How is BVHS highly similar to the institution in which Chief Bromden suffers for 20+ years? How is your individuality crushed while your conformity is celebrated?
Examples:
1.) The custodians clean stuff that is already clean; they're actually spying on you...
2.) The teachers force you to use oppressive, needless planners. Really? To use the bathroom?...
3.) You are herded through the servery like the sheep on the truck Bromden hitches a ride with...
4.) All the students act as the "conformity police," pecking at any peer who tries to assert individuality or uniqueness...
Don't write more than 150 words.
(I'm considering requesting rectangular tables that seat six to eight students, instead of desks. Your thoughts? Help foster student empowerment? Student growth? Student collaboration?)
Don't rip on specific individuals, please. They are my friends. They care about you and your lifelong progress and pursuit of happiness. Nah, no they don't. They're robots!
96 comments:
In many classes you are forced into group discussions that are, for the most part, not needed or wanted. Like most of the patients, attendance is voluntary, but if you do not attend you can be punished. The patients are punished by being excluded from society and students are punished by becoming truant. Nurse Ratched is like a principal. Principals often like to say that everything is perfect and okay when it is really not. Principals tend to ignore what is really happening and the major issues going on. Also, principals only ever mention their graduates that have gone on to do ‘big’ things. They never mention those that have not succeeded in a way that they like. This is exactly how Ratched acts.
The High School is similar to the ward in many ways. They both run on strict schedule followed by everyone, even the ones who go against authority. The staff is similar to that of the bvhs staff, they both watch over and maintain equilibrium in the hospital. The school tries to make their job easier, without taking in attention on different learning style. This causes for everyone to flow into a stream of conformity. Without self-expression a person is just a blob living and breathing.
Chmela 2
To me it seems as if One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is very similar to our school in a few ways. In Brandon we have a schedule everyday that only changes a few times. These schedule changes are suppose to help us, examples are assemblies and speakers. Like in the book everything is for therapeutic reasons. Teachers can make classes feel longer or shorter it seems as if they are the Big Nurse herself changing time as she wants. In Literature class we sit in circles and talk about books just as the ward sits in a circle and talks about certain things written in the log book. All this time our principal can watch us on cameras throughout the school watching over us just like Nurse Ratched through the glass. When certain things malfunction, there are people such as janitors or computer guys to fix it. In the book Ms. Ratched has her black boys fix everything she cannot do. There are so many similarities between the book and school that it almost makes me feel like I was kidnapped and thrown in here because I have problems myself.
House 2
Nurse Ratched is like the principal. Oftentimes principals like to believe that everything is great and sometimes try to ignore the negatives that surround them. Nurse Ratched rules the hospital with an iron fist like the principal has to do to keep order in the high school. The teachers and basically everyone under the principal are like the aides in the hospital. They must follow strict rules and control the students to ensure that chaos does not break out. Like the ward, high school has a very strict schedule so that everyone knows where they need to be when and there is little leeway to that schedule.
BVHS is in many ways like the institution. Every day we must be here by 8:05 and follow a set schedule, or else we get in trouble. The patients in the institution are also forced to follow a set schedule every day with waking up, going to breakfast, playing cards or games, and going to meetings. At BVHS there is a dress code that must be followed or else you are told to change your clothes. Many people like to express their individuality through their dress, so the school is making everyone conform to a certain dress code. The patients in the institution have to follow an even stricter dress code with wearing hospital scrubs at all times. Lastly, the teachers and staff at BVHS have control over the students much like the nurses at doctors do over the patients at the institution.
At Brandon Valley, one big mistake can get you sent to East Dakota much like one mistake that proves you aren't worthy in Cuckoo's Nest gets you sent to the disturbed ward. In some ways, the patients have it better than students at BVHS. For example, the patients have the freedom to watch TV (granted at certain times) or they can occasionally leave the ward. In school, we always do exactly what the teachers say; however, the teachers rarely say anything that provides us with down time. We are told exactly where to sit and who to sit by which goes with the overall theme that we don't have any freedom of choice much like the patients.
In our school we have follow the rules precisely. We MUST sit in our assigned seats, fill out our planners to leave, and do homework on time or it is counted late and 50 percent is taken out. We must also follow our Nurse Ratched like Principal. We must follow his rules and what he says goes. If you do not like his rules he will force you to or kick you out. He has controlled the school so long that even the students coming in already know how to act and the ones who do not want to live this way leave and go to different schools.
The bells which ring every fifty minutes do not make their sound through the speakers, but though probes in our brains. They tell us when to stand up and move to the next class. Those who are late have faulty wiring. If they are late too many times, they receive Saturday school. During Saturday school, mechanics plug the students into a machine which makes the student think they are at Saturday school when in all reality, they are opening their skulls up and rewiring their circuits. We just received new laptops for many of our classes. There is a camera on the computer, and the people in the office can see everything we are doing, even when the laptops are turned off.
Our “institution” is based upon the idea of jumping through hoops to become perfect societal members. We are forced to do our best to get perfect grades, and we are shut down if we do not. We do not have any wiggle room, or we lose privileges; some are “ranked” higher than us. We cannot get that opportunity back. Sleep? What is sleep? You mean time to put yourself back together? No, that time is spent trying to get ahead. Some take classes in order to not be in college classes, but I think they are just trying to shove it in our faces, those of us who cannot keep up. How are we supposed to handle it? We can’t do ten hours of homework in one evening, and still be expected to be “well-rounded adults” through other activities! We become sleepless robots, who can state facts and do math.
There are many ways that BVHS can be compared to a mental institution. We are constantly controlled by bells. Ringing tells us when to eat, when to walk, when to go to the next class. Classes try and cram information into our heads, but only what the institution wants you to know. Not all people or ideas or theories are taught. Teachers assign homework so that even in the solace of our homes we are learning what they want us to know. We are constantly chained to our desks; we are told where to sit, when we can go to the hall, who we sit by. It is all completely controlled. Every second of what we do is scheduled and controlled by someone other than ourselves. We are regulated- almost as if we are robots.
Jeremiah Burkman P2
Brandon Valley High School forces our schedules into our minds. We rarely will use a different schedule. The staff wants to know our every move and every moment where we might be located. Planners enforce any other place where students may go during a class period. Students have a helicopter that hovers over them at all times during the school day. Someone will always know where we are at all times. A seating chart keeps us planted down in one spot for fifty minutes a period with sporadic times to get up and use a tissue or throw something in the garbage can.
At BVHS, we do not have a lot of freedom. We walk through the day the same way, every day. Students dread every week day because they’re so repetitive and boring. We are expected to follow a very specific schedule that rarely changes just as the patients do. We are forced to do all that teachers say and to conform to the combine. Going against the combine results in punishment. We are run by multiple “Nurse Ratcheds” that expect us to do as they say, when they say it. They expect us to do the same thing everyday and still expect us to grow as people. I don’t see how we can grow as people when we are cooped up in this building all day and receive no outside world experience. The real world differs greatly from the school world just as it differs greatly from the asylum world.
