Monday, October 1, 2012

Chapter 16

In chapter 16 Damian and Benjamin pointing out that Damian is extremely bright for his age, whereas Benjamin has a harder time learning and paying attention.  What stood out to me was how hard working the children are in school at such a young age and when they get older they'll have little opportunity to go anywhere good for school.  They are told from the very start that they will probably not get into a good school and will be subjected to very few schools which don't have the best education.  "There are a number of ways to break the will of those who have a fleeting notion of escaping from the destinies a social order seems to have in store for them.  Attrition and confusion and misinformation and alleged computer errors are a few of many ways in which the sequestration of these children in achieved.  Some of the children from St. Ann's escape these patterns now and then; having a pastor who was once a litigator helps them to kick down a couple of these doors.  It's too selective, though.  It calls for too much elbowing, too much manipulation and too much last minute intervention.  It's not the way a fair minded society should function."  I liked this quote because it shows how little faith people have in them.  It's like everyone is predicting their futures to be bad and no one is giving them a chance.  It shows how the education in the area is not good enough to get them into schools with better education.

3 comments:

  1. I agree. I think the offhanded rejection of these children breaks down their spirit so that they resign themselves to accept going to these bad schools.

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  2. I agree the amount of kids that actually graduate is very low. Seeing that stat from some of the kids point of view makes it seem hopeless to even try in school

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  3. I agree that it was really interesting how low the number was of children actually graduating. Also, how it's every generation, like they are born to live the way they are suppose to.

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