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British 18th century education
Social influences Victorian era
Education in Victorian times
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Dickens' Hard Times as a Critique of the Educational System
Industrialization made Victorian England a brave new world. A world bereft of justice, humanity and emotion. In Hard Times, Dickens critiques this world in several ways; it's pollution problems, factory accidents, divorce laws, utilitarian ideals, and educational system. The goal of this essay is to focus strictly on Dickens critique of the educational system which was influenced by Industrialization. In his novel, Dickens shows us how children were indoctrinated at very early ages that "facts alone are wanted in life" (47). "The Gradgrind school in Hard Times was modeled on the so-called Birbeck Schools inaugurated by William Ellis in 1848 to teach principles of political economy to poor children. . . " (Thomas 52). The children were taught that they were not to do anything or believe anything which is contrary to fact. The "Gradgrindian educational project is based on . . . Enlightenment intuitions" (Wainwright 179); wherein, all knowledge must be verified by science. Teachers even went so far to say that: "Taste, is only another name for Fact" (51). In Hard Times, Dickens "attacks [this] education built on statistics, figures and facts . . ." (Taine 33). Dickens criticizes the Victorian educational system because it dehumanized the children, killed fancy, and destroyed the importance of emotion.
The Victorian educational system dehumanized the children by treating them like mathematical figures. It sought to turn them all into little utilitarian robots who were only interested in facts. As the children enter the class, they are described as "little vessels then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of fac...
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Mutual Friend. Ed. Norman Page. New York: Macmillan Press, 1979.
Thomas, Deborah. Hard Times: A Fable of Fragmentation and Wholeness. New York:
Twayne Publishers, 1997.
Wainwright, Valerie. "On Goods, Virtues, and Hard Times." Dickens Studies Annual,
Vol. 26. Ed. Friedman, Guiliano, and Timko. New York: AMS Press, 1998.
The student may wish to begin the paper with the quote below:
"I am going, next month, to publish in one volume a story now coming out in Household Words, called Hard Times. I have constructed it patiently, with a view to its publication altogether in a compact cheap form. It contains what I do devoutly hope will shake some people in a terrible mistake of the days, when so presented" (Guiliano 893).
Charles Dickens in a letter to Thomas Carlyle, July 13, 1854
In the beginning of the chapter, gender differences are discussed. Boys being more involved in sports than girls, girls preferring dolls, and more women being stay-at-home-parents are just some of the distinctions between the two genders. However, through sociologist’s examinations, it is made clear that these differences are sometimes exaggerated (269).
Another man - we are not told who the man is or why he is present, are
In this essay, I will argue that one of the underlying motives in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the reinforcement of Christian values in 18th century Victorian England. Dickens was very concerned with the accepted social norms of industrialized England, many of which he felt were very inhumane. Christian values were challenged, largely due to the recent publication of Darwin's Origins of a Species, and philosophy along with literature was greatly affected. In 1859, the industrial age was booming, making many entrepreneurs rich. However, the majority of the lower economic class remained impoverished, working in unsafe and horrific environments as underpaid factory workers. Additionally, child labor was an accepted practice in Victorian England's factories. Dickens, who worked, as a child in a shoe polish factory, detested this social convention with such strength that only one with experience in such exploitation could.
Here, Dickens focuses on the word “suffering”, to reinforce the idea that being wealthy, which is related to being better than other, a materialistic view of society is not what gives happiness, but the surroundings and
The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.
Did you know playing video games helps children with their education? A good video game will teach problem solving, math, history, or anything else a parent wants their children to learn. Children that play video games are more educational than those that do not play video games. In this paper you will experience the positive and negative impact video games have on children and teens.
The lack of health standards for lunches and other foods in schools are a leading cause of obesity in children. According to studies, children who eat school lunches consume forty more calories each day compared to those who bring their own lunches (Schanzenbach 703). Elizabeth Jackson, a medical doctor at the University of Michigan Health System, reported that children who eat school lunches are over two times more likely to eat fattier foods and more sugary drinks (“Children”). In the past decades, the government has attempted to develop effective lunch programs that limit the intake of unhealthy foods that children eat. The 1995 policy, “School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children,” required school lunches to meet one-third of the recommended number of calories, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals (Schanzenbach 686). Although this policy has been put into place, the government has not enforced it well enough. According to a recent study, only six percent of U.S. schoo...
Greenblatt, Stephen, eds. The Norton Anthology English Literature. 9th ed. Crawfordsville: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 2012. Print.