Our school is similar to the Cuckoo's Nest in several ways. The ringing of the bell means that it is time to go to the next class. The teachers are like Nurse Ratched. No one leaves their classroom unless they say so. Each student/patient must have permission to leave. According to society, we must go to school to learn to be civil in the real world. In school, we are taught to think and act a certain way. If you do not learn to be a certain way by graduation, you do not get to graduate. Homework, in a way, is like the medication the patients must take. If you do not complete your homework, you will end up suffering by getting a bad grade in the class. Though we do not have uniforms, we do have gym class in which you are required to change clothes. You must all wear similar clothing in order to "help" you to better perform the tasks given to you.
In the mental institution patients are provided with uniforms they are required to wear. At BVHS, students have the freedom to wear anything they want as long it is appropriate, modest, is not vulgar, sexual, related to drugs/alcohol, and is not distracting. We are allowed so much freedom of dress… Patients on the ward can use the restroom when they feel necessary. At BVHS God forbid we leave during a lecture to relieve ourselves. How dare we attempt to take care of basic bodily functions.
Williams 2
BRRRING! Walk, don’t run, to first period. Stay on the right side of the hallway. Sit in your assigned desk. Speak only when allowed. Do your work. BRRRING! Repeat. BRRRING! Repeat. And again and again we students slump through the halls like trained circus animals. Circus animals that are being continually being beaten into conformity of what society says “proper” student should act. They put on an act that they are here for us for entirely our benefit, but this is not true. They are just one section of minions of the machine that spits out exact replicas of generations before. We are taught what to think and we are punished for speaking our mind by Saturday school and expulsion. Because why risk everyone having their own ideas? That is far too dangerous.
Conformity is Brandon Valley High School’s policy. While some freedom exists to choose which classes one wishes to attend, the administration and the state require many specific courses to be taken. Deceptively, they make one believe they are in classes they want to be in, but in reality, they are in classes they are being forced to take. Additionally, students are required to follow certain school rules. A dress policy has been enacted that disallows students to freely express themselves by wearing what they want. The schedule put in place ensures that the students are not doing as they please--going where they want, when they want to. Also, students are required to sit in certain places within the classroom so teachers have the utmost control. In reality, school forces students to conform, and those who resist conformity are punished with detention, suspension, and in extreme cases, expulsion.
Even though I love BVHS, there are some similarities to the institution in which Chief Bromden suffers for 20+ years. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the patients are confined in the ward watched over by the aids. BVHS is much like this. It is required for every student to be in class everyday. The teachers are required to enforce structure in a classroom much like Nurse Ratched. BVHS also has a strict dress code much like the patients in the ward. We are encouraged to express our individuality yet at the same time we are forced to conform.
Schools are institutions of that similar to an insane asylum. We are legally forced to arrive here every single day at 8:05 a.m. sharp. If you show up late a certain amount of times, you are punished almost severely. We sit in perfect rows of desks while teacher drone on about topics uninteresting to us, and this unimportant information will not benefit us in any way once we are out of school and on our own. We take tests over useless information that we forget in a day or two after. The students have not been taught things, they have only been taught how to pass classes and give answers that they want to hear. The infamous bells of the school is how we know when we change classes; they control our lives. Much like clocks; they tell us when to eat, sleep, wake up, go someplace, and our lives revolve around time. We like to think that we are in control of our own lives, but we are very much like Ellis. We stay here doing things we hate every single day at the same time like we are rooted here. We could leave, but we do not, exactly like Ellis.
In high school, we are told which rooms to spend time in, and must sit in silence in rows until the bell signals that we are free to go. We are fed dreadful food and sometimes must gather altogether for assemblies that are really just brainwashing on a massive scale. We aren't allowed to have cell phones, so we are cut off from the outside world.
Danny Eitreim
Period 2
There are around 1000 six digit ID numbers in School District 49-2. About a quarter of them reside in the class of 2015. Most of these ID numbers spend their days in 8 periods. Each of these periods lasting exactly 50 minutes. The ID numbers know when a period is over by a blaring signal sent directly to their brain. Occasionally the signal is sent out at the incorrect time and must be corrected. Roll call is taken at the beginning of each period and entered into a computer system to ensure that all 1000 ID numbers are present.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is similar to our high school in some ways. Nurse Ratched plays the role of our principal in our school. She makes the rules and expects the other aids to follow her orders. She forces the patients to take their medication and she tells them how to act in the ward. Similarly to the Ward, the students in our school are required to follow a strict time schedule. We are required to sit in the same desk everyday, told when to go to lunch, and forced to ask to use the restroom. Similarly to our high school, there are a few individuals that act out and want attention on the Ward. These individuals do not play by the rules and look for ways around them. The disturbed ward in the book is similar to East Dakota because one big mistake could possibly bring you there. McMurphey and Bromden were brought there because of the fight that occurred in the shower. Similar to this, some kids are sent to East Dakota for starting fights during school or making poor decisions.
Kuehn 2
The ward has policies, just like the school. In the mental hospital, they have to vote to change policies. When McMurphy wants to watch the World Series, there has to be a majority vote by the men in the ward to change tv time and cleaning time. Similarly, when there is talk about changing the start date of school, like right now moving it later into the fall, the school board has to vote to move it. Both the ward in the mental hospital and the school have strict schedules. In the ward they have certain times to start breakfast, go to the day room, and go to bed. They take their medications at the same time every day when the nurse says it is medication time. At school we start the day at 8:05, and at the same times each day we change classes in the same order.
This is my fourth year imprisoned in this fortress, and freedom whispers only months away. They call this place a school, but it is really a prison, a brainwashing institution that targets Americans during their most vulnerable time: adolescence. The day is carefully structured to keep us off guard, exhausted, and unwilling to fight back. Each day, we are forced to go to ‘class,’ during which they force around twenty of us into a small room, make us sit in structured rows, and begin the brainwashing process. Each room has a different style of brainwashing; in some, officials stand at the front of the room and drone on about uninteresting topics to turn our brains to mush; in others, we are shown propaganda in the form of moving pictures; and in some, prisoners must sit silently and perform complicated calculations until they give up all notions of hope. Contact with the outside world is forbidden, and any contraband communications devices such as cellular phones are taken from us if found. During brainwashing sessions, we are not permitted to leave without permission from the reigning official, given by a signature on the log books we carry with us. The food is absolutely atrocious; although many of the servers appear to have sympathy and sometimes offer more edible options, I believe they have little power to alter the food. The strongest among us are taken away for training, and are pitted against other prisoners for entertainment; some fight one another until one is too weak to raise themselves from the filthy mats; others work in teams to move various balls into goals to ‘score.’ Winners are given special treatment for a short time, until eventually they too are defeated. The rest of us must watch these proceedings helplessly, and we often yell and scream from the sidelines at the horrors we are witnessing. Those who are not as strong or fast are forced into other activities; some produce music for the leaders of this place, some sing sweetly to combat the sorrow of the building, and still others are pushed onto a stage where they are made to perform sometimes ridiculous acts for the entertainment of officials and other members of the community, who come to visit and see the products of the careful brainwashing. After four years, those who have done well in this institution and have followed the rules are given a certificate of relief and are able to leave, while those who have not must remain until they have completed a sufficient amount of training. New prisoners are brought to the school each year to replace those who were released in groups of perhaps two hundred, and are ridiculed by officials and elder prisoners alike, called ‘freshmen’ and given little of the privileges offered to those who have been here longer. A select few are accepted by older prisoners and are given protection. Every once in a while, we are all called together, and gather in a large swarm to listen to the leader of this institution speak. We are encouraged to see this place not as a prison, but a place for learning. We are no longer people; we are ‘lynx,’ and we are encouraged to take pride in that fact. Some resist the brainwashing, but most gladly refer to themselves as such and even chant ‘hoo-rah’ when prompted as if they are doing so of their own free will. My term is nearly up, and a few months from today I will receive my own certificate of release and walk into the world, and I will shed light on the terrors of institutions like this one and save other vulnerable adolescents from being forced into it.
