Tuesday, October 14, 2008

School of the future...

Reread the description of Clarisse’s classes and classmates (29-30).

In your own words, describe Bradbury’s vision of teenagers and school in the future. Would you enjoy being a teenager at Clarisse’s school? Explain your answer. How has Bradbury’s vision come true?

40 comments:

Elaine's Blog said...

Teenagers in Bradbury's vision of the future are people who are reckless and don't learn much in school anymore. Teenagers are those who go out in the middle of the night and race each other in cars, not knowing if they were the one to be dead in the next second or minute. Schools in Bradbury's vision are places in which leave the students in absolute boredom of not learning why but just how. Just like what Clarisse said, "It's a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it's wine when it's not." Schools in the future just vegetate the teenagers in front of viewing screen and expect them to learn the ideas of how things work instead of letting them explore their minds. I would not enjoy being a teenager at Clarisse's school for many reasons. One of those reasons is being hurt in a physical or mental pain. Another reason is that of death and racing across the middle of the road in the middle of the night, not knowing if you were going to die in the next second of your life. Also, the thought of just sitting in front of a viewing screen and watching it for a couple of hours and not knowing why things happen instead of how things happen is just very irratating to me. Bradbury's vision has come true partly about teenagers. Teenagers today can take drugs and drink alcohol in which could kill them if they consumed too much. If they were to drive, they might have gotten into a car accident by the other driver or making a reckless mistake of driving. Schools in today's world are not almost coming true to what Bradbury invisioned because schools do not allow teenagers to sit and know how things are done, but why. Also, we barely even watch TV or films in our classes unless you are in a class that has to do with film. Otherwise, our world that Bradbury visioned for schools is not true, but it is kind of true for teenagers.

Thomasm said...

I agree with elaine. Teenagers in Bradbury's view seem to be ignorant. They dont reflect on their past and dont even have real teachers at school. If they are so irresponsible they could do whatever they want and feel no regrets or guilt. Somehow they have become so absorbed and reliant on technology they have lost their morals and conscience. The book readers are the few people who still remember the "dark" times as they call them. Overall i think that Bradbury sees the teenagers in a fashion of irresponsibility, ignorance and frankly unaware of their becomings.

ruthp2012 said...

I also agree with Elaine, that Bradbury's vision of teenagers is that the teenagers can't think for themselves. They are also obsessed with violence and drag racing. He thinks that the schools during that time waste the kid's time, don't really teach them anything worth learning, and just give them the answers without letting them think. I wouldn't enjoy being a teenager at Clarisse's school, because the kids look at you weird if you think for yourself and they are ignorant. His vision has come true, because kids are obsessed with violence in video games like Halo 2 and they do drag race and in some cases such as Columbine and Virginia Tech, they kill people. In the schools today, they do sometimes just throw the answers at you without giving you a chance to think for yourself.

Michael's Blog said...

Bradbury describe future kids like most teens act know, as rebels. He shows tennagers as rebels by making appear as the only people who ruin society and act wild instead of passive. Clarisse's classes seem to try to teach kids all they need to get by but nothing more. They don't teach them math, science or readings that require thought. They replace these with sports, which are fun but only benefit in physical work, history, which has no need for indepth analysis, and TV class which just numbs your brain. I wouldn't enjoy Clarisse's school because although no work would be nice at first it would soon become boring and endless. Bradbury's visions have come true in the fact that schools are sometimes to easy and become dull, but his predictions are still far off from our reality today.

jordanp said...

I also agree with everyonelse that teenagers in Bradbur's vesion don't really care very much about anything and are reckless and also like Clarise says they don't talk or think about anything important. Like everybody else has said a lot of it has come true. Students kill each other today like in scool shooting or in gang fihgts they like to take risks like how these students race and they like to play video games or just sit in front of the tv for hours talking to it rather than talking to real people which is why they don't have anything worth talking about because at home when they read from scripts they don't have worthwhile conversations so why would they have them when they're with real people.

bryce said...

