P.S.
I would love to see some more back and forth between comments, maybe we can make this more of a discussion as oppose to just a collaboration of opinions.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Ender's Game
Since we didn't have a blog last week I thought I'd bring back Ender's Game because it's my favorite book of all time (besides Harry Potter of course). In class the bulk of our discussion was focused on the morality of the bugger war and Graff's actions. I want this blog to be focused on Ender and the other young soldiers, like Bean, Petra, Dink, etc. So I have a few questions, who of the kids at Battle School/Commander School do you believe had a significant rite of passage/coming of age moment? Did they grow together as a team or was each an individual journey? In the real world, do you think children would be able to handle battle school, or is this book entirely unrealistic? Would children be able to handle boot camp, today's form of battle school?
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I think certain children have a lot more potential than they're given credit for. I'm not saying it would be morally sound but I think even kids as young as six or seven could deal with some sort of boot camp similar to the battle school. Whether or no they'd turn out to be socially functioning adults is another story but I could see them adjusting to that kind of childhood.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sage. I think we don't give enough credit to the strength that kids are capable of. Not that i agree with the battle school method at all, but i think that there is value in challenging kids. They would develop to be stronger and more experienced adults, i think.
ReplyDeleteChildren can excel in "battle school" type environments and a few might take that into adulthood but if they really did have it a majority of the students would eventually burn out. There are a bunch of childhood prodigies that are supposed to be the "next big thing" but they never really reach their full adult potential. Todd Marinovich comes to mind for me. He was an NFL quarterback prodigy, trained since he was a kid. His dad even tied his right hand behind his back as a kid so he would be a lefty. He got to the NFL but he faded fast. Being forced battle school too soon would ruin many childhoods and students would grow to resent battle. I think that if they wanted to have a successful battle school it would have to be voluntary and the children would have to be a couple of years older.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/todd-marinovich-0509
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Marinovich
Like Sage and Alex were saying, kids do deserve more credit. But more than battle school or separating kids further from each other I think is how it could apply to every school we already have. Especially comparing the school districts I've been in, I can say challenging kids is important in how much growth they will actually achieve.
ReplyDeleteAs to what I mean about separating kids further from each other, I've been having a lot of conversations recently about the purpose of (in general) honors programs, about the payoff in some areas but also the price we pay for them. It is interesting to see the different perspectives.
-Danyelle W.
I think Ender definitely had the biggest coming of ago moment in the book, no doubt about it. I think some of the other kids helped Ender come of age, but not so much the other way around.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else said, I think kids would be able to handle battle school if they had to. In Africa, there are child soldiers, some who volunteer, though often because they don't have many other choices. While it's a drastic example, I still think it shows that they are able to do it.
Added note: they are remorseful and were tortured, but they still made it through it. But looking back, I think it was a bad example.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Brianna and say that Ender had the most profound coming of age moment. The book does talk about the other children, but doesn't go into much detail about them. I would say the others helped Ender along the way, but none of them really had their own moment. The Shadow series does go into more detail about Bean and some of the other kids and shows their different coming of age moments. I would highly recommend reading that series.
ReplyDeleteChildren aren't given all of the credit they deserve. They are more resilient than we might think. We all have our limits, but I think that those of kids are higher than we might expect.
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ReplyDeleteKevin Saavedra said...
ReplyDeleteHmmm...this is a good question. First off, child geniuses are probably a lot more common than we think. For example, back in my junior year of highschool, I saw a sixth grader walking around. When I asked my friends about it, they said he was in their calculus class. Now that I think about it...I still haven't taken calc.
I suppose the real question is whether or not they'd be able to handle the emotional strain. The childrens' maturity was pretty startling as I read the book, but I'm reluctant to say it was improbable. Considering the environment they've grown up in--the threat of being completely annihilated at any second--I'm sure there's all kinds of environmental conditioning that isn't fully discussed in the novel. It's implied, though, and I think given the circumstances, "boot camp" would be something they could tackle.
I think a lot of depends on the society that the Kids grow up. those kids grew up fearing the buggers and learning how to hate and fight them. Today's kids are taught nothing of the sort. At most, they learn how to fight each other with pool noodles and fake guns, but the mentality is different. Card creates a world in his book that makes a situation where Kids would be capable of the actions of the students in the Battle school
ReplyDeleteThe children in the book were brought up with adults instilling in their minds that they were born for the purpose of battle. With this mindset of being battle heroes and also the natural instinct of children wanting to be praised by their parents would make the children more motivated to accomplish something that we see in our society as impossible.
ReplyDeleteEnder's game does talk about the other children, but thetr is not enough information about them to determine when and how they came of age. These children definetly came of age, they were exposed to diversity and accepted it. The relationships that they built with their team would be a sign of coming of age.