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The phenomenon of conformity
The implications of conformity on society and the individual
Problems with conformity in society
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Literary Essay – Dead Poets Society
	Bill Beattie once said, "The aim of education should be to teach us how to think rather than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men." All too often, however, individual thoughts are crushed by the powerful weight of conformity. In the film Dead Poets Society, conformity exercises it’s influence and the results prove disastrous for some. For others, the effect of conformity compels them towards individual strength and the discovery of one’s true self.
	Modern education is one of the largest "offenders" when it comes to conformity, and that point is illustrated repeatedly in the film Dead Poets Society. At Wellton, students of all walks of life are expected to learn the same lessons the same ways. They are expected to memorize the important facts and regurgitate the same facts during exams. Latin class involves recitation, while chemistry involves memorization, and as long as the students can deliver what they have been told, they are successful in life.
	The new English teacher, Mr. Keating, challenges his students to think for themselves and to resist conformity. He most memorably illustrates how easily conformity affects people during his lesson involving a stroll in the courtyard. He instructs three of his pupils to walk around the courtyard. The three boys march in unison, a...
Thesis statement: The relationship Holden and Blanche have between family and people in society leads them to an inner turmoil, which eventually results in their psychological breakdowns.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl.
Mark Twain writes this essay in order to shed light onto his belief that people’s thoughts and actions are influenced by those around them. His belief that people conform to the rest of society fuels his essay. This can be seen when Twain includes his idea that “It is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist” (718). Twain shows that people are beginning to conform without using their own minds to process their decision.
A lot of the things we have today that are manmade came from people who dared to think outside of the box. There are not so good ideas that we learn from and there are also really great ideas from which we learn and benefit from. Ask yourself this how is society to grow, change, and develop if we only listen to how one person wants it to be. Individualism is belief in the primary importance of the individual and personal independence, it makes everyone unique. If there was not individuality high school life would be boring. You wouldnt walk around seeing thousands of students wearing clothes that express who they are but instead you would see everyone wearing boring dull colors like our school colors for example. Need I say more. Part of the high school experience is everybody being their own individual self. All fords are a like but no two people are the same! (Henry Ford).
...ther, and nearly kills an innocent woman. In a broader perspective, conformity can leave people walking aimlessly down the beaten path with no real direction except conformity, doomed to live yet another meaningless life in a society based on archaic principles.
Robinson, Ken. “Education System Fosters a Culture of Conformity, Compliance. Chron.com. Hearst Newspapers, 16 March 2012. 3 April 2014.
Conformity means a change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. As a teenager, the pressure to conform to the societal “norm” plays a major role in shaping one’s character. Whether this means doing what social groups want or expect you to do or changing who you are to fit in. During class, we watched films such as Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club which demonstrate how the pressure to conform into society can change who you are. In the movies we have seen, conformity was most common during high school.
It is very common to see conformity among young people, especially when large groups of young people are constantly around each other. School is one example where conformity is rampant. For some reason people tend to gravitate towards what others are doing. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go, the characters are no different from any other young person in that they tend to conform. Ishiguro shows this conformity to prove that conformity stems from the want to fit in and pure ignorance. At Hailsham, the students conform just to fit in with the rest of the students, but they also conform because they do not know any better.
"People Fear Becoming Authentic and Independent Thinking Individuals-It Is Easier to Conform!" HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to reflect on how people in the world today must try to be independent of others and uphold their personal opinions and philosophy.
Doris Lessing uses this to state that individuals will conform to the majority because of society’s pressures and lose individualism. Lessing uses the fact that because of western societies are well educated in different ways, free to make choices that this makes the individual, but people never think to look at their lives and see that they are no longer and individual because they are conforming to the pressures of society. She uses the fact that people often socialize with “like-minded” people often forces to make decisions that our peers make. She declares that, “We find our thinking changing because we belong to a group. It is the hardest thing in the world to maintain an individual dissident opinion, as a member of a group.” She goes on to review several experiments that involved conforming to groups.
He even condemns people he doesn’t know as phonies, such as the man that his
"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." John F. Kennedy. When we permit ourselves to comply with what our acquaintances, family or public opinion asks of us, we lose the capability to develop into our own person. Conformity, then again, is more than simply the young lady wearing UGG Boots and an Abercrombie hoodie to fit in. It is all the more then just lis...
When I first walked into Mrs. G’s English classroom, I had mixed emotions. I was eager to be there and I’m glad I was provided with an opportunity to interact with students and the teacher before class started. It felt lovely to be greeted by Mrs. G. with a good morning and small greeting. There are approximately 24 students and I did my best to count them as fast I could without making it uncomfortable for the scholars. Approximately, there are 13 boys and 11 girls with only 1 teacher. The classroom at El Sausal Middle School had a multicolored and untidy setting. When I say “untidy,” I mean that the desks, the materials and the equipment felt older and that they had been thro...
As a matter of fact, In Charlie Sorrel’s article, Conformity Is Good For You, And Everyone Else On Earth, it’s states, “Conforming isn’t just good for you, it’s good for the species.”. People who conform do not change the world, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Galileo are only a fraction of individuals who have made a major impact to society. The key word is individuals, not conformists. In addition, he adds a quote from author, Michael Muthukrishna who said, “By being conformist, we copy the things that are popular in the world. And those things are often good and useful.” (Sorrel, Charlie). Why copy and try to be like someone famous, when you can be more than that? Without individualism the world we live in would be dull and depressing. Furthermore, in Arthur Miller's playwright The Crucible, it said “Proctor, grasping her by the throat as though he would strangle her: Make your peace with it! Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretense is ripped away—make your peace!”. In Miller’s playwright, the whole town ended up conforming and it ended in death and disaster. The playwright goes to show how bad conforming can be to society. No matter how much one thinks conforming is good, the evidence only goes to show how bad it can be to