So, I found a piece that I wrote back when I was a senior in high school. I had recently read Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "Harrison Bergeron," and this idea of individuality and equality fascinated me for quite a while. It was also not too long after the infamous "No Child Left Behind" law was being implemented. So this is a mesh of ideas that wandered around my head at the time. Some of the ideas I had back then have changed over time, but while I made a few grammatical and word-choice changes, I've kept the ideas in their original format. So, I apologize, no pictures, but...I still hope you enjoy the read.
The Declaration of
Independence of the United States declares that, “All men are created equal and
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” which provides
each person in our country with equality before the law. It is truly an amazing
statement, and as far as the Founding Fathers intended that statement to go,
the statement rings true. However, human beings come into the world with their
own talents and disadvantages. In this regard, people are not the same, and
unfortunately—or perhaps not--unequal.
With issues like the NCLB, gay rights, racial discrimination, the feminist movement, and other such controversial issues looming around us, it seems plainly apparent that equality has yet to be achieved. In fact, equality under the law is one issue, but equality in all aspects of life eludes us. We weren’t meant to be the same with regards to talents, looks, opportunities, and so on. Everyone enters life at a different level and achieves at a different level. By trying to make everyone the same, we risk losing the rich fabric of diversity of life -- our uniqueness. While everyone should be viewed the same with regards to human kindness, as in, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” in other aspects it remains impossible, and quite rightly so, to make everyone the same. Individuality is the key to living in a great world.
The
No Child Left Behind law exemplifies the kids’ version of Harrison Bergeron. We
have tried to insist that every child needs the same educational experience; it
even sounds nice on paper. When you take a closer look, however, it just
doesn’t work. You can’t make someone learn things beyond their mental capacity,
for one thing. A child who gets no parental help won’t learn at the same rate
as a child who gets 2 hours of help at home each night. The reality remains
that, rather than helping the slower children catch up, we require so little of
the smarter ones that they aren’t learning at all. On paper, it may look like
we are improving, when actually we make almost everyone achieve at the 50%
level. This piece of legislation undermines the real goal, which is to supply
each child with the best education possible for them.
Let’s
look at what present American education provides in the long run. At the end of
WWII, Japanese Admiral Sadatoshi Tomioka squarely placed the blame for losing
the war on the Japanese education system. He observed, “We taught figures and
facts at the expense of individual thinking.” The Japanese soldier had been
indoctrinated with intolerance for those who failed to conform. The end result
were soldiers who could only follow orders; they couldn’t for the life of them
personally decide on the proper course of action.
Should
America do the exact same thing, forcing facts into kid’s heads at astounding
rates, while individual thinking and creativity, the two things that make
America great, grow less important? When will we realize that taking and
passing a test does not equal real life? For one, how many professional test
takers do you know? The Japanese, for all of their many admirable qualities,
aren’t in the invention business. They are to be commended for their abilities
to produce, and occasionally make improvements on products. However, invention
and production are not interchangeable. But that is ok. Just as people are
different, our countries, and the functions that they perform, are diverse. Our
countries together are able to accomplish and learn so much more because of our
differences.
The
reason some think everyone needs to be perfectly equal depends on regretful
fact that those who press for equality in everything twist reality in the hopes
of appearing magnanimous and successful at implementing their policies.
Sometimes their motivation lies in political power, sometimes they see it as a
way to make money. Yes, everyone should be equal before the law, and the idea
of equality in all aspects of life intrigues the human mind, but life would
sink into boring sameness were it really to happen. Those who insist on
equality in every regard tend to be noisemakers, and the majority of us
mistakenly think that everyone else is in agreement. And so we remain silent.
With education, instead of trying to make it look on paper like all of our
students are passing, we need to push all of our students to achieve their own,
personal best. We want America to have great inventors and thinkers, not to
become a country bogged down with people who can compute but can’t think.
Equality
seems to be the ruling factor in those futuristic people who see no danger in
cloning humans. The creation of life in a bottle should not be relegated to
humans. What right do we have to make people be exactly what we want? Many
parents say they want the perfect kid. Since almost every parent would like to
have a “perfect” kid, pretty soon all kids would be the same. If we started
cloning people and the technology got into the hands of someone evil, who knows
what kind of fiasco we would have on our hands? If cloning became commonplace,
the whole idea of humanity would, of necessity, change.
Sometimes
people themselves try to become like someone else. Teens especially find
someone they admire for one reason or another, often for the wrong reasons, and
think that if they dress like that person, or eat what they eat, or do what they
do that they will be just like that person. There’s nothing wrong with having a
role model; in fact, having one is great if you pick the right person. For
example if you like skateboarding and want to be good, pick up a few tips from
Tony Hawks. But don’t use him as a model for citizenship or health. Drugs won’t
help you be a better skateboarder.
Harrison
Bergeron is my hero. This story of him portrays the idea brilliantly, showing
what would happen if everyone could truly be equal. An absolute nightmare. It
is our individuality that keeps us strong. Readers feel uncomfortable with the
ending of the story, but I would suggest it was written this way to make a good
point. The author wants us to think for ourselves. To be who we are. Everyone
needs to use his or her abilities as much as possible, and we all have the
right to be an individual. No one should mess with that. No one.
This
story raises plenty of good questions. First of all, could this happen? Are the
things our government and other vocal groups doing slowly “encouraging” us to
conform? Is there a way to stop it from happening? What would life be like in
this type of setting? Would it be worth living? Serious issues require us to at
least be aware of the freedoms we have. Unfortunately, many kids my age
wouldn’t be interested in thinking about the issues this story raises. They
would get kind of a glazed look, wonder aloud what I was talking about, and go
back to their video games. I imagine that even some adults would either not
understand or not care.
Losing
our individuality could easily happen should we take our freedoms for granted.
America rose from the original thinkers of Europe who couldn’t find a place for
their ideas in the societies they belonged to. Our individual thinking and
individuality keeps our country strong. The power of individuality, which made
our nation great, is worth fighting for.
