Pain or pleasure?

 

1984 and Brave New World explore the idea of control (motivation), one through pain, one through pleasure. For the protagonists in both, Winston and the Savage are dead, metaphorically and literally, respectively.

As I stand before my students, I wonder if our system of education has not embraced the control of 1984, while the students have embraced the control of Brave New World. Educators say we are teaching, which infers learning. However, if the students only know the information the day of the test, did they learn? If they don’t, was the information valuable? Grades become a punishment rather than reward as students drown in the useless.  The students tell us that they drink on the weekends to escape the pain of the week of school – that it is the only time they can not feel stressed. That is their “soma”, grades are our Room 101.

Ultimately, the dilemma for me, as an educator, has become, does this year of dystopia improve their lives as I always hope education will?

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