I can notice many similarities between the ward and Brandon Valley High School. The administrators tend to resemble Nurse Ratched. They don't want anyone to fall out of the machine assembly. For example, a week ago there was a throwback game for the Varsity Boys basketball game. As one would expect, the players got into it and decided to embrace the throwback nature by rolling up their shorts to make them as if it was the 1970's. Yet, our Athletic Director would have none of this "dis-respectfulness". Just moments later, heading out for warm-ups the Watertown players had done just what we wanted with their shorts at their thighs. Brandon Valley has many instances where it is almost identical to the strict ward and its unnecessary policies.
The school is a lot like the ward in the sense that food is given to us at direct times. Lunch time is a given time, we have to finish our food in that time and then move on to the next class. We aren't aloud to eat outside food in class. The no food rule affects most of the seniors, because most of us do not have a lunch. How are we supposed to eat the lunch we bring, when we can't eat it anywhere in the school.
Brandon Valley High School is a lot like the mental institution in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both BVHS and the ward have schedules that the students/patients have to follow. At Brandon Valley we have to be here by 8:05 am when school starts, and in the ward they have to wake up nice and early when the black boys turn the lights on. As well both have set lunches, as students we go to the servery and get our food, the same goes for the patients in the ward. At lunch time they move from the day room to go and get their food. Also at all times of the day teachers are to know where every student is at all times, the same goes for the nurses and black boys who have their eyes on the patients at all times of the day.
You're all horribly oppressed! You shall suffer all day, every day!
Brandon Valley High School is a lot like the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. We have to use our planners to go anywhere. We must hand in our homework on time and conform to the teachers rules. The bells tell us when we can and cannot leave. At BVHS we have a very strict schedule. Every week we do the same thing, go to the same classes. That is the same as in the novel, the patients have the same schedule. We are forced to follow all the rules and conform or else we will get punished. The students in our building also do not accept anyone who is different and not willing to conform to what society thinks as normal. Anyone who dresses different and expresses their individuality is frowned upon. BVHS and the ward are very similar.
The school is a lot like the ward in the sense that food is given to us at direct times. Lunch time is a given time, we have to finish our food in that time and then move on to the next class. We aren't aloud to eat outside food in class. The no food rule affects most of the seniors, because most of us do not have a lunch. How are we supposed to eat the lunch we bring, when we can't eat it anywhere in the school. There is also a rule on no colored drinks. I understand this rule in the idea or accident where a student will spill it on the carpet. This has to be enforced in every room with a classroom then. Not all of the rooms in the high school have carpet. Also, shouldn't the students feel that the teachers and staff of the high school have faith and trust them to be responsible.
Everyone is taught in the same way, and is expected to learn in the same way; everyone is given the same ‘treatment.’ However, the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all principle is not applicable to learning and education. Everyone learns in different ways, at different paces; having a standard for teaching lessons puts those students to whom the mold doesn’t fit at disadvantages.
School is run on a tight schedule. Report to class, be seated by 8:05, don’t be late (because so many tardies grant you seemingly unnecessary Saturday school, which ultimately fix nothing). Go to each class in order, one by one. Stay for lunch, even though you may not want to. Don’t leave until the bell rings. Day after day, again and again. It’s a systematic routine that restricts personal freedom, restricts choice. With such a rigid system, it’s difficult for students to thrive, grow, and reach their full potentials.
There are a lot of similarities within this school that are similar. We are on a strict time schedule as the mental hospital is. Conformity is alive in well in the hospital, being different is frowned upon in every aspect. In the school the kids who are different are outcasts and often made fun of, which forces many people to conform. In the mental hospital they have to vote for any changes like when McMurphy wanted to watch the World Series, Nurse Ratched ordered a majority vote. If there is a change that is wanted, the school officials have to vote. Ms.Ratched is similar to the teachers at BVHS, just as the teachers do, Ms. Ratched enforces structure to the patients.
Brandon Valley High School is similar to the institution for the mentally insane because in a sense, we are trapped here too. We are told from a young age that if we don’t attend the prison called high school, we will never amount to anything of value. Also, there are little “speakers” on the ceilings of nearly every classroom. The teachers say that they’re to pick up sounds better from the microphones for the hard of hearing, but it is clear that they are cameras to watch the students and make sure they keep with the robotic nature of school. Because of the forced conformity within the building, students are, more often than not, molded into the same entity and ultimately lose their individuality, if someone would be to so much as step slightly out of the circle of conformity, they are immediately ostracised by their peers until they submit and regress back into the mold of society.
Darrington 7
Brandon Valley High School occasionally has parallels to a mental hospital. As students, we are required to report at specific times, losing privileges if we are absent. Every student is expected to learn the same things, determined by seemingly more important people in Pierre and Washington D.C. Some classes expect unrealistic performance by their students, while others are simply like a day care for the students. A majority of the information taught is forgotten merely days after jumping through the pre-set hoops. Finally, students are expected to have school spirit and cheer together in a near cult like manner.
BVHS and the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are highly similar in many ways. Like the ward, our school follows a strict schedule perhaps in order to constantly know exactly where we are. Also, attendance is required to reap many benefits. At BVHS, if you miss more than two days of school, you are forced into taking semester tests. At school and in the ward, individuality rarely exists. McMurphy is the only patient that stands against conformity and it did not work in his favor as he received a lobotomy. At BVHS, if someone wears or does something different than other kids, he gets weird glares, receives criticism, and sometimes authority takes away whatever makes them individual.
Brandon Valley is much like electro-shock therapy that is presented in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Each year of high school (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior) is a separate procedure during which the staff at Brandon Valley, or the doctors performing the electro-shock therapy, spits out a new version of each student after they've completed a grade. The minds of the students are manipulated by the waves spoken by the teachers and authority in order to "fix" them, making their opinions and behaviors appropriate for Brandon Valley standards. By the time the seniors graduate in May, they'll venture into the world without individualism. At that time they will be brainwashed and anxious that without a structured, prison-like schedule, they will fail. Just like Miss Ratched treats each patient as pets that are expected to behave as she commands, Brandon Valley encourages conformity.
