Summary:
Throughout the story, E.B White did do an excellent job in trying to remain neutral and unbiased in his comparison between the country school and the city school.
Anna Machuca
English 1301.740
June 10, 2006
Title
In E.B White's essay titled "Education" he is comparing two types of school systems a private school and a public school system. He also compares receiving an education in a rural area to receiving one in an urban area. Throughout the story E.B White maintains a voice that is casual and informal, as he tries to remain neutral and unbiased between the two types of school systems. Even as he excelled well in delivering neutral comparisons between the two systems, in actuality the direction of the speaker's voice and the use of subtle words throughout the text seem to point that he favored one of the systems, the country system. The second paragraph of the story makes it perfectly clear that he preferred the public system when he states "I have always rather favored public school over private school, if only because in public school you meet a greater variety of children" (White 483). I would have to agree with White on preferring a public school to a private school because to me public schools offer the best well rounding of a student. While being enrolled in a public school students are faced with real outside world problems, are with a different blend of students each year, and are also introduced to the technology faster.
It is obvious very early on in the essay that not only is E.B White is speaking out in favor of the country school over the city school, but he portrays his relationship with his son as a good one. Having experienced the life of public school (in a city), White made the decision to send his child to a school where the teachers were able to get to know the children on a personal level. According to White the teacher in the country school was the guardian of their health, clothes, habits, mothers and their snowball engagements (White 483). I still remember my daughters first
day of kindergarten she cried and cried all day. It was very hard for her to get adjusted but she was lucky enough to have a teacher with all the traits that White mentioned in the essay. If not for the teachers warm personality it would have taken her longer to get adjusted. To this day she still remembers her Kindergarten teacher and will probably never forget her. In descriving the country school White describes it as being more casual and a school where a uniform wasn't required, corduroys, a sweatshirt and short rubber boots seemed to be the appropriate attire for the country school (White 484).
When the "scholar" was attending a private institution in New York White states "at school the scholar was worked on for six or seven hours by half a dozen teachers and a nurse and was revived by orange juice in midmorning" (White 484). A statement like that does not portray a positive image of the school and while at the more casual school he was only worked by one teacher instead of half a dozen. It seems that the scholar's father preferred his son not to be over worked. I don't think that any parent would want their children to be overworked. When it was time to go to school he was "accompanied by a nurse or a parent and walked two blocks to a corner where the school bus made a flag stop" (White 484). White was not to impressed about the bus "this flashy vehicle was as punctual as death: seeing us waiting at the cold curb, it would sweep to a halt, open its mouth, suck the boy in and spring away with an angry growl." (White 484). He also describes the bus stop as a "train station just picking up a bag of mail" as opposed to the more personal experience of father. When it was time to go to school out in the rural area and the roads were open "he makes his journey by motor courtesy of his old man... in the afternoon he walks or hitches all or part of the way home in fair weather, gets transported in foul" (White 484). His son never specified as to which school he preferred but when he was asked as to which one is better he stated "the chief difference is that the day seems to go so much quicker in the country...just like lightning" (White 485). Toward the end of the story White stated "the only difference we can discover in the two school experiences is that in the country he sleeps better at night-and that is probably more the air than the education" (White 484-485). I would have to think that the reason he was sleeping better was probably because he was not so stressed out. One must remember that when his son was going to school at the private institution he was revived by orange juice. The type of environment in which a child receives an education is a major factor in how a child behaves or how much stress they go through.
Throughout the story, E.B White did do an excellent job in trying to remain neutral and unbiased in his comparison between the country school and the city school. White's voice parallels the nature of the public school- it's homely, charming, down to earth and not rigid. Even though, there are many differences and similarities between public schools and private schools the main goal of both institutions should be to provide a sound education for today's youth. All too often the quality of a child's education is determined by the economic status of the family. The education standards of today's schools need to be set high and at the same time the goals by the schools need to be attainable to give students a feeling of succe
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