I agree with elaine also. Like most of you have said, Bradbury views teenagers in the future as not caring about learning anymore. However, I don't think that it is the teenagers fault that they don't care about school. Bradbury's future schools have lots of enjoyable classes but students don't learn anything because the classes aren't meaningful. Also, there is no real teaching occuring in the future schools, so teenangers can't be blamed for everything because they haven't learned any better (or learned anything at all). I also don't think that I would enjoy being a student at Clarisse's school. Like Michael said, it would be fun for about the first month, but then school would be extremely boring. I think that Bradbury's vision of the future is partly true. In a way, teenagers are becoming more reckless and not caring as much, but school is still meaningful and important.

kelseyw said...

I agree with everyone else too- Bradbury sees the teenagers of the future as monotonous robots that don’t think for themselves. They don’t really think at all. They are products of their time, meaning that they slide through the days without thinking, they create the lives they want with the TV rooms, and they don’t learn anything or have opinions. Their lives are just droning on…do this, do that, go over here, smash a car over there…
I would not like to live in Bradbury’s world- a world where your thoughts are robbed from your head and you are a robot programmed to follow the rules of society. Today, teenagers are getting more independent and our schedules are packed. It is kind of similar to Bradbury (his world sort of came true) in that kids are flitting from place to place frequently. But in his world, they are not thinking, just doing. Real world kids are busy, we are learning and thinking and we have our own ideas. I am glad we are in a community that being creative and having ideas of your own is not frowned upon!

MelissaC said...

Bradbury's vision of teenagers and school in the future is doing whatever they want and not really having feelings. They don't really pay attention to others. It's like the selfish parts of teenagers is what they are completely in the future.

I would hate to be a teenager at Clarisse's school. It'd be like having friends, but no real friends. Plus, you would have to be careful and responsible (which doesn't really exist in Bradbury's view of the future) so you don't get killed on accident.

Bradbury's vision has come true in a way because teenagers have become less responsible and have been dying from car accidents and other things as well. But otherwise, the rest is pretty different. But who knows, maybe our world could change dramatically in a few years from now...;)

Kc P said...

I agree with everyone, like everyone else. Bradbury doesn't seem to think to higfhly of teenagers. He depicts them as irrispossible, ignorant, mean kids. Not all kids are like that, but some adults are. Bradbury pits a nice balance of stupid adults and kids in the story so he is not just picking on teewnagers. He put exceptions for both age groups in like Clarrise, Montag, and Clarrise's family. These enlightened people stand out against everyone else. i would hate going to a school like this. I love watching movies, but at my house it is kind of a treat, so watching ten movies a day would make the novelty wear off and it would just be boring. I love sports to and play many, but everyday would be tiring, and the comptition would make a lot of people edgy, and could lead to all the violence outside of school Clarrise was talking about. I don't really agree with elaine when she said Bradbury was not right about our schools but he was about teenagers. i think our teenagers are in a lot better condition then our schools when it comes to safety.

emmal said...

I also agree with everyone else. Bradbury portrays teens as kids who are obsessed with violence and competition. They don't learn a whole lot in school. Like what's with the T.V. class? Are they learning how to watch T.V. or something? Its like in The Pedestrian, where at a certain time, they all turn on their viewing screen and watch T.V. Like Elaine said, the school is a place that leaves students in absolute boredom. I would not like being a teenager at the school in Fahrenheit 451 because, although it would be kind of fun to have a class where all you do is watch T.V., you don't really learn anything. It's important to learn and progress because we are the future generation. We will be leading this country and this world next and we want things to run smoothly, don't we? Going back to my point on how the teens in Fahrenheit 451 don't learn anything, maybe the government has schools not teach these kids for a reason. Maybe they don't want kids to have new ideas on how to run things. Maybe its a way to hide how the government is running things. Bradbury's vision has come true in the sense that some teenagers nowadays are really into violence and that kind of stuff. Like some of the movies and video games that have been released. Some teenagers really enjoy the violence that is in the media like killing, guns knives, blood and many more things.

shannenr said...

well it all really seems helpless. Bradbury visions teenagers as a danger it seems. like elaine said, they are recless. He sees teens as well a threat to the stories 'perfect' society. 6 of clarisse's friends were shot (by other teens!) and 10more died in car crashes... now adays, teen are aparent pests, but in bradburys vison of the future, the teens have become a danger. the race their cars (not unlike today...)

