Hannah's statement, "The bigger idea of education, from first to last, is the idea of a better place. Not a better place where you are, because you want it to be better and have been to school and learned to make it better, but a better place somewhere else. In order to move up, you have got to move on." (112) parallel's with Wirzba's writings in Living the Sabbath. Wirzba writes about how education today encourages students to be self-centered in order to be successful. Mattie especially was extremely self-centered in his education. All he wanted to do was get as far away from Port William as possible.
At first, Hannah seems disappointed that not one of her three children decided to take over the farm that her and Nathan lived on and raised them on. But I don't think that she completely blames the education system, despite her statement above. She says that she and Nathan decided to send her children to college because they themselves never got the chance to. They were able to afford to send all three of their children to college so they did, giving them better and more opportunities in their lives.
Personally, I think that it was amazing for Nathan and Hannah to do that for their children. They could have not let any of their kids go to school, and force them to go into the family business of farming. However, they gave them the choice. Sure, it was unfortunate that none of them chose to farm, but they were given an opportunity to follow their dreams and to cultivate their special talents, whether it be teaching, agriculture, or technology. Nathan and Hannah were extremely unselfish to give their children the freedom that they did.
Also, on a side note, I don't think that farming was what Mattie, Caleb, and Margret were particularly talented at. I think that they went onto do what they were passionate and talented in, and I think that Hannah believes that as well. Of course, the kids, especially Mattie and Caleb, were extremely selfish in the developing their talents and they didn't have the right intentions in their pursuit of their future. But at the same time, I don't blame them for wanting to "get out" of Port William. When I was in high school, and even now, I don't ever want to go back to Normal, Illinois again in my life. Not because I never want to see my family again, but because I've lived there my whole life. I want a change of scenery. So I see where they are coming from. But I do think that it is selfish of them to never see their parents or talk to them.
The argument on whether or not Hannah's children were selfish or if the education system causes them to become selfish could go either way really.
As the only member of our cohort who can agree with you in this regard, I will say that I don't particularly want to go back to Normal, Illinois either, but I don't think that that makes me selfish, nor do I think that my desire to leave Normal is a product of my education. I want to get out of Normal not because I hate my home and want to abandon it; I want to get out because I've had all of my life experiences there and now want to have experiences elsewhere, which seems to coincide with what you're thinking as well. I'm not really sure how all of the characters in the novel felt about all of this because I didn't actually read it, but if their thought processes align with yours and mine at all, then perhaps their selfishness was a product of their education and not an inherent disregard for their home. I will say, though, that I agree with you when you say that education does tend to render people selfish. After all, to go back to the issue of wanting to leave home, it is knowledge of the outside world that causes one to abandon the love and comfort of home all for selfish gain.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting the view on education our class has taken, especially since we are all ourselves children who moved away to get an education. I personally like the idea that education is a way to better the world you live in, which was the healthy view of education that has been taken. Using it for personal or professional gain is to destroy the heart of what it means to be a scholar and desire to understand the world. Whether school corrupts or whether corrupt people go to school is an interesting question. I think it is the heart that you go into it with. If you desire knowledge to better understand the world and better the place you are in then I think you should come out of your education a better person than you were before.
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