On the Education System

           Writers Kurt Vonnegut and Ralph Ellison touch on a powerful subject in the short stories “Harrison Bergeron” and “Battle Royal”, respectively: education. Education is a broad and controversial topic which these two stories reflect on and shows the flaws in the subject’s system. Vonnegut shows how those in charge strive to make people the same whereas Ellison displays the attitude towards some people even if they have an education. Although the writers touch on different issues, the works show the flaws I the education system.

            In Ellison’s “Battle Royal”, the readers are shown that even if a person has an education and is eloquently sound, others will not see the value of them. The narrator of the piece became known after giving a speech at his graduation. He would go on to say, “It was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town's leading white citizens. It was a triumph for the whole community.” The narrator thought that due to his education and eloquence, people are now seeing him for what he is worth. But when he arrives to give his speech to the leading citizens, he finds out that it was not what he thought. Instead of a formal and well-mannered event he said the leaders were “wolfing down the buffet foods, drinking beer and whiskey and smoking black cigars.”

            Even though the scene was not what he hoped for, he was still ready to give his speech. He and his other classmates were forced to compete in a battle royal for a monetary award. He admits that this is sort of beneath him in a way. For example, “[…] I suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech. In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington… I felt superior to them in my way.” It seemed as if the town's leading white citizens, made of doctors, lawyer, and even the superintendent, did not care about whether he gave the speech or not. The leaders just wanted to be entertained. After the battle royal, the narrator is bloodied and sweaty, that is when the M.C. remembers that someone was there to give a speech.

While he gave his speech, the audience did not pay attention to him or laughed at him. And often interrupted him because he would “utter a word of three or more syllables.” They would yell at him to repeat those words. Ellison does a good job of showing that no matter how eloquent your education is, people will not see your worth. Although this piece was published in the 1950s, this moment still holds truth and meaning in today’s society where having a degree will get you nowhere.

In Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, he depicts a life in the future were people are forced to be equal. For those who had certain qualities and capabilities, which were considered above average, were “handicapped.” For example, George would receive a painful noise, via government transmitter, if he had a certain thought or said anything that would be considered intelligent. Or another example would be Harrison Bergeron, who had many handicaps that was described as such:

“[…] he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides. Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.”

            This relates to today’s education in more ways than one. In today’s educational system, the officials strive to make students equal. They want to accomplish this by elevating the curriculum in normal classrooms to the level of Advanced Placement or Honors courses. They do this without thinking about some students who either cannot think on that level or those who are on an advanced level. Both ways can end up damaging the students’ grades. Lower leveled students will not be able to comprehend the assignments whereas the higher leveled students will not find the work challenging, then resort to slacking in work.

            In conclusion, even though these writers may have come from different backgrounds and talk about different subjects, they still are able to touch on education. Though both stories were written over fifty years ago, they can properly show the flaws in our education system today.  Kurt Vonnegut shows that making people equal can be a cruel thing and Ralph Ellison tells the readers that even if you are educated, with all the proper qualifications, people will not completely see one’s worth. These are major problems on education in current times that should be addressed and improved.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. "Battle Royal." 1952. Web. 6 Apr. 2016. <http://www.stjohns-chs.org/english/njones_courses/battleroyale.pdf>.

Vonnegut, Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron." Oct. 1961. Web. 6 Apr. 2016. <http://wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf>.