Are Prep Schools Worth it? In the novel the Catcher in The Rye by Salinger, J.D. Holden attends a prep school by the name of Pencey Prep. Pencey was not an enjoyable experience for him, although there are many prep schools around the United States that seem to be extremely resourceful for students going to college and in the long run in life, Holden just didn’t seem to fit. He believed that Pencey is fake, and that all they try and do is make the school look like something that it’s not. He stated that “Pencey Prep is this school that’s in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. You probably heard of it. You’ve probably seen the ads, anyway. They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like …show more content…
as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time”(Salinger 2). Although Pencey may be over exaggerating their true identity, it doesn’t mean that goes for all prep schools.
Prep schools have a vast variety of students that they accept into their programs. An example would be Creighton Prep, which “admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origins to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students”(“About Creighton Prep”). American Preparatory Schools enrolls many immigrant and refugee children, their schools vary from ages K-12 students. Holden’s view of the students at Pencey was very negative, he said that... “Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has-- I’m not kidding”(Salinger 4). He also had to deal with an annoying pimple popping neighbor named Ackley and a selfish hotshot of a roommate named Stradlater which Holden gets into a fight with and is one of the reasons he leaves Pencey. A students academics are what sets up his or her life moving forward. At Pencey Prep, Holden believes that the school does not live up to their promise of modeling boys into men. At E & Village Prep they state …show more content…
that “Our Prep Schools are defined by a focus on academic excellence and preparation for college in a balanced warm structured environment found in many of our nation’s top-performing urban schools”(“Welcome to E & Village Prep”). and that they work with their scholars to prepare their students for success in life. At Creighton Prep they focus on individual grades. “This year Prep’s individual average of 26.2 on the ACT topped both the national average of 21.1 and the state average of 22.1”(“Creighton Prep”). They also claimed that 98% of each graduating class will go on to college. A fun fact about Creighton “For the class of 2012, 66% of the class have been offered college scholarships worth an astonishing $20.3 million”(“Creighton Prep”) this shows that the school can most likely be a great choice for students who are looking to go to college. Most prep schools main focus and or mission is to have their students leave the school to go on in life and to be successful. The mission of American Preparatory Schools is to “Ensure each student achieves maximum academic success by teaching skills to mastery levels, imparting valuable knowledge, transmitting the common culture that blinds us as a nation and exposing children to supreme examples of artistic and intellectual achievement”(“American Preparatory Schools”). Also at American Preparatory Schools they believe that teachers are the most important aspect of a child’s education, and that is why they try to employ the best possible educators for the job. “we believe all teachers can live up to their greatest potential and participate in a joyful and active workplace”(“American Preparatory Schools”). At E & Village Prep their 5 keys to success are courage, respect, perseverance, responsibility, and self-discipline. Students must have their homework signed by their parents every night and uniforms worn everyday. The E & Village Prep have a high level of structure, high academic expectations, strive for strong character development, a zero tolerance policy, and lastly all students are held accountable for their own actions. Tuition can be a problem whether students can get into a prep school or not because of financial problems.
At Pencey, Holden doesn’t clarify the tuition rate to enroll at that school, all he really states is that it is a very expensive boarding school. At Creighton Prep for the 2015 - 2016 school year the cost is $9,970 for freshman, $9,890 for sophomores, $9,990 for juniors, and $10,090 for seniors. Along with a $300 registration fee for books, and other devices they will be given. Although their tuition rates are set, if students want to enroll into Creighton but do not have the money to do so, they will receive financial aid. “45% of our students receive some sort of financial aid”(“Creighton
Prep”). Although Holden in the Catcher in The Rye doesn't believe that a prep school leads him to success in life and that he believes that they are just “fake.” Research shows that prep schools give their students a better chance in making it into a college where they can study the subject they want, and what they believe will lead them to more success when they move onto life outside of college.
Holden struggles with himself mightily and cannot fulfill his responsibilities. One of Holden’s struggles is that he has a bad attitude towards everyone. For example, at the school he goes to, he hates his roommates and his teachers. In addition to not liking anyone, Holden
J.D Salinger gives his personal vision of the world successfully through his persona Holden Caulfield in the ‘Catcher in the Rye’. Caulfield struggles with the background of New York to portray Salinger’s theme – you must live the world as it is, not as you would like it to be. There by exposing Salinger’s vision on the world.
