Thursday, December 9, 2010

Strict Schedules

                During discussion and while reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, my fellow classmates and I expressed our dislikes about the organization and timely schedule of the ward. With short time intervals chopping up the day and leaving the patients with a limited amount of personal freedom, we quickly made statements about our dislike for the absurdly orderly fashion. Yet today when Ms. Serensky states a day will come up shortly in which she discusses “why she is the way she” we all freak out demanding why the schedule does not include such a day. In the blink of an eye we all had our schedules for the month out on our desks looking for hints as to which day this could occur. We completely miss the realization that Ms. Serensky has told us there exists a reason for why she is the way she is and she has chosen to share her story with us. So I ask how we can condemn the patients for their acceptance of such a strict schedule when we in fact could not function without one of our own?

2 comments:

  1. Tina I think you bring up a very interesting point because in our class we also discussed the rigid schedules for the patients. And although many students think that they need personal freedom, I disagree strongly. I think that this type of environment necessitates a very strict and carefully planned schedule. We often lose sight of reality while we criticize characters or occurrences in the novels we read. It is very easy for us to sit back and express our disapproval with the nurse and with mental health institutions at the time for not giving the insane patients time to do as they pleased. However, it is much more difficult to try to understand the circumstances and think logically, not in an idealistic sense, about what type of a schedule can really be used.

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  2. Tina, I think it all goes back to how critical we have become of these characters. I know our class can speak on such brutal topics as, "did he deserve for his father to die?” What kind of question is that! I do however justify our criticism by asserting that we as students have been brought up to act and write as critics. We devour pages upon pages and then write a short essay on why the author did something and was it effective. We have come to journal about our names and how we resent our parents for their meaningless and ordinary choices. We even blog about fellow students, and other teacher’s. In short, I think A.P. English students are now picking apart everything, people, life, friends, and teachers. So isn’t it only natural for that critical mindset to transfer into our nightly reading?

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