BVHS is very like Bromden’s institution. We are trapped inside by our fears alone; we could drop out any time we like, but we are afraid for our future or the backlash from our peers.
We have very specific dress rules, which prevents any sort of individuality. This individuality, when manifesting itself through clothing not allowed in the school, tends to be rather gross, but it is individuality, which is important for someone’s self worth.
We tend to have very timid individuals, like Bromden, in our school, with rabble rousers like McMurphy who show up and tend to get punished (castrated) for their misdeeds.
Ripperda 7
To me it appears there are many similarities between the institution and our school. I believe that both our administration and the administration in the book run their individual entities in an all powerful and unforgiving manner. If you screw up, you will pay. Second chances are not a given, you might just be sent away. The hospital administration gives the excuse that everything they do is for therapeutic reasons and at our school it is purely out of concern for students quality of education. We are expected to comply with all assignments issued, if not our "grades" are lowered. In this day in age it seems as if our grades are used to define us, if you get poor grades you are often looked down upon by society. In the ward you are also punished for non-compliance, sometimes it just happens to be in a much more physically pain inducing manner.
At BVHS, we are on strict schedules, similarly Nurse Ratched tries to set up an hour by hour schedule for the men on the ward. Students are allotted exactly 50 minutes for a class then 4 minutes to get to the next class. In the book, they wake up at 6, have breakfast, shave, then sit in the day room to pass time. In Cuckoo’s nest many of the men are in the ward voluntarily so they can leave when they like. If students miss school for more than two days we have to take semester tests. Even if we are sick we come to school in order to not have to take the tests.
Jersey numbers, not individual names! "Uni"form = one. All the same. Extra-curricular activities are even worse than the school day, right?!
BVHS is similar to the institution in many ways. The principle is like Nurse Ratched who wants all of the students to conform to society. We have schedules that rarely ever change, sit in the same chairs, in the same classes we have for years. The only break from the regular schedule is when we all go into the gym and try to make us all patriotic for this school or conform to the so called We Are BV thing. Also, the same students always seem to get the best treatment from being in sports or a fine arts. Rarely do you see any students that are in neither get acknowledged due to their lack of participation.
School are absolutely terrible for the students, because they emphasize being average. They congratulate the average, so then our society is average. They hold us back by letting us be lazy and average. They teach us to memorize too. We don't learn to think critically and use our imagination. We don't learn to problem solve. School is dooming our future society, because we will fall to high achieving societies like Japan. Conformity is also hurting us because if everyone thinks the same, then we will not be able to develop new technologies and imagine new beliefs. We will never grow!
At our school, there are certain classes which every student is required to take. If you fail to take these classes-- then you fail. Period. End of story. The core classes-- math, english, and science, are like the “therapeutic” meetings. Everyone must be present in them as well as participate. The men must be present at these meetings and give their opinion-- whether they want to or not. Often times Nurse Ratchet influences the men’s viewpoints and their opinions-- much like our own thoughts and opinions are shaped to what the teachers want them to be. Often times if the thoughts of a student differ from society, this student is admonished and set into their place.
BVHS and the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are highly similar in many ways. One way is how we are supposed to have school spirit and conform to our colors and songs. We are told to participate in homecoming week, and if you do not you do not get shunned; however, you do get dirty looks from others that are participating. Like when McMurphey is going against the ward policy he goes not get shunned but he does get dirty looks. Also we do not learn any other "cultures" as is other school songs. So we are stuck to only knowing one things and when we get put out in the "real world" or go to other schools, we do not know their "culture" or school songs and cheers.
You arrive at school, sign in, hear the bell and go to class. The same routine every single day. While attendance is voluntary at school and the ward, punishments are handed out by the Principal (Nurse) as well. We learn the exact same things as the person next to us when we all have different career ideas. Individuality is limited as the dress code is strict and hinders one to dress as they would like. If someone does do something out of the ordinary, people "snitch" just like the book that they have on the ward. We have our McMurphy type here at school also who tend to try and beat the system. Not many succeed and get punished.
Zeke Wieser
Eyes stare... they consume what I do and spit it into my face. They want us to walk, to shuffle in line from class to class. They do it, little asteroids!! I try to think music to quiet the stares, but they keep yelling with their irises. Like black and blue and brown trumpets being blown by the drowned lips of a monsoon. Sometimes when the eyes are loud enough, the sound pushes me into myself and I collapse, a black hole. I'm invisible but they will always feel my gravity.
Under the watchful eyes of teachers and other staff, a student must watch what they say. The single slip of a curse word because of a lack of understanding can result in a trip to the office and a verbal whipping. A dress code is enforced upon the women, though less upon the men. A single inch of shoulder skin on those girls who have not fit the beauty standard will be sent home. This establishment seems to favor those who are athletic and attractive. Those who have won the natural lottery have more perks. The prettier students are able to cuss and show skin without the bat of an eye from most teachers. The conformity to the beauty standard of America has permeated into schools, as this seems to be the case in most places. Even in my internship, makeup is part of the dress code.
Brandon Valley High School is similar to the ward because they both have reigning matriarchs, Nurse Ratched and Dr. Talcott. They always want order and will do anything in their power to keep the order. We also have specific requirements we have to achieve before we can leave. Our requirements at BVHS are the certain credits and classes we take, and at the ward it is the progression of your health determined from her opinion if you can leave or not. We are also restricted to time requirements and we get punished if they are not followed.
Learning how to do things even though we already know how to do it...Reading and Speaking English incorrectly or correctly. Also, we are fish going to classes regularly and in the same routine. In the hallways you listen to the same people saying the same thing they did yesterday. The planner that contains all of the rules for students, dress code, tardy consequences, and etc. Prime example of Nurse Ratched's rules and regulations on the ward. Our desks trap us from standing for what we know as we listen to the teacher tell us what we should learn not what we want to learn.
Dr. Talcott is definitely the nurse Ratched of our school. He is overbearing and will not let one single toe get out of line, such as Nurse Ratched. The teachers are his black nurses. They enforce the rules that he sets. There is absolutely no food allowed in class or colored drink. The planners are not needed to go to the bathroom, but Talcott will rip his teacher’s heads off if they don’t enforce his ridiculous rules. The food here is stale and unflavorful. Anything said outside of school on Twitter or Facebook will be used against that student in school if it disagrees with a teacher or student. The students that are celebrated are the ones that follow the rules and get good grades. Also we can’t have handshakes when we come out of the tunnel for basketball, that is individuality being oppressed severely.