Holden, before leaving for New York, attended a boarding school named Pencey Prep. He makes it clear that he thinks everyone, teachers and students alike, is a “phony.” At one point, his roommate Stradlater goes out with a girl who ends up being Jane Gallagher, a childhood friend and crush of Holden. In his eyes, this is a betrayal. Holden is annoyed
When Holden attempts to make connections with other people in the city but is unsuccessful, Salinger shows that he focuses too much on what society expects from him rather than what he wants. While Holden walks through the city and pond in the park, he notices ducks. He later takes a cab and while talking with Horwitz the cab driver Holden asks him,
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Pencey Prep located in Agerstown, Pennsylvania is a rich school that Holden attends. It is a place full of crooks and is an all-boys boarding school built in 1888. Caulfield describes the school as terrible but in contrast, the school has good academic ratings. Holden is leaving Pencey Prep because of an expulsion due to the failure his four classes. Even though he desires
In conclusion, in Conley’s memoir he focuses on his experience of switching schools, while in the third grade, from a predominantly African American and Latino school to a predominantly caucasian elementary school. His memoir focuses on the differences in his experiences at each school and how race and class further separated the similarities between his two schools. Conley focuses equally on race and class and how they both influenced and shaped his life, but class was the primary influence on Conley’s
Protected by a cocoon of naiveté, Holden Caulfield, the principal character in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, therapeutically relates his lonely 24 hour stay in downtown New York city, experiencing the "phony" adult world while dealing with the death of his innocent younger brother. Through this well-developed teenage character, JD Salinger, uses simple language and dialogue to outline many of the complex underlying problems haunting adolescents. With a unique beginning and ending, and an original look at our new society, The Catcher in the Rye is understood and appreciated on multiple levels of comprehension. The book provides new insights and a fresh view of the world in which adolescents live.
Holden Caulfield is a very intelligent teenager, but doesn’t apply himself to school. Holden dropped out of four schools, one of them being Pencey Preparatory School. Holden did not fail out because he wasn’t smart enough. Holden is smart. He constantly reads books, but could not pass anything other than English. In fact, one of his favorite teachers at Whooton, Mr. Antolini, told Holden, “You’re a student- whether the idea appeals to you or not. You’re in love with knowledge…” (pg. 189) He fail...
J.D. Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as a confused and distressed adolescent. Holden is a normal teenager who needs to find a sense of belonging. All though Holden’s obsession with “phonies” overpowers him. Dan Wakefield comments, “The things that Holden finds so deeply repulsive are things he calls “phony”- and the “phoniness” in every instance is the absence of love, and , often the substitution of pretense for love.” Holden was expelled from Pencey Prep School not because he is stupid, but because he just is not interested. His attitude toward Pencey is everyone there is a phony. Pencey makes Holden feel lonely and isolated because he had very few friends. Holden’s feeling of alienation is seen when he doesn’t attend the biggest football game of the year. His comments on the game: “It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win” (2, Ch. 1). This also hints to Holden’s obsession with death. Holden can’t find a since of belonging in the school because of all the so-called phonies. Holden speaks of Pencey’s headmaster as being a phony. Holden says that on visitation day the headmaster will pay no attention to the corny-looking parents. Holden portrays his not being interested by saying, “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses”(131, Ch. 17). Holden does not care for school or money. He just wants everyone to be sincere and honest.
From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word “phony” to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who are“phony”, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden’s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character’s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character.
At Penney he had his coat stolen and it made him picture most people at Pencey are crooks, he complains saying “Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyways”(6). Holden was also failing all of his classes besides his English class, his last goodbye saying, “ what I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by” (7). Holden has had a lot of obstacles he's ran into in his adventure through this read.
He has two sides that are polar opposites. He has the side that is outgoing and sociable, but then he has a side that is rebellious, untrustworthy, and enjoyable. After being told he was being released from Pencey Prep on Wednesday, Holden decided not to listen to the administrative staff. Rather he decides to leave when he wants, by sneaking out at night with all his luggage to go to Penn station and take a train to New York City (Salinger 52-53). Holden's actions reveal a rebellious side. He did not worry about the consequences of leaving, being that he was told he was being kicked out him essentially, just stopped following the rules and left. Holden lives by his own rules. This is shown though underage drinking and leaving the academy. Furthermore, when he makes decisions he uses his rebellious nature to think of the best thing to do in a situation. Occasionally, this is not the best way of managing a situation. However, it works for Holden. On the other hand, Holden can also be very outgoing and sociable. After leaving Pencey Holden arrived at Penn Station and took the train to New York City. On the train, there was another passenger who was the mother of one of his classmates. They struck up a conversation after she saw the Pencey sticker on Holden's bag: “I had her glued to her seat” (Salinger 56). Whenever Holden starts talking to a stranger it seems that they have a very well rounded and
Holden, the main character in the story, attends a prep school called Pencey Prep. He really dislikes the school and even says that it’s full of crook, although it’s mostly a wealthy school. Holden is very hot headed and seems a bit reckless, in the sense that he doesn’t care the consequences of his actions, or at least think them through. He also looks to be depressed or just jumpy in general. Despite being an
Once Holden decides he is leaving Pencey, he started displaying early symptoms of depression. According to Mental Health America, teens may display signs of depression through participating in substance abuse, lack of sleep, withdrawing from people and missing school. In chapter 20 Holden drowns himself in booze after his naive confrontation with Carl Luce. “Boy, I sat at that goddamn bar till around one o’clock or so, getting drunk as a bastard,” (Salinger 150). Caulfield spends most nights getting drunk or smoking cigarettes. Initially, Holden repeals his relationships from Pencey Prep. “All of a sudden, I decided what I’d really do, I’d get the hell out of Pencey...It made me too sad and lonesome,” (Salinger 51). Evacuating his school was