The Great Gatsby: Chapters 5 - 4

(1.)“Benny McClenahan arrived always with four girls. They were never quite the same ones in physical person, but they were so identical one with another that it inevitably seemed they had been there before.” (Ch 4)

Fitzgerald is arguing that society is superficial.  Benny always had four girls with him, although they were not the same people, they might as well have been.  It appears that, because this man is always showing up with different women, that he does not truly know them, but just picks them up.  They all act the same because they are shallow and unintelligent, which is how they were picked up so easily, and also why they had been picked up in the first place.  Society does not care about individuality or the quality of people, but in the quantity of them. (101 words)

(2.)“‘I’ll tell you God’s truth.’ His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by. ‘I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West — all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.’” (Ch 4)

Fitzgerald uses this dialogue to argue that tradition is important and not all wealthy people have forgotten that.  Gatsby was wealthy and could have gone anywhere he wanted for education.  He was living in America and had been brought up there, so it would have been more convenient for him to find a school in America.  However, he went to Oxford, the traditional school for his family, because continuing that legacy was important to him.  This shows character in Gatsby, something that Fitzgerald believed was lacking in society. (90 words)

(3.)“They moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild, but she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesn’t drink. It’s a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue, and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don’t see or care.”(ch 4)

People who are wealthy are famous in society.  Because they are constantly on a stage for people, their actions are judged much harsher than would be for the common man.  This is why Daisy had a better reputation than others in her family.  The rest of them drank alcohol all the time, where she did not.  Fitzgerald is using this as a ratio for the rest of society.  He is saying that the majority of people drink a lot and act crazy.  The minority of people still have a proper lifestyle and a good reputation.  (95 words)

(4.)“There was a light dignified knocking at the front door. I went out and opened it. Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.” (Ch 5)

Wealthy people are human beings too.  Fitzgerald is showing that even the most wealthy people still do not have perfect carefree lives.  Human beings are never entirely satisfied, and even though you have the money to buy everything you could ever want, you still can have the same problems as common people. (52 words.)

(5.)“...he’d agreed to pay five years’ taxes on all the neighboring cottages if the owners would have their roofs thatched with straw. Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of his plan to Found a Family — he went into an immediate decline. His children sold his house with the black wreath still on the door.” (Ch 5)

Fitzgerald wrote this as a message that society is not interested in the old ways of doing things.  If you try to do those things you will be left out in the cold.  A man told a group of people he’d pay all the taxes on their homes if they just had a thatched roof.  None of them would comply.  Even his children sold his house.  Society left him in the dust because they were progressing forward, and would not keep any of the ideals or traditions of the past. (102 words)

Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

The author of Let Teenagers Try Adulthood is correct on his view of high school in general.  The majority of high school classes do not prepare students for life outside of high school.  This being said, education in America should certainly be reformed.

For example, imagine a student with the interest of going into the computer science field.  This student is going to need knowledge of math, especially algebra, and a lot of it.  Great, high school requires four years of math on progressing levels of difficulty.  While you would think that would be good enough, most math classes do not properly explain the math that is being done.  Generally, it is explained as when you see this pattern in the equation, use this method.  It is not, however, explained as this is what this equation is used for and what it means in real world practice.  If advanced math is being taught in the schools, it should be done so in a way that it can actually be applied.  Otherwise it is almost entirely useless information that everyone will immediately dump right after the end of the school year.  

For the most part, this is what happens.  The knowledge gained in the classroom is deemed useless by the brain and the sector is erased so that it may hold more valuable data.  Of course, this is not just about math courses, but any and all subjects taught in high school.  If they are not useful for the student they should either be done away with or remapped so that they are taught more practically.  High school should be a place where students learn to be functioning members of society in the adult world.  If educators are not teaching practical information, the students actual knowledge of the subject is null and the purpose of high school is void.

In high school, students should be taught why the information is relevant and how to apply it in the future.  If this is done, students will be more prepared for the rest of their lives and be more successful.  If students are more successful, the nation as a whole will be more successful as students are the future.  This is why it is extremely important for high schools to teach practically, if they do not, progress is not being made.  In fact, if students are being taught incorrectly, as a society, we could fall back on ourselves.

All this being said, it is very important that high schools ready students for their adult life.  Without an education including the application of information, all of that instruction is useless and will have to be retaught when it is needed.  If the information being taught in the school is important, it must be explained on a real world level.  Otherwise, it is almost as if nothing is being taught at all.  If nothing is being learned in a place of education,  it should be reformed so that it may provide education in a more efficient way.