their schooling, seems restricted. it goes with the whole censoring i guess... They(the 'governmet') has reduced not only the threats the of teenagers devolping mind. they learn about television& films and sports. they have a very manipulated and fabricated history class. they get to experiance censored art and paintings. Fahrenhite 451's high school is not really high school. there is no socializing, because of the book ban and other restrictions, nobody has anything to talk about. There is no inquisitiveness. there are only answers, with no depp or meaning. it seems like a pointless experiance for the teenagers. No i do not think i would enjoy the monotony of empty monotone. It is nothing like it should be. being a teenager in highschool is about expanding your horizons, and fahrenhite 451 presents no horizions or goals for teenagers to reach.

i do think apart of bradbury's vision has come true. a slim part, at the least, i'd say. teenagers today do go around bulling younger childeren, but they did in his day as well. most teenagers aren't really as clarisse illustrates them. sure they race their cars, but he was wrong about one thing. I don't think we're as harsh or crule as he beleves. I haven't heard much about teenagers shoting eachother. not as much as bradburys teenage characters have at least. Hes not entirly off about present day teenagers, but he hasn't got us figuered out completly

katief said...

Bradbury's vision of future schools is one of violence and pointlessness. Clarisse explains to Guy, how repetitive school has become and how she is considered anti-social, because she doesn’t take part in "extra curricular activities". Their school is all about learning facts, but not application. Teens are spending their time being destructive, not on school work. She talks about school shootings and car accidents, being the norm.
Teens have, in a way, become like this. Many car accidents have involved teenage drivers. People also tend to stereotype teens as careless and reckless. Assuming teens spend their free time drinking and partying. School shootings have also become an issue, peer abuse that causes kids to snap. Clarisse says she is afraid of her classmates and what they are capable of doing to each other. In many ways I think Bradbury’s future is scarily accurate.

katelynm said...

Teenagers in Bradbury's vision are hypnotized by television and not interested in learning. They are present in school but don't have to work for any thing. Students sit and listen but do not speak because they aren't allowed to understand. They are only allowed to be there. School is a place where kids are expected to learn through vision. I would like being a student at her school for a day and after that, I would become bored and not be okay with the fact that I was not being challenged at all. Bradbury's vision has come true because kids kill other kids because... I don't know. Schools sometimes allow us to watch movies in order to learn some material. Teenagers are reckless and most of them don't care about learning. They are more focused on getting out of school than getting anything out of it.

CourtneyA said...

Bradbury’s vision of teenager and school in the future is frightening. He pictures many teenagers being killed and very often. In a way I can see that happening. Like I was talking about in the blog today, I think they are dying so fast, because they are doing it for the “thrills”. All of today’s thrills, like driving a car really fast or going on a roller coaster, doesn’t matter for those kids. They travel so fast now, it is no longer exhilarating for them. The only “thrills” are really killing people.
The school in the future is very different. Instead of learning a lot of things they have P.E. and TV classes. It is not anything like now. In the future they run the kids tired so they can’t do anything bad, where as schools now students have one or two P.E. classes and the rest they are sitting in class taking notes. Students have lots of energy at the end of the day now.
I would not want to be a teenager at Clarisse’s school. I think I would have a greater chance of dying than I do now.
I don’t think that Bradbury’s vision has become completely true. I think that we could be on our way to that ending, but I don’t think we have got there yet. Right now, learning things has become very important and there is more pressure for students to do well in school.

alexj said...

As has been said several times, Bradbury's idea of teenagers are violent and careless but not completely bad people. He sees that the reason teens are so destructive is because they have been "worked ragged" at school. Schools are just there to be there it seems like to me. They do not actually seem to serve a purpose. Clarisse says that the information just basically goes right through the students. If the kids aren't learning anything than what is the point of the school at all? I would hate to be a student at Clarisse's school because if there are not any actual human teachers than how can some students be helped? Also I would be scared for my life everyday at and after school. Nowadays there is school violence like the Virginia Tech shootings and Columbine. Many kids drop out of college because they aren't properly educated. I think that Bradbury saw all of these things.

ellyf said...

I agree with elaine. Bradbury doesn't seem to think that teenagers can think for themselves. They love cars especially drag racing. He thinks that the school isn't making them any smarter. He thinks that the school is giving all the answers without the kids thinking about different possibilites of an answer. I would definatly not fit in at Clairisse's school because I would probably be her friend and we would be outsiders. What Bradbury sees has come true. Everybody has to have the latest technology and if you dont you are just plain weird. In the schools today, teacher do sometimes give you the answers. For example, my science teacher tells us to get notes offline and that is our homework. We dont learn at all, just do what she tells us to do. We dont really get to understand what the notes are on. That is how the school is with Clairisse.

