son,
me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on the Man) and change it to a third
my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thou- person, noting what changes and
sands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do except what remains the same.
stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans. (par. 1)
BUILDING CONTEXT
3. Now read the following version of the passage, which has been written from a third Ultimately, this is section is the
person limited point of view. Using the list of possible effects mentioned above, main point of the workshop: to
what is the effect of this change in point of view? connect point of view and theme.
If students need additional
As for the job he was doing, he hated it more bitterly than he can perhaps make clear. support in determining theme, be
In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched sure to return to the first sections
prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the of Chapter Two.
long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been flogged with
bamboos — all these oppressed him with an intolerable sense of guilt. But he could get
nothing into perspective. He was young and ill-educated and he had had to think out
his problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. He
did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did he know that it is a
great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it. All he knew
was that he was stuck between his hatred of the empire he served and his rage against
the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make his job impossible.
Connecting point of View and theme
Ultimately, the purpose of looking at a text for point of view and thinking about the effects
of certain perspectives is to connect the author’s choice of point of view to a theme he or
she is trying to create in the story. There are many tools that authors use to establish
theme, including characterization, conflict, symbols, and so on, and point of view is an
often-overlooked device.
analyzing point of View reading workshop
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Teacher’s Edition 237
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