I have wasted a huge amount of time trolling for a transcript of this scene from The Breakfast Club. I have long thought it was the most brilliant scene in the movie. In the movie, Anthony Michael Hall's character, Brian Johnson, tells that the reason he's in detention is because he was contemplating killing himself because of his bad shop grade. The gun he brought to school with which to kill himself accidently went off in his locker, and for this he got ..... detention. Now, he would get probation. But, that's beside the point. The following is an exchange between Brian Johnson and John Bender (played by Judd Nelson):
Brian: I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'Cause I thought, I'll take shop, it'll be such an easy way to maintain my grade point average.
Bender: Why'd you think it'd be easy?Brian: Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?Bender: I take shop. You must be a *****' idiot!
Brian: I'm a *****' idiot because I can't make a lamp?
Bender: No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp.
Brian: What do you know about Trigonometry?
Bender: I could care less about Trigonometry.
Brian: Bender, did you know without Trigonometry there'd be no engineering?
Bender: Without lamps, there'd be no light.
Why am I thinking of this? In C.S. Lewis' Present Concerns, there is an essay called Democratic Education. In it Lewis comes across as a complete elitest pig. Seriously, I would be embarrassed for a friend who was not familiar with C.S. Lewis to read this book as a first exposure. If I were not already a fan of his other works, I would never pick up another book after this one. Mom says there's another one later in the book that's worse, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
In Democratic Education Lewis basically says that students he would consider to be dull should have to sit through Latin class - inspite of the fact that they 1) can't learn Latin, 2) could care less about Latin, 3) have no practical use for Latin because in Lewis' mind it is important for these students to learn that they are inferior. But, don't believe me - let's quote Lewis himself:
Keep in mind, I went to an all-girl Catholic school, but I never heard of anything like wood carving class. I've heard of word working class, shop class, and when we lived in Powhatan there was the very imaginitavely named Building class. What they taught in classes like these were completely unimportant things like how to use a level, a triangle, make sure these kids actually knew how to read a ruler (completely unimportant in building), how to measure and cut, etc.. And the kids in these classes - well, they built things. The common thing I noticed about the kids who took these classes - besides that they weren't usually real academically inclined - was that 1) those kids weren't usually dumb. They just didn't give a rat's butt about Latin. The truly dumb kids were in special ed and were generally not allowed to play with sharp tools. 2) They liked the class. It was something they excelled at, but if Lewis couldn't excel at it it must be worthless, 3) It gave them the skills they needed to get completely unimportant jobs like being carpenters, mechanics, or be apprenticed as some other job that isn't real work. Because, you know, that being able to build furniture, cabinets, houses, repair a car is not real work!!! It is not important! What is important is to make these kids sit through classes in a dead language nobody actually speaks anymore. They must know they are not clever, so that people like C.S. Lewis could feel superior to them!!!! Never mind that if we'd asked C.S. Lewis to whittle a boat (or build a lamp) he probably would have cut off one of his non-flexible thumbs with the knife. But, then we are talking about a man who couldn't drive a car - let alone fix one.
Brian: I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'Cause I thought, I'll take shop, it'll be such an easy way to maintain my grade point average.
Bender: Why'd you think it'd be easy?Brian: Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?Bender: I take shop. You must be a *****' idiot!
Brian: I'm a *****' idiot because I can't make a lamp?
Bender: No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp.
Brian: What do you know about Trigonometry?
Bender: I could care less about Trigonometry.
Brian: Bender, did you know without Trigonometry there'd be no engineering?
Bender: Without lamps, there'd be no light.
Why am I thinking of this? In C.S. Lewis' Present Concerns, there is an essay called Democratic Education. In it Lewis comes across as a complete elitest pig. Seriously, I would be embarrassed for a friend who was not familiar with C.S. Lewis to read this book as a first exposure. If I were not already a fan of his other works, I would never pick up another book after this one. Mom says there's another one later in the book that's worse, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
In Democratic Education Lewis basically says that students he would consider to be dull should have to sit through Latin class - inspite of the fact that they 1) can't learn Latin, 2) could care less about Latin, 3) have no practical use for Latin because in Lewis' mind it is important for these students to learn that they are inferior. But, don't believe me - let's quote Lewis himself:
"......And one priceless benefit he will enjoy: he will know he's not
clever. The distinction between him and the great brains will have been
made clear to him ever since, in the playground, he punched the heads containing
those great brains. He will have a certain, half amused respect for
them. He will cheerfully admit that, though he could knock the spots off
them on the golf links, they know and do what he cannot...."
"....When (during a Latin lesson really intended for his betters) he is
contentedly whittling a piece of wood into a boat under the desk, must you come
in to discover a "talent" and pack him off to the woodcarving class, so
that what hitherto was fun must become one more lesson? Do you think he
will tank you? Half the charm of carcing the boat lay in the fact that it
involved a resistance to authority. Must you take that pleasure - a
pleasure without which no true democracy can exist - away from him? Give
him marks for his hobby, officialize it, finally fool the poor boy into the
belief that what he is doing is just as cleaver "in it's own way" as real
work?...."
Keep in mind, I went to an all-girl Catholic school, but I never heard of anything like wood carving class. I've heard of word working class, shop class, and when we lived in Powhatan there was the very imaginitavely named Building class. What they taught in classes like these were completely unimportant things like how to use a level, a triangle, make sure these kids actually knew how to read a ruler (completely unimportant in building), how to measure and cut, etc.. And the kids in these classes - well, they built things. The common thing I noticed about the kids who took these classes - besides that they weren't usually real academically inclined - was that 1) those kids weren't usually dumb. They just didn't give a rat's butt about Latin. The truly dumb kids were in special ed and were generally not allowed to play with sharp tools. 2) They liked the class. It was something they excelled at, but if Lewis couldn't excel at it it must be worthless, 3) It gave them the skills they needed to get completely unimportant jobs like being carpenters, mechanics, or be apprenticed as some other job that isn't real work. Because, you know, that being able to build furniture, cabinets, houses, repair a car is not real work!!! It is not important! What is important is to make these kids sit through classes in a dead language nobody actually speaks anymore. They must know they are not clever, so that people like C.S. Lewis could feel superior to them!!!! Never mind that if we'd asked C.S. Lewis to whittle a boat (or build a lamp) he probably would have cut off one of his non-flexible thumbs with the knife. But, then we are talking about a man who couldn't drive a car - let alone fix one.
posted by Waltzing Matilda at 2:50 PM
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