Paulh said...

Bradbury describes the teenagers who are the same. They do the same things everyday in a monotonous routine. And if a person goes missing, so what, their are many more that are exactly like them. I would enjoy the sports part of it, but sitting in front of a tv for 4 hours a day would kill me. I also would not like not being able to actually talk and socialize with my friends because what fun is it to hang out with friends if you aren't talking and becoming closer. It is becoming very close, because after some school days we are so tired, all we can do is just go sleep or watch the tv.

BlakeS said...

Alright. Well Bradbury's vision of teenagers is violent and reckless like many other people said. They see wrecking cars as a common passtime and have mostly athletic classes with history as the only academic part. Bradbury's vision has DEFINITELY come true in some places of the country and world. Take Detroit for example. 8 mile is a dividing line. Everybody on the north side hate everybody on the south side. gangs fight each other all the time and kill people frequently too. Who makes up the gangs? teenagers. They even go and wreck the other sides cars too just because they hate each other. Street races also happen all over the country. Those guys are driving at high speeds and some get killed in the process. Just because there isnt bad stuff happening here in centennial CO, doesnt mean it is not anywhere else either. I would be fine going to clarisse's school. I wouldnt like it as much as here, but it wouldnt be a terrible thing to go to.

ThomasL said...

Bradbury's vision of teenagers are very violent, disrespectful, and closed-minded individuals. Teenagers in his vision don't seem to enjoy life and they don't take time to enjoy the good things that are in the world. I would not want to be a teenager in his vision because they are ignorant and I would not enjoy being an ignorant person. Also, teenagers in his vision get involved in many fights and acts of violence which I would not like. In a way, his vision has come true due to the fact that there are school shootings but I feel like his vision hasn't entirely come true because although he thinks that all teenagers are violent individuals and there are many good teenagers in the world today. Bradbury sort of steriotypes teenagers.

miss ami said...

Bradbury's vision of school in the future is that all information that could potentially portray the government in a negative image will be censored out. I agree with Ruthp. I think that Bradbury views teenagers as irresponsible and very easy to control. While that may be true for some teens, I think that intelligent teenagers like to think for themselves and be independent. Bradbury also thinks teens are prone to violence and reckless. This aspect of his vision is true because on the nightly news I always hear about dying young people because they were either violent or reckless.

I think that Bradbury's vision for the school systems has not come true. I feel that we still learn about controversial subjects unlike in Clarisse's school where all that they learn is history and athletics. In a different sense though Bradbury's vision has come true. Often times we are told how to think and how to arrive at decisions. This year my teachers are trying to get away from that but in middle and elementary school Bradbury's vision was very accurate.

I think that being a teenager at Clarisse's school would be fun at first with all the athletics and TV but eventually would become mind numbing. I enjoy all the debating that occurs in History and English class and without it school would be quite dull.

miss ami said...

frucci is actually Paul Friedrich. I didn't sign out of my sisters blogging account so it isn't my name.

kylees said...

Ray Bradbury seems to pull the bad characteristics out of teenagers and make those their only characteristics in the book. He portrays them as violent, clueless, and ignorant. All of the real education has been removed from the school system. I do not think i would enjoy her school because history is my least favorite subject and I don't usually enjoy watching movies that much because they make me sleepy. The sports part might be OK, but after a while the whole thing would get really old. Bradbury's vision has come true a little in the sense that today's teenagers have become a little tv and violence crazed.

jonathank said...

Ray Bradbury says that without thought, humans become hooligans. More specifically, teenagers become reckless and more than that, destructive even of human lives. When the mind goes idle, so do morals, so do values, so do the common decencies that in Bradbury's time were taken somewhat for granted.

Bradbury also describes an impersonal schooling system. A system so completely digitalized that it eliminates human interaction. Bradbury says in this passage that when you eliminate the humanity, you eliminate questions, the capacity of the human mind to think and inquire, the only thing left to do is go bash things in. The higher pleasures are tossed out the window and so the base pleasures are eagerly embraced.

