Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"Collective unconscious urgin me on and whispering to me that a great injustice was being perpetrated and that it was up to me to expose this condition"

This sentence spoke out loud to me. Pat Conroy saw that the students of Yam craw Island were being mistreated in every sense of the word. The students on the only had been given an injustice because none of them could read or write well at all. They had no clue that there was a world outside of Yamacraw Island. He took it upon himself to take action and find someone who can and will actually do something about the problems facing the students of Yamacraw Island.  These students as in all students deserve to get the best education as possible. I was shocked when I read about the students not knowing that Georgia was very close by and none of the students knew where they were located on the map. pat Conroy ensures that something needs to be done and hopefully by the end of the book something extraordinary would have taken place for these students. I feel the urgency that Pat Conroy feels is necessary for these students. But I question as to why teachers before this had not tried to do something about the students. Did the other teachers not care or just not have the resources needed to do something about it? These students deserve to know what ocean surrounds them and I think Pat Conroy is going to see that these students are going to learn something from him. These students are important and in order for them to proceed and get off the island they need to further their education. They may even decide to stay on the Island and help other students as they learn.

2 comments:

  1. This is an excellent choice for your sentence, Cathy! The whole notion of a "collective unconscious" is a pretty powerful idea all by itself. This is a good post, and I think that some of the questions you ask will be answered in some ways as you read the upcoming chapters. However, some questions still hang in the air even today, so I'm not sure we can answer them. The book just sheds light on the injustices he talks about in that sentence you've selected. Good post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought that the sentence you chose was very interesting. The way the sentence starts off confused me, but I had to read it a few times to understand it. It was hard reading about how these children did not know anything. Chapter two made me very upset because of the way these children had to live. However, I did like to see Conroy challenge himself. As first year teachers we are going to get our students, and we are going to have to figure out how much they know. And just like Conroy we are going to have to challenge ourselves so we can meet their needs. I want to see how Conroy is going to change things for these kids.

    ReplyDelete