In the poem "What I Learn in School," Jerome Stern describes in satire, an educational censorship of important information that is kept from students. This knowledge is with-held for the purpose of controlling thier thoughts of the world, so that the students' minds would be bent to the ideals of those holding the pen/white-out.
"And they mainly want to teach them not to question, not to challenge, not to imgaine, ut to be obedient and behave well so that they can hold them forever as children to their bosoms as the second millennium lurches toward its panicky close."
I like to think that I have a knack for seeing through the smoke, and while I was a student in High School my teachers were good friends because of how I questioned the sources of my knowledge. This poem was powerful to me because I could relate and find the dark humor underlying Stern's words. This poem reminds me of all the hours spent reading textbooks then all the hours finding where the books got their smarts.
I agree with what you said about this poem. It's how the schoools like to control what kids think about the world in a satirical way.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that you can relate to this poem. I couldn't find the dark humor that you found.
ReplyDeleteGood points, I don't like how the school systems are doing that. People need to know more about life then side tracking and skipping over the importance in life.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I found the humor to be more ironic than dark. Although I can see where that humor may come into play. Did you really spend time researching textbooks sources?
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