I would despise going to that school. I believe the best way to learn is to ask questions, to discuss, to share ideas, to wonder, and finally to look upon our world in awe. It's when you realize the world's virtues that you can start making judgments on improving it. That school is just like the machines: pump out, pump in. It destroys life.

Bradbury's vision is not coming true. If there is one thing I appreciate about modern schooling systems is the endeavor to get students to think. No matter what our other complaints are as students, this we must value and appreciate and most of all not take for granted: we are encouraged to think for ourselves.

nicoles said...

When Bradbury describes the life of teenage students at school, it seems as though the basic fundamentals of teaching, and learning have been thrown out the window. Students absorb useless information through television screens, play sports like baseball, basketball and run, and paint pictures. As far as I know, the above activities really do not require the brain to do an extreme amount of processing or thinking. Not only do the students indulge in bland, basic teachings, but they also destroy properties and abuse their privilege of being able to drive. I would most definitely not want to be a teenager at Clarisse's school. I believe that I should use my brain in as many ways as possible, and I take pride in learning new ideas or concepts. It seems as though her school allowed the new age of technology to take over the students, almost "dumbing down" the power of the human brain. I believe that Bradbury's vision has come true in several aspects. Today, teenagers generally seem to become less interested in school, and more intrigued by the idea of breaking the law and becoming so-called "rebels." Just as teenagers were being killed in Fahrenheit 451, there are also some being killed today. This is mostly due to the fact that many teenagers do not consider the consequences of their actions, and abuse the privileges they are given, like driving. The number of deaths in America, per year, is mostly composed of teenage drivers who died in car accidents. As sad as this is, Ray Bradbury was correct in his vision of the future. He must have thought that teenagers would become less dependent on their own brains, and more dependent on the technology around them.

emeraldo said...

Ray Bradbury's vision for pretty much everything, not only for school, is that you don't think. No one thinks. You go to school and get answers, and you don't ask questions so there is no room to think. The teenagers are almost trained to just get the answer and believe that that answer is set in stone anyways so there is no reason to think about it further or argue with it. His vision of teenagers is that they don't think and they kill each other. and if you think about it, they are really directly connected. if you don't think, you can hurt other people. For the teenagers Clarisse said died in a car crash, they were not thinking. they either don't think, ok so can anything happen from me racing? or they just are not thinking when they are driving. its the same as today if you don't think and are not focused when you are driving its easy to get in a crash. I would hate to be a teenager here, one, because if you weren't analyzing stuff and thinking and learning, school would be ridiculously boring, sitting there for however many hours just getting answers shoved down you throat without even asking a question first and, two, i would hate to be a teenager in a time when they run around killing each other.

mollyo said...

In Farenheit 451, teenagers are depicted as violent, emotionless, crazy people. They go speed racing with their cars, they get into brutal fights on school ground, they even shoot one another. When Clarisse was talking to Montag, she says that six of her friends have been shot. She seems to be the only one with emotion, the only one that cares. Schools, as Bradburry described, were very monotonous. all they did was watch movies and then go outside, get in fights, come back insode and watch more movies. His vision has come true, however, in the fact that kids today are violent with eachother but maybe not as violent as he described.

tim2012 said...

In the future, Bradbury predicts students will be careless by not thinking of the wellbeing of the friends, and they only learn about sports in their TV classroom. His prediction has not fully come true yet, but it is on its way. In my human behavior class, we learned about underage drinking and there was an interview with some high school students who drink a lot. One time when they were drunk and their own friend past out, they just left her in the car. She could have died. The only difference is that now, if they kill a friend, they feel very sorry. In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, kids don’t care when a friend dies. Being a teacher of these students wouldn’t be that bad, because well, personally I like sports, but also because it would be a very much more laid back environment.

SophiaA said...

I agree with the others responses. The kids in the future do not learn much and do not set their goals high in school. They are careless and seem as though they won't or want to go anywhere in life. The teachers do not teach well and just tell them that something is the way it is because it is and they don't explain how or why. As the author predicted schools would be like, it has not come true. Schools are becoming better and better as we use new tools to teach students. I would not want to be a teenager then because i would not learn anything or go anywhere in life.

KyleC said...

