Hope Springs Eternal

Hope Springs Eternal, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

     When I first finished reading this entire book containing four different stories, I thought the first one which is Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption was the least horrifying but still contained various concepts and I enjoying learning about the prison world. This story was the first long prison story I read and thus made me focus more and learn new things about a world that is isolated from the outside world. I had many questions while reading this story and tried to figure out the answers while thinking and guessing.

    

     This first part of the book has another title, Hope Springs Eternal. I wondered why the author related hope with this story and this was one of the questions that I could find the answer easily. Throughout the story, the author keeps on emphasizing the power of hope. Andy showed how hope helps prisoners live in such an isolated place. He dug into the concrete cell wall for nearly 28 years and everyday when he was digging that hole, he felt hope and this emotion helped him to control himself and not go insane. Also, in the part when Tommy Williams told Andy he could prove Andy’s innocence, the tiger called hope was released from the cage in Andy’s mind. If prisoners didn’t have hope, they could possibly not live in the dark and gloomy place for years. Andy always had hope and this strong feeling helped him escape in the end. That is why the author put Hope Springs Eternal for this story, Andy’s hope lasted forever.

    

     Does this story have credibility? Can we believe every word Red tells us? No, and Red admits it as well. This story was written in first person narrative which made the story seem more realistic but it had its limits. Red cannot remember every fact about the life in Shawshank and he cannot know exactly the thoughts of individuals. In the story, Red agrees that the things that he tells can be a mixture of rumors and plus, Red had an admiration of Andy which made the story look like it was justifying Andy’s escape. Readers need to be unbiased while reading it.

    

     There was another factor that contributed to the justification of Andy’s escape, the corruption of Shawshank. The prison didn’t mind the prisoners’ lives and rehabilitation and instead prisoners learned survival techniques and even Andy did money laundering. Red showed all the terrible sides of Shawshank which leads the readers to think Andy should not have stayed in the prison any longer and it was perfectly right to escape. However, the world does not look at jail breakers with an affirmative eye and this shows how the story tends to support Andy’s actions.

    

     The last question I had was, is Andy a hero? People usually think of a hero as someone with a very good image and someone who saves lives of others, not a prison breaker. However, I believe Andy is a hero because other people benefited from him and I thought simply helping others can be seen as a hero. Andy gave his rocks to other inmates which is a symbol of transferring inner light and also Red faced his fears and accepted the outside world after seeing Andy’s hope help reach his goal. Andy isn’t a superhero, but he is indeed a hero for some people.

Let’s revolutionize for our kids

Let’s revolutionize for our kids

 

     Education! When you look at this strong word what comes to mind first? Is it utility or benefits? Or is it dull and forced? Adults usually think of the first two things while children and teenagers, the very people who are going through the process of education right this moment, will think of the last two words. How could this be the result for most people? That’s because today’s education systems are wrong for this generation and they need to be changed. To simply look at the current system, it emphasizes standardized testing and college. It seems like the final destination for all people should be college but actually it definitely does not have to be like that. Also it bundles kids according to their age which seems like the only important thing is the year of their manufacture. The current system helps the talented ones to succeed while leaving other children behind. These are only a part of our education system’s characteristics.

    
     As you can see from above, the current system has many problems. First, it is made for a different age but is still used for us. The generation before us could have benefited from it because the system focused on the intellectual culture of the enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution which are what actually happened when they were students. However, the world has changed rapidly from then and the education system should follow the change as well. Second, it is like a factory and the students are treated as products. From Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, children are scolded from writing poems and not focusing in class. They enter school in straight lines and follow everything the teacher says. It was somewhat exaggerated but still today’s schools are mostly like that. They give the children stiff information that they call knowledge and don’t care if they fully understood them by heart or not because their only duty is to get them to college. This is why most people cannot benefit from the system and merely a few will live well. Plus, this kind of organization makes kids become anesthetic meaning they are falling asleep in their mental work and creativity. When some children are too excited to stand the boring and dull concepts school teaches them, they are called to have ADHD and people make them take drugs which are dangerous to the youngsters. Finally, everything is about linearity and conformity. Nothing new or creative can be branched out the current system and everyone should follow what the society had planned for them.