Palmer 3
Our school expects absolute perfection. We must have perfect grades, perfect attendance, perfect appearances. We have set schedules, which we follow like mindless robots each day, from one class to the next. We have predetermined lesson plans that are supposedly for our benefit, but they only limit our learning. We have no control. Even the speakers, which spread throughout the entire school, show our lack of power in the school system. Our supervisors, principals, secretaries, and other superiors can feed the entire school opinions and information through these speakers, but no student can ever share their thoughts through it. If they can control the message, they can control us.
Brandon Valley High School is a wretched ward for the insane. They make us pay for a spot to come to the school. Not only do they use our parents tax dollars to create a school and parking lot, but they also collect a payment of $75 to park in the lot we paid for! Coming to school is mandated until the age of 18, so the parking lot is going to be full. Sucking up all of our money because they can is injustice to me. Of course it is optional to park in the school lot, but who wants to get dropped off by a parent or walk a good distance? Speculating further, it is not beneficial to park in the same spot each and every day. If I tried parking further back, I would find myself in trouble, even fined for more money. The blasted school wants me to park in the same spot so they know my car's location and know I am following the rules. Rats!
Day after day, the same routine, the same people, every day. Not much else happens in this institution. We wait for 50 minutes, listening to the instructors drone on about their topics so we can “learn.” Not only is this tediously boring, it is a waste of time. Not only does the planner situation make me feel uncomfortable, it’s down right invasive. I don’t want my teacher, or shall I say, overseers, to know that I need to relieve myself. It would be like having someone hold my hand while I went “potty” like a two year old. I just want to have some privacy but I’m unable to have it with the man watching my every move. Sure they don’t have cameras in the rooms or restrooms but I feel like I am always being watched.
Schools are mental institutions. We are taught only what our 'teachers' deem we should be taught. We are held back by what they don't tell us. They keep secrets that they don't want us to know. We are punished if we don't conform to their standards of intelligence. We are graded and valued by the letters on a piece of paper. If those letters don’t match what they view as acceptable then we are punished and put on higher restriction, taking away our freedom to come later or leave early. They control our thinking by giving us ‘group projects’ which really only shows them who is willing to take charge, which one of us has creative thinking still inside which ones need to be put down more.
Here at BVHS we all follow a strict schedule just as the patients on the ward. Everything must be on time in the same order everyday for our "own good". No one has a say on what times the classes are scheduled besides our nurse Ratched because she knows what's best for us. The big nurse is like our principal or school board-- they are the ones that make the rules for us. All of the teachers and staff are like the aids on the ward. They are all here to abide by the nurses rules and help enforce them on us. They cannot step out of line either because they too are afraid of the principal because they could lose their jobs. The principal, like the nurse, is not the highest ranking member just like on the ward. In the book the men willingly rat each other out and when the nurse holds meetings, they all gang up on each other and talk about ones problems. That is just like high school except we don't need the nurse to force us to comply to her, we willingly do it and make each other fall into conformity by harassing anyone who is brave enough to stand out.
“Feet under the desks and face forward at all times. We will need one hundred percent cooperation.” Teachers at BVHS are just like Nurse Ratched in ways that they feel like they need to be in control all of the time. Why does it matter if our feet under the desk as long as we are paying attention? This is just away for them to show they have control. Some students are just like McMurphy when they try to push the teacher’s buttons and not put their feet under the desk. They try to fight back and say there is no point, but then they get sent to the office for talking back just like the patients get sent to shock therapy for disobeying.
I do not understand why there is a rule against leaving the school for lunch period until students are in the second semester of their senior year. If the school is worried about what parents might think, they should create a form for parents to sign that will allow students whose parents approve to leave the school. Students would be able to get more variety of food along with teaching them some independence for the future. The school is being far too controlling of students free time. Also, the administration could use the right to leave during lunch as a privilege. If students get in trouble, they could have their open lunch taken away as incentive to behave. Students need to be prepared for the future which means they need to be able to make choices in life.
BVHS can be very similar to the ward. In the classroom, the teacher holds power over the students. This is similar to the ward, where Nurse Ratched holds power over the patients. If you are working on a group project in class and your teacher says you have to partner up, you have to choose a partner. What if you had Anthropophobia, the fear of people? The teacher can still force you to work with other people, even if you beg him/her to be able to work by yourself. In school you have no power.
Breitzman 3
Brandon Valley High School is much like the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. There are various Nurse Ratched's running this school and disobeying them results in strict punishment. We are run every day on a strict schedule that only varies once in a while. Our schedule is based off of bells, much like the ward is run by the Nurse talking over her loudspeaker to the patients. Before eating lunch at our designated time, we are forced to continue with our strenuous schoolwork for twenty minutes, when lunch is supposed to be a time for socializing and relaxation. As a senior, we are granted with the possibility of leaving the school to eat someplace else during our designated lunch time. However, we are not allowed to drive our car and are instead forced to walk, which takes up the majority of the time. The meetings held in the ward are similar to the assemblies we have occasionally or the PAC gatherings for TEAM. We are forced to attend and listen to the Nurse Ratched's of our school talk about various topics, mostly regarding the school's policies and how there will not be any changes despite our wishes.
The district. The school district. Always watching, always restricting. Making us crowd into a congested hall after the sirens scream in our eardrums. Chaining us to our desks, segregating us from the world. The urinal must be a treacherous invention considering the amount of verification required to use one. Why are those fascists constantly belittled and discrediting us even though half of us are legally adults? Do we not deserve the same rights as the dictators of the class? Are we not entitled to free will or (god forbid) individuality? They are out to get us! Run, peers, away from this dreadful place full of torment and misery. Before they can claw your eyes out and make you watch them butcher your spirit, crushing you into some weak blob. I hear them now. I scamper under a desk, hidden from view, to observe them as they pass.
Always watching, always restricting.
Brandon Valley High School, supposed to be a democracy… more like a dictatorship. We are allowed to have an opinion as long as it is the same as the opinion of the leaders. New ideas are constantly sprung up and immediately suppressed. There are guards posted everywhere to make sure that there are no uprisings or fresh ideas spread. Custodians in the hallways, teachers in the classrooms, and aids in the lunchroom make sure that nothing happens that is not supposed to. The very second that an uprising does occur, the individuals are made into an example and discarded like a piece of trash. So much for a democracy… an oppressing dictatorship would be a more appropriate term.
At BV we are forced to follow a daily schedule. fifty minutes a class period, with a four minute passing period. The schedule is prepared in this way for us so they can monitor us with cameras, and the teachers report on what we do when they meet in the teachers room. It truthfully is a surveillance room with high tech computers and monitors. They watch our every movement and report it to the big man, Talcott, who keeps folders on each of us and our daily activities. Each time we log into a computer, or laptop a webcam activates watching our daily lives hoping to catch someone tampering with the system. They're watching.
high school is like the institute because there are schedules, privileges, and even social conformity. It does not exactly suppress individuality, but sort of encourages conformity. If you don’t follow the rules, you get privileges revoked, like how in the ward they lost the tub room. There is counselors that help students talk through their problems, like Nurse Ratched does in the group therapy sessions. Everyone wears basically the same variation of clothes like how everyone is required to wear to wear the white uniforms in the ward. The system is basically trying to get us ready for the “real world”, like how the ward is trying to get the men to be conformed to their “real world”.