Bradbury portrays kids of the future to not be disiplined and to be anti-social. The kids in the book kill each other on a daily bases which proves to be not disiplined. They also just sit in front of the screens during school to "learn" which proves that they no longer talk to one another instead they go off in their own world which is being anti-social. This is somewhat true today, kids have formed gangs which kill other kids. They also have all sorts of new types of technology such as cell phones, computers, and T.V. which keeps them from socializing face to face. In a way his vision of the future has come true but not entirely.

Alex K said...

I think that Bradbury sees teenagers as wild and crazy people that don't care about much and that there is no point in teaching them in school. Teens are the people that are out doing dangerous things and kill each other.He sees school as a place that the teens go and is a place that is used to keep them off of the streets. No and yes, i would like her school because they do almost nothing, and just hang around. on the other hand, I would hate going to school there because they have no chalanges, and are not very social in talking amoungts themselves. his vision has come true because of all of the new technology we have like tv, and cellphones, and computers.

HunterK said...

In Ray Bradbury's book children of the future are irresponsible, reckless, and violent. He describes their schools as teacher-less, and lessons being taught on TV's. In the book children have become so reliant on technology that they don't socialize any more. Also TV sucked all the morals,and decency out of them to a point that they are killing each other regularly. Although lessons on TV sounds fun, I don't think I would enjoy living in that time, talking to others is a big part of life and I would live in fear of being killed. I think Bradbury's vision is close to coming true but not quite yet. Teens are being killed in car crashes a lot, but we haven't regressed so far as to being taught by TV.

emmaw said...

Bradbury's vision of teenagers and schools of the future is sort of an extreme and exagerated idea of school now. The students engage in reckless activities, many that result in their death. Instead of active learning they are sat down infront of a viewing screen and have their lesson that way. Teenagers now do engage in reckless activities, such as crazy driving, drugs and alcohol, but none of them are in the open organized way that Bradbury invisioned. I know many students are excited when we get to view a moive in class and sometimes it can be a sucessfull learning tool, but we never have a class taught by hours of watching movies. His vision in a way became true just hasnt reached the level at which he described.
I would not enjoy being a teenager in Clarisse's school in any way. I believe that having the out in the open reckless activities would completly take out any of the excitement involved. Also death seems a common even whether its suicide or a peer murdering you. I know that highschool isnt always a happy place now but in no way do i feel that my life is at stake here as it would be in Clarisse's school. Also, i don't mind learning, i know that its important even though it isnt my top choice of activities all the time. I think that school would be the most boring thing and i would rather learn than be so bored watching movie after movie.

Brian A said...

Ray Bradbury envisions teenagersthat completely lack responsibility and aren't held accountable for anything. They go to school not to learn but because what else would they do? the schools are not really teaching them, just telling them what is acceptable and what isn't. the schools really just occupy the kids during the day and dont tteach them the important values we treasure. i would not enjoy being a teenager at clarisse's school, because i would not fit in. i would be scorned, and like clarisse, i would fear my classmates. and, there would be no books, so no reading, which is horrible. i love to read. Bradbury's vision has come true in the fact that many teenagers are reckless and lack responsibility, and they do some of the things Bradbury says they do in his bokk, but it hasn't escalated to where life isn't valued as by the teenagers of Bradbury's book.

Ally C said...

I think that Bradbury portrays teenagers in his book as almost brainwashed. They go to school and watch movies all day, then go and beat each other up afterwards. I agree with many of my classmates in saying that these teenagers are ignorant and violent. The schools aren’t worried about giving the students wisdom, but only knowledge and things to keep them from thinking for themselves. I would hate to be a student at one of these schools because you just go through the motions, without even asking questions as Clarisse explained to Montague. I think that Bradbury’s description has come true on a much smaller scale today, with many teens being concerned only with what benefits them in the short term; whether it be by claiming ignorance or being violent towards others.

anishp said...

Brabury shows teenagers as people who are carefree and aren't very educated. So far, that's what practically everyone has said, and I agree too. It seems that teenagers are maniacs in Fahrenheit 451 because they race each other and slaughter each other. Bradbury perceives teenagers as ill-mannered, uneducated, irresponsible freaks. It is kind of like today, where teenagers drive drunk and race each other. It would suck to be a teen at Clarisse's school because it seems none of them have feelings. Some of Bradbury's visions of teens are true because sometimes they are irresponsible, rude, unwise people. However, teens are actually learning things today in school, but a lot of them are involved in sports and seem to neglect school. For teenagers, there are some similarities and differences of how they are portrayed in Bradbury's novel and today. Hopefully, we can all agree that Bradbury's visions of teenagers is mostly an extreme example of teenagers today.

connors said...