In many novels, the society created by the author is surrounded by wealth and corruption. Numerous amount of times these settings are produced based on the life in which the author lives. Charles Dickens is no different. In the midst of most of his novels, Dickens exposes the deception of Victorian England and the strict society that holds everything together. In Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, a satire is created where the basis of the novel is the mockery against money and morals. Throughout this novel, multiple symbols and depictions of the characters display the corruption of the mind that surrounds social classes in Victorian England.
The first stage was noted as the sensorimotor stage. As Feldman states, “What makes sensorimotor construction so remarkable is that it is not built from a previous system but rather from a set of natural reflexes with which the newborn comes into the world” (p. 197). Every stage has a predecessor except this juncture. The sensorimotor stage builds itself from the innate, refined motor and reflex abilities the infant is born with. (Feldman, 2004, p.
The Victorian Age was characterized by a rapidly growing economy, an expansion of the British Empire, relative peace, and the social and economic problems associated with industrialization. Victorian society was conflicted by the changes; they admired the material benefits industrialization brought, as it encouraged great optimism and spurred the growth of the industrial working class and a modern middle class, but it was also a time of social concern. Brutal factory conditions and slums bred poverty and disease. (Literature, the British, 1996)
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else” (Dickens 5). So says Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, the proponent of a Utilitarian educational philosophy in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. Cold, hard facts are what Mr. Thomas Gradgrind’s philosophy consists of, and cold hard facts are exactly what Tom and Louisa Gradgrind are raised on. They are taught by their father and by society to live their lives based on these facts. They are instructed to conduct themselves in accordance to them and nothing else. As stated by Taylor Stoehr, “Tom and Louisa Gradgrind are products of the Gradgrindian system, raised in Stone Lodge, taught in the school of hard facts, model grindings off the parent stone” (Stoehr 171). As a result of being raised in the loveless atmosphere of Stone Lodge and in accordance with the strictly enforced rules of the Gradgrindian system, Tom and Louisa are deprived of opportunities to cultivate imagination, emotions, and “fancy” (Dickens 5). The children are themselves fragmented and insufficient fragments who have been formed by a hard system of hard facts. By blocking every available outlet for the interplay of fantasy and emotion, Mr. Gradgrind unintentionally generates two extreme outcomes for his children. Even though the Gradgrind philosophy has completely different effects on Tom and Louisa Gradgrind, it ultimately deprives them both of the happiness that only a balance between the wisdom of the Head and the wisdom of the Heart can create.
People may think that men should be cool and handsome and should look and be a certain why like having a lot of muscles. McClure Stewart is the managing of editor of Women’s Quarterly Journal and Kate Kennedy is the campus project more important, our inner Women’s Forum, stated, “Again, this one features a corpulent guy’s guy lounging on his sofa in his dirty undershirt, which barely covers his beer gut” (1).Why is it that males are always stereotyped as the ones that cannot take care of themselves. Females are not the only ones that care about body image. So do males because like women they too try to attract the opposite sex. Many males find this offensive because it’s like we are not all slobs and they all would not want to be categorized like that too. At the same time, females worry about body image more because of the many advertisements that make women just look like sex objects. Katherine Toland Frith an associate professor at the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Barbara Muller coordinator of the Media Studies Program at San Diego State University stated that Gentry found that female college students who were repeatedly exposed to thin models in ads feel increased guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction (5). Women tend to be more sensitive than a male which is already a good reason that females have it worse than males. Not to
Morbidity and Mortality will increase due to the loss of readily available treatment options (WHO, 2012). The Global Action Plan is supposed to enhance diagnosis, control of infection, and prevention of the infection (WHO, 2012). The objective of this plan is to control/minimize the impact and the spread of this antimicrobial resistance infection by “providing a strategic framework to guide clinical, laboratory, and health actions aimed at minimizing the impact of gonorrhea” (WHO, 2012, p 10). Another objective is to provide recommendations for coordinating advocacy, communication, and partnership efforts at national, regional, and international levels to help support the global response (WHO, 2012). The public health should increase awareness on the correct use of antibiotics among the health care workers and the consumer and it is needed in certain populations which include MSM and sex workers (WHO, 2012). Effective prevention includes using prevention messages/interventions and recommending adequate diagnosis and appropriate treatment regimens (WHO, 2012). Systematic monitoring of treatment failures by developing a definition of treatment failure, protocols for verification, and reporting/management of treatment failure can help make a difference in the continuing problem (WHO, 2012). Strengthening surveillance in countries with a high amount of infections and having effective drug regulations/prescription policies help prevent the emergence and spread of the infection (WHO, 2102). Appropriate treatment methods should be available to those who are allergic to the recommended first-line treatment and to women who are pregnant that need the non-teratogenic medication (WHO, 2012). Resistant gonorrhea is going to continue spreading and affect increasing numbers of communities (WHO,