When comparing Brandon Valley High School to the Ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there are similarities that stick out. To start, here at BVHS, we run on a very strict schedule, just like the schedule in the book. The bell rings at a certain time, and if you didn't make it on time you are punished by receiving a tardy. Even when there are situations that arise throughout the day like an early release due to weather, or a large school assembly, the schedule is strategically planned to keep the chaos to a minimum during these times. To add to that, assemblies at BVHS can be compared to the “therapeutic” meetings in the ward. The men of the ward gather together to talk about their different ideas; much like how the students gather together to be made aware of the different ideas are to make BVHS a better place. Another way in which BVHS is similar to the ward is in the use of planners. In the ward, patients are not allowed to leave without the signature of Nurse Ratched just like students at BVHS are not allowed to leave the room without the signature of the teacher. Lastly, BVHS is like the ward because of the announcements at the end of the day. Students are not allowed to leave until the announcements are finished, just like how the patients are not allowed to leave a certain area of the ward until the time is up or until they are told to leave.
The Brandon Valley High School is similar to the Ward in a few ways. We are consistently told what to do and not do. We as seniors are similar to the acutes and are partially all like McMurphy. We push the buttons of the staff and administration. Seniors get privileges that the younger class men do not receive. They are the chronics and don't understand what is really truly out there at the school. The seniors get more privileges and are understood and given more leeway than the others. Just as the Acutes have more privileges and understanding of the ward. The chronics do not understand.
BVHS is similar to the institution Bromden suffers through for twenty plus years because there are rules and regulations to help keep the administration and teachers in control of the students. I believe some of the rules are necessary, such as those pertaining to class times, weapons, and cheating. On the contrary, I also believe that the rules that pertain to seating charts and signing out with planners are very juvenile and don’t prepare the upper level high school students for their futures in higher learning facilities. Some of the students at BV are--similar to that of the people in the world outside of the institution--judgemental and exclusive. If someone chooses to be their own person, they are often outcast or ridiculed for their expression of unique thoughts and beliefs.
Welcome to Brandon Valley where the conformity is thick, nearly suffocating all. Where students roam, meander listlessly. Where the cattle are told being different is fine. Meanwhile they are meticulously molded to be constantly encrusted in brand-name uniforms, perpetually dreading discrepancies.
Welcome to Brandon Valley where what suffocates is celebrated; where what’s thick is sick. Where the administration sets up policies for the listlessly meandering roamers to police. Where ukuleles are crimes. Turns of heads are handcuffs.
Welcome to Brandon Valley where boldness has to be thrust as a suppository. Where existing gets you by; where you have to be told you can live. Where freedom is a commodity. Where spontaneity is in hospice and originality in textbooks. Analyzed not utilized.
Welcome to Brandon Valley where word limits are put on complaint letters and oppression on the masses. Where daily life is mummified; gorgeous externally, internally decaying.
Huizenga 7
The school is ward-like in that it brutally rips a person's individuality right from them like a combine rips crops from their spots in the ground. With so many rules against dress and voice, the cornerstones of self-expression, it becomes almost impossible to accurately express oneself and thus everyone becomes the same.
I think it is easy to find quite a few similarities between the ward in Cuckoo's Nest and the school in Brandon Valley. One similarity is the fact that we are forced to be here. We are unable to leave, because we have been told time and time again over the course of our lives that without this education this place is giving us we will not make it far in life, we won't make it anywhere, unless we're lucky enough to get a mediocre job, flipping burgers. If we want anything more for ourselves than that then apparently we have to be here, day after day, trying to better ourselves. This is like the ward because the men have to be there as well, although many of those men are their voluntarily. The men are supposed to be there because they are trying to better themselves as well, to be better in the real world, to prosper, and to be accepted in society, which is basically why the students in school are here also.
Brandon Valley is exactly like the ward. If you do not fit in, you are cast out, thrown aside, made fun of. If you do not think a certain way you will fail your classes. Teaching there is one right way to think. Teaching us to become robots and try to make as much money as possible. Teaching us to be something you're not just to succeed, rather than to follow your dreams and do what you want you are made to do. Herding us through the school, just going through the motions. They treat us like children until you graduate and then expect you to adapt to the real world. When just three months ago I had to ask to go to the bathroom; Then I will be living on my own. They treat us like children exactly how Ratched treats the patients in the ward.
The Brandon Valley High school can be likened to the ward inside of Kesey's story in that it has strict regulations that we must follow. Much like in the book, where Nurse Ratched wishes for strict control over the time schedule for the patients, the school tries to control our own schedules. There are repercussions for being merely seconds late to a classroom. No one is harmed by the minuscule tardiness of a student who is seconds late to a class, however, there are still punishments for such an event. The punishment can reach up to attending a Saturday school, all for a few seconds late in school.
Brandon Valley is a horrid place. We essentially are forced to take classes we have no interest in, to better a masochistic regime of educators (nurses) who only wish to see us advance. However advancement is utterly denied unless it is on the terms of the educators (Nurse Ratched’s controlling of the men’s Doctor, in turn their sanity.) Very similar to a psychiatric ward, this school is full of insane children, screaming in the hallways, walking so slow they could be classified as literal sloths. In order to use the facilities, we are required to fill out endless forms in the shape of a ‘planner’. The educators enforce conformity, we all take the same classes, we all eat the same lunch, we fill out the same forms, follow the same curriculum, this allows for almost no creative individuality.
We are tied down to a certain schedule and routine throughout the day. Why is it that we pay for an assigned parking spot? To make sure we show up and pay more money to the man? They tell us that everyone has a spot.We automatically know where we are suppose to go it is to turn us into machines. We have to have a planner to say where we are going. They want to keep us down and make everything go on without a hitch. The school system is all about outputting perfect machines.
I think that the rectangular desks will work better in a circular arrangement will improve discussion just like our forums. With circular desks will limit people to that group of discussion.
After many years at BVHS, I have heard many a complaining about how terrible school is. Why do we have to follow a bell for seven hours a day? Why do we have to eat this food that looks like it’s not even real? Why do I have to do math this way when I can do an easier method that also works? Individuality could be crushed even more if we were required to wear uniforms. Now that would be treacherous. Its really weird too that I know who will walk down the hallway between every class every semester. Conformity at its finest.