Braudberry describes the teen agers as careless individuals with no emotion. They are reckless and seem to get away with it, almost like their behavior has been accepted. The schools themselves are not much better than the teenagers. They mantain a harsh enviorment, that basically trashes the kids brains so they cant think, but so they believe they can think. I would hate being a student their becuase the classes seem very repetitive and boring, also it seems that after school must kids are ready to sleep. His vision has come true somewhat in todays society. Teenagers are part of most accidents on the road, and are much more violent than they used to be. The situation has not escalated to the point where every teenager is involoved in beatings, shootings, or car accidents.

Jacob WR said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jacob WR said...

I would not at all enjoy being a student at Clarisse's school, as I would likely be singled out as she had been, due to the reluctance of the preexisting student body to accept anyone who has a thirst to learn, or even anyone from our current society.

Partially, Bradbury's vision has come true. He described schools where students simply sit and absorb information, without comprehension of any kind, and as they have not learned the consequences of any actions, due to their only knowing raw facts, they go out and do foolish things.
One cannot say that students today sit and do not talk to each other at all, and simply absorb facts. They still socialize a great deal. But that is not what Bradbury expected would happen- the silence is only symbolic. The majority of the students are quiet, and the only one that truly wants to learn, Clarisse, is shunned and excluded from the group as a result of her being different, and straying from social norms. Though most teachers today make an effort to help the students learn, there are still schools where information is simply presented to the students, and it is expected of the students to absorb it in the same way as the students do in Fahrenheit 451.

As for the foolishness and violence that happens after school, I think that is quite obviously relevant. Though it is not experienced as much at Arapahoe, per se, at places like East high school, gang violence is a strikingly common occurance. My middle school was right next to it, and a disturbingly large number of students' brothers, fathers, cousins, etc. were injured or even killed as a result of gang violence, careless and/or drunk driving, drugs, and dangerous activities such as the ones the students in Fahrenheit participate in.

So, I think that in a way Bradbury's vision has come true- the violence is obviously here, and many times, students either absorb raw facts alone due to boredom or disinterest in school, or they have no choice, as that is all that is presented to them.

HaileyJ said...

I think that Bradbury's vision is totally not the same as it is today. He views teenagers as reckless and pretty much immature kids. They are allowed to go to these car smashing placing and destruction sights, they go bully and torment younger kids, they are spoon fed information and do not think for themselves, and they basically are growing up in a manner that will keep the country as it is this at this very minute. They sit in front of the t.v. screen for hours just watching a moving picture and it is totally brain washing them. I would not like being a teenager at Clarisse's school at all. I feel that because i am such an opinionated person, and that i can think on my own, that i would get sick of not being able to do what i want, or think what i want to think. I would hate to be in that situation. Bradbury's vision is becoming more and more true as kids are relying on technology and the television for entertainment as opposed to getting outside and doing something healthy and proactive. Other than that his vision is altered by the entire do what your told method because even though those ideas have sort of come true, there is still an element of letting us think for ourselves. Right now, Bradbury's visions are not totally correct and i think that they will not be correct for a long long time.

michelles said...

I think that Bradbury's vision of school and teen life is exaggerated, but only to a certain extent. Like Emma W said, teens today participate in reckless activities like the teens in the book, including some that result in death; whether it be in today's world or in Bradbury's idea of today's world. Drugs and alchol lead to a lot of teen deaths, while in the book the kids deliberately killed each other, whether purposefully or not. Murder is still committed today, but people take it much more seriously than people in the book did. Teens in the book learned from watching television and movies all day, while we learn from reading books and listening to teachers talk mostly. There are the occasional times where we are privaleged with watching a movie, but if we were to alwasy learn like that, it would start to get old and kids would gradually lose interest.

I would not like to go to a school like Clarisse's. It is really hard for me to sit still while watching a movie, let alone during school. Like most of the others have said, watching a movie in school now is considered a treat, and it would definitely get old after doing so day after day.