    
     What can we do about this issue? We need to change the paradigm. A revolution in education and innovation is required. There are two things Ken Robinson told in his speech that are important for the transformation, divergent thinking and collaboration. Divergent thinking helps people to become creative and collaboration is followed by growth. Ken Robinson has said “We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture.” For instance, Finland has one of the best education systems in the world and this can be a good model for other countries as well. In Finland, schools try hard to help students find out what are the best things they can do. They teach them based on various fields because they do not know which field could be a child’s talent. Also, they do not leave behind anyone and give them extra help to catch up with the others. Their education is part homemade because until seven, all children learn from their parents and parents are the ones who help them to want to go to school and learn more about diverse subjects. These are only a few reasons why Finland teaches for the least hours and has the best results. Our school systems should be transformed into organizations like Finland and help children find their own talents and interests.

    
     At first, I thought the school systems definitely helped me find my talents and helped me to step closer to a happier life in the future. However, now I look back at it, I believe I only found talents that are in the fields of what the society prefers. I never really had a time of my own to search for my own talents and I feel sorry for myself for following everything schools wanted me to do and thinking that they were doing it for me. In middle school, I was educated and thus the thoughts and wonders I had in elementary school had disappeared because I was nearly hypnotized by the education system believing I will live a better life if I follow the trend in studying. Nevertheless, when I entered KMLA I realized today’s school system was wrong. In this school, I found many friends with beautiful talents of their own and the school tried hard to develop their talents. KMLA did not only make the students study and stack up knowledge but also wanted them to keep their own talents as they study along. I believe the current system should be changed. I understand it will be a difficult task at first because nothing is easy when it’s innovative. However, this change is not only for our benefits but also for our children’s. We need to make a society for everyone not only the well-educated.

    
     Now we came up with the conclusion that it is necessary for us to transform the current system of education but how? People need to think of original and novel ways of studying but for the basic parts, schools need to teach various fields and assist children to find their own talent by trying different things from a young age. We need to help them live in a world that they can live together.

About my writing

     I have learned to write since I was young and I usually enjoyed writing down my thoughts. When I entered middle school, I learned that there were a lot more types of writing and started to write research papers, editorials, poems, and even bed-time stories for my cousins. After experiencing diverse methods of writing, I figured out that my style was writing short and brief points and sentences. Also, I preferred to use simple words because when I write with high-level vocabulary, I make mistakes from time to time and my readers have more difficulty understanding them. Nowadays, I’m trying hard to make my sentences longer with more details and try to use difficult words to improve my vocabulary skills.

     Everyone has their own strength and weaknesses in writing, but until I took Mr. Johnson’s class, I only knew what my weak points were and sometimes I even thought I didn’t have any strength. Mr. Johnson told me that my contents and organization was great and I was stunned by what he said. However, after hearing his comments, I gained some confidence and liked writing even more. Also, I can come up with various examples for my works, whether they are first-hand experiences or factual ones. My weaknesses were grammar and word choice. As I mentioned above, I have problems with grammar because I didn’t learn them but just became used to it by listening to others speaking English. I try hard to use sophisticated words but sometimes I use words that make the sentence sound weird. I hope I can fix these problems while I’m listening to Mr. Garrioch’s class.

     I would like to write without making limitations by myself. I know that if I work a little bit harder than usual, I can improve my writing skills. Yet, I stop in the middle and make limits, but I’m going to change and do my best to break my boundaries. Plus, I’m hoping I could develop my grammar and be happy about writing, not stressful because it’s homework.

     In this term, I don’t want to write long essays and reports like the one I did last term. That took too long and I received a lot of stress while doing it. On the other hand, I would really like to write about myself and imaginary stories. I know myself the best and I couldn’t get time to think over myself recently, so it would be such a valuable time for me. Also, I want to come up with stories and activate my imagination. While preparing for KMLA and after living for a term, I realized that I lived a desolate life and I want to change this. I don’t want to be carried away by school work but I would like to really enjoy the things I’m doing and this kind of writing will help me return to the times when I was young and creative. I wish this class will be fun!