Don’t wear that to school it is too inappropriate. Don't speak when you aren't being called on. Don't be late for class. Don't talk back. At Brandon Valley, these are just a few things the students are told almost on a daily basis. We are set to a particular schedule five days out of the seven day week. We walk the same hallways, we go to the same classes, we sit in the same seats, and listen to the same people speak almost everyday. If you break any of of the rules that has been given to you, you face consequences. You face Saturday school, suspension, or expulsion. Some students will be sent to East Dakota, a school for students who are too “misbehaved” to go to any other school. Our rules, directions, and punishments are similar to the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. The men are set to a certain schedule, cannot talk back or misbehave, and if they do so they face punishment. In the book, if the men do not act the way the nurses would like them to, they are sent to Disturbed Ward, which is like East Dakota for us. These men, like high school students, are afraid to stand out and make a difference because we are afraid of what might happen. We face a certain type of “normal” and that is what will stay with us until we are set free and leave.
Ashley Guthmiller pd. 6
Our high school is similar to the Institution in many ways. We are taught from a young age to conform and not be unique in manner or thought. We are taught to think in a specific way and are criticized by teachers and even other classmates for asking too many questions. When people raise their hands and ask a question that others may consider stupid, people will moan, groan, and even laugh. We are taught to color inside the lines and are graded poorly when we do not. We have a dress code like the ward does and we get told to put on other clothes like McMurphy did. We run on a schedule and get reprimanded when we do not follow the schedule exactly as we should. We have to ask to do basic things that every human needs to survive like go to the bathroom and drink water.
Our school suppresses us daily and makes us conform to their excepted standards. For instance we cannot not wear heads or clothes that are deemed inappropriate by school standards. Why are the school standards our standards? Why are we forced to conform instead of expressing ourselves? Just like in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest our students are like the patients. The patients conform to the Nurse’s dress code while the students conform to the School’s dress code. At Brandon Valley our lives are run by the bell and run by our schools standards. This is just like on the ward where the patients’ lives are run on a strict schedule that doesn’t change.
Walking the halls of BVHS is much like walking the halls of the disturbed ward. It is mandatory that we comply to the schedule in which we are placed in rectangular brick rooms, cold as stone. Assigned to marvel at the classroom controller expected to comprehend the words and ways the controller would like us to perform. Some say, “keep your feet under your desk.” Others say, “keep all four on the floor.” Never ending demands to conform to this ward-like environment. The strict schedule promotes sameness among us all. Who is our controller and why don’t we branch out? If we tried, we would be severely punished and sent away to East Dakota-a ward for those who cannot conform.
Seemingly every day after school, I talk to my parents, as well as other relatives and older friends who tell me of a wonderful promised land. I'm told of the large amounts of freedom one has at this place. Freedom from others, freedom to be oneself. Freedom to do as one pleases (to a reasonable extent, of course) instead of having to ask someone older if they think it's alright. This promised land is known colloquially as "college".
It's hard not to get my hopes up, but I've made that mistake too many times, as whenever I do, I wake up the next day and come back to high school.
At high school, none of that stuff exists. Freedom to do as I please is nearly nonexistent. My body's schedule says I should use the bathroom and eat at certain times of the day, but I'm programmed to delay both of those by minutes, sometimes hours because somebody else doesn't think they're important. If I try to beat the system and just bring food into the classroom, it's confiscated. There aren't really that many options at school that would allow me to truly be myself relative to college or, you know, the "real world". There are only a certain number of clubs and activities, and if none of them interest you, or if you're not skilled at any of them, that's your fault.
High school is a cruel place sometimes, but it's made even more cruel by the fact that I know less cruel places exist.
Though I am not a cavillous person, I can see that some rules that are enforced in our school that may be deemed as extreme to some people. The set schedule that is rarely changed feels like they are trying to program us to a set way. Also the bells after each period conditions us to respond in a certain way by making us go to the next period. Lastly, the planner system of going to places seems a little strict and it almost seems like they want to make sure an adult approves of what you are doing all the time.
Brandon Valley High School… a school or institution? Both. Brandon Valley High School is in a sense very comparable to the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Some may cavil at the everyday activities we participate in. Some may say it is outrageous to have to be here everyday by 8:05am (besides seniors) tell us we have to take a lunch, dictate when we can or can’t use the restroom, also determine what we can and can’t wear. They seem to “keep track” of where we go (planners), and the staff does clean what is already clean so they could very easily be spying. But for what? What benefit would the staff of BVHS have from listening to a bunch of juvenile conversation ranging from what angle they picked their nose to how they scored on their math test. Regardless, I believe we could cavil at the idea that there is secret mission behind the schools intention or that there is a conspiracy within this institution, when in reality this is just a high school, and we are here to get an education while following a few rules.
The dress code at Brandon Valley is extremely similar to that of the ward. In larger society, while there may be social repercussions for wearing clothes that are not necessarily “appropriate”, a person is generally allowed to wear what they want. However, in the ward and in our school, we must wear what has been approved by the administration. The focus is on conformity, and not individuality. The administration believes that if we are to all be the same, there shouldn’t be any disagreements or bullying. What they don’t understand is that kids could wear carbon copy clothes and still find things to pick on each other about. Conformity never solved calamity.
I don’t think that rectangular or circular desks will increase student productivity, as it is nice to have your own space.
Eichelberg 6
I believe the fog is very accurate to this school. Here students are not made to learn they are to hide away in their own fog of memorization. Learning, genuine thinking for yourself is discouraged because it is better to take the word of the teacher and repeatedly drill that. I’ve had teachers often teach me a lesson and when asked to explain the reasons behind one step in the process icy cold stares are fixed upon the inquiring student. As if the teacher will give you EST in exchange for not taking their word. Do not look further into knowledge than what you are told because coming out of the fog means actually applying oneself and wanting to learn for the sake of learning. The fog is a student’s way of hiding. They know questioning will be met with resistance and so they comply to what is easier and slip into a fog where they do not have to think, but just go along with what teachers say and memorize, memorize, memorize.
Brandon Valley High School is similar to a mental ward in too many ways. As the boys write down secrets of their acquaintances in hope of reward, people of this school also spread things said(true or not) in hope of an empowering feeling over others. We are told that we don’t have to conform to things such as saying the pledge, but certain Ms. Ratched-like teachers would reprimand us for not participating in this expressive act. These authority figures make sure that we have a routine down and we don’t diverge an inch. We go to class, must not have tardys, must sit where assigned, and not speak unless spoken too or called upon. We don’t choose what to learn, when to speak, or even what/when we eat. Welcome to the Brandon Valley Correctional Mental Ward.
Brandon Valley directly aligns with the ward in Cuckoo's Nest in terms of schedules. The daily schedule for Brandon Valley students is the exact same every day, with no room for compromise. This correlates with the way the ward has a strict schedule and how no matter what the patients do, they cannot change it.
Andrews 6
We see conformity to rules everyday in the halls at Brandon Valley. For example, the crowded hallways are hundreds of students conforming to the set class schedule. The athletes that wear their team warm-ups conform to the seniors that told them what to wear to school on game day. The parking lot is lined with cars that obey/conform to the rule of assigned parking spots but if one car is out of line, many people are bound to hear that so-and-so parked in so-and-so's spot.
There are multiple Nurse Ratcheds that are employed at Brandon Valley. The students are expected to obey all rules the teachers (or in this case Nurse Ratcheds) have set for their classroom no matter if they are all different.
