Originality in Education

            I must start by saying that my feelings about this novel continue to flip flop drastically as I read it. There are certain instances when I really enjoy the novel because everything it is discussing makes complete sense, it rational. However, at other times the repetition bothers me to no extent. Thankfully this week’s reading was on the pleasant side of the spectrum. Now this may just be because at the time I was reading I was also listening to the Miami symphony orchestra play music from classic movies that just gave the book a more adventurous tone, however I think there may be more to it. I really agreed with what was revealed in the novel this week about schooling and grades. Grades, as external motivators, do take away from the purity of wanting to learn. They cause people to go to extremes such as cheating or writing something that they do not believe in because good grades can seem to define their lives. I especially was interested by the narrator’s discussion on originality, or the lack of thereof in a classic schooling system. This can be especially prevalent in literature or history classes where students feel the need to simply paraphrase their teacher’s words because they fear a bad grade if they do not. This brings about a generation of students who are experts at repetition but have no skill when it comes to original thought.

            Though I agree with that I fear that there is no useful solution. As with the example given in the novel, a school with no grades brings about students who don’t work because the motivation that has driven them for so long is no longer there. Yes, in the example the boy eventually goes back to school, now with his own desire for education driving him, however I believe that that is unlikely. There is a reason that degrees and certain grades are a prerequisite for certain jobs, and this reason is that deep down we are all a bit lazy, and if we are not required to do something we cannot be trusted to do it. At times I believe that Phaedrus and the narrator are a bit to optimistic, which is saying a lot given that I generally believe myself to be an optimistic person, and that the way some things in the world are, are the best way they can be.