Brandon Valley High School is an institution for the insane. The the school board oppresses the students by telling them exactly what they will learn. If a student does not want to learn math, the school forces them to do so anyway. The school sets rules for the subjects that the students must learn, regardless of what the students wish to learn. The school constant enforces their subjects on to students and does not give any regard to what the students wish to learn themselves. The subjects the school enforces are completely made up. Math. What is math? The school makes students memorize random sequences of numbers. What is the point of this? There is none other than the school board wishes the students to perform these tasks.
Burch
Pd. 3
You may think BVHS stands for Brandon Valley High School, but it is actually an acronym for Brandon Valley: Home of the Senseless. It doesn’t take much to excel here. Ask any teacher (possibly better referred to as a warden) what makes a great student! With slight variances, the majority will say that a great student is one who is quiet in class, speaks at appropriate times, follows the accepted formulas in math class, uses the arbitrary grammar rules in English, etc. To sum it into one word, an excellent student is submissive. Although one could buck the system, we shame those who do. After all, a successful life is based on how well you do in school, right?
Brandon Valley High School is much like the mental institution in where Bromden spends a good chunk of his life. Individuals are picked at for disturbing the normalities of the school system; if one does not use their planner to go to the bathroom or hops out of their set before the bell you are reprimanded. Also, if you try to leave before the end of the day, police may start searching for you. However, as the adults they so much want us to be, we should be able to relieve ourselves whenever we’d like. And God forbid students would be able to change a very carefully worked out schedule as this will disturb everything. Finally, just as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, we must always “stick together as a class.” Don’t bother leaving to go somewhere else when your class is in the computer lab and you are done with your work. Because if you do, watch out, to the office you go.
There are many ways in which Brandon Valley High School can be similar to the restrictions that are shown in the book. The entire school can be viewed as a prison, where everybody is controlled to do specific things at certain times. The bells push us to go to a new place every time they ring as if we are robots. Cameras that are placed throughout the hallways to make sure nobody gets out of line. When people do get out of line, they are sent to “East Dakota” and come back as a whole new person, but other times they do not come back at all. All the staff at BVHS are just like the nurses at the ward. The teachers make us sit in a certain seat and manipulate us with lessons, assignments, and labs. We think its just for learning, but its truly a way for them to control our minds. Lastly I have a hunch that the lunch ladies feed us specific foods laced with some sort of mind controlling substances too.
Alex Hillestad Period 7
Brandon Valley, home of the Lynx. I've disliked it here ever since I was told I was being forced to move here. The worst part of Brandon Valley High School are the school colors. If you notice, I am a redhead. Redheads. Don’t. Wear. Red... EVER! Why should I be forced to wear red to show my school spirit? Forcing me to wear red not only makes me look horrible, it is also crushing my individuality. Are our authoritative figures constructing a brainwashing center of conformity? Are they using our “school spirit” to make us feel that looking like everyone else is a good thing? I believe that school colors are oppressing children and young adults… But I guess I wouldn't feel so strongly about this if it were a more neutral color such as governor green.
School is like an institution. Basically, both are big boys and big girls daycare. Dropped off by those that do not want to take care of you and the day is scheduled out minute by minute. Everyday is the same to keep us going on without problems. You see the janitors clean the tables the same time everyday. Everything is ran on convenience. And if a student was to be like McMurphy then someone like Nurse Ratched would have to step in. If I refuse to do this blog task then my grade will suffer and mysteriously my parents will find out and I will be in trouble. Skyward is a system to keep all adults involved in controlling the youth. Even conferences are coming up to show the student that eyes are everywhere and teachers and parents work together. We are just always being watched.
Our principal can be compared to Nurse Ratched. Everyone has to follow the principal’s rules, just as the patients do with Ratched. Our school follows a strict schedule, just like the institution. BVHS is built up with rules that all of our students have to follow, just as the institution is. We have assigned seats in every single class, get our cell phones taken away, and we have to use our planner to sign out of the classroom. We have a certain dress code that we have to follow which doesn’t allow us to express our individuality.This is similar to the institution because all of the patients had to wear scrubs for clothing. The nurses and doctors had complete control over the patients and what they are allowed to do. This is the same with BVHS because we are watched over by the teachers and staff.
In High School, the school likes to show off the accomplishments that have been made throughout the years. Accomplishments being best academic school in the state or perhaps winning money for the school. Even though the school shows the public how great they are, there is a lot that is wrong that the public does not see. The ward is the exact same. The public is brought in to see all the good that the ward is doing to the patients, when in reality there is nothing good going on in the ward.
I think that our school tries very hard to make every student equal,but I do not feel every student is equal. I think by making everyone equal, our school is taking away some of our individuality of the students. I think that an 18 year old student should be able to use the restroom without having to ask another adult to do so also. Although education is important, I think we should be able to customize it to yourself, rather than everyone doing the same thing. Not everyone is going to do the same thing with their life, so I think that people should be able to take class that give the best start with their life. Instead of taking general classes that are meaningless, such as art or gym. I think these classes are fun classes but I do not need them whatsoever.
Megan Swets
6
Tears fall in streams down my cheeks as I drive home, the night surrounding me--an impossibly distant blanket stretched over the world--black, matching my mood. So many stresses cling to me, leeching my energy. The problems I face seem so much deeper than the blog task due by midnight, but the recollection of that enterprise is what slipped my last finger from the edge of the cliff, leaking the hurricane inside of me, letting it spill down my cheeks.The utter impracticality of everything--school, life, politics, love--burst like a bubble over me, and I metaphorically slam shut my computer and go to bed. Brandon Valley: a high school. Every day we traipse through life as we are instructed, learning about pointless nouns and summation and pain, all with the backdrop of various composers (classical music--at least we are not subjected to “Tea for Two”). We write a certain number of words barely fulfilling a particular prompt and are lauded for our half-ass repetition. Everything told is dutifully recited back in essays, tests, songs. New information lurks in our brains, but parameters are placed to stem our creativity, we are victims of a society for which we are blamed. Teenagers with existential crises cry out over book endings, television shows, deliquescence of meaningless relationships “WHAT IS LIFE. HOW DOES IT CONTINUE. I DON’T UNDERSTAND AND I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IT ANYMORE.” But how can no one understand, they are the right ones. We are all struck down and minimized to angst and depression, but we teenagers are right. Adults, the teachers and administrators of the school have only been subjected to upholding the continuum, inculcating the deepest desire for meaningless lives and lying about how to get there. Good test scores, hard work in a respectable field, a big house with 2.5 kids and a dog and a white picket fence. But how can we live with happiness? Thank goodness the artists, the poets, the dreamers, the abstract lunatic mathematicians survive through the curdling of growing up to find themselves and pass on the continual angst--not a phase, but the truth, unsmothered by fear and conformity. (Yes, the above is 357 words. Yes, this blog task is precisely 9 days late. Sue me. I’m denying conformity.)
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