Scarica Hard Times: il tema dell'insegnamento e più Temi in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Hard Times and education The aspect of education is another aspect which was highly affected by the new philosophy of that time. Hard Times is a novel in which Dickens wants to emphasize and attack the negative consequences of the values imposed in this society after industrialisation. The main protagonists are Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby. Mr Gradgrind is a headmaster, a teacher who applies in his school the principles of Utilitarianism and the values imposed by his society. He is convinced that everything can be measured and controlled. He believes that students should be filled with facts, which are the most important thing in life and he's also convinced that he can teach them these values which according to him are the best in life. He adopts the same educational method at home with his two children, a son and a daughter, and teaches them the same principles. His daughter marries a much older man without love and their marriage ends in unhappiness. She is prey of the attention of another man. His son turns into a thief and blames other people in Mr Bounderby's factory in order to reach his goal. Mr Bounderby considers the workers of his factory as numbers, as objects without an inner life. Both Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby apply in their fields of interest the concepts imposed by Utilitarianism. The conclusion of the novel is that Mr Gradgrind’s daughter tells his father about her unhappiness, he understands that he was wrong, then he also realizes that his son has become dishonest and finally understands what are the true values in life. Mr Bounderby loses his reputation, shows his real face and dies of a stroke. In conclusion the characters of the novel, who had based all their life on facts and new values, understand that these values were wrong and false. Utilitarianism is a philosophical doctrine which based all values on utility, considered in the material benefit it promoted. It affected all fields of human life and also education. In the field of education Thomas Gradgrind thinks that education must be strictly functional, for this reason children in his school are considered as numbers and they have to learn the scientific explanation of what they study, generally they learn everything by heart. Children were not given the possibility to study arts and literature, which helped people grow spiritually. He wants to teach facts, instead of helping them improve as individuals from a spiritual point of view, he wants to turn them into machines filled with facts. Hard times focuses on the differences between riches and poors. The characters in this story are functional to denounce the gap between poor and rich people and criticise the materialism and narrow mindedness of the society of that time and denounce utilitarianism too, because this was the basic Victorian attitude to economics. Dickens in Hard Times wanted to tell that England was turning humans into machines by avoiding the development _of emotions and imagination, it's important because through education and culture people grow and develop, they can nourish The consequences of this behaviour are that materialism is the key-word in this society, Utilitarianism is the main doctrine and in the field of education memory is given importance at the expense of imagination, one of the main factors that it's necessary to develop in children. Mr Gradgrind at school believes that human nature can be measured and governed by rational rules, so he turns his pupils into machines that behave according to these rules. Mr Bounderby considers workers as machines because he wants to protect his self interests. Dickens wanted to show people the dangers, which are possible by adopting this way of looking at life and adopting this doctrine. He wanted to show what is really important in life, that to say the fundamental values of the past, so compassion. imagination, friendship, honesty and empathy. Without all these values life would be unliveable. It is an attack against these institutions who wanted to tum people into machines because for them the only values that mattered were money, rationalism. profit. facts and materialism. People are aimed at producing profit, neglecting all those aspects that instead are necessary in life. Education is vital because at school especially today, teachers want to help children adopt a critical attitude towards life because it helps them when it comes to facing problems and obstacles and helps them grow spiritually, which is fundamental in life and in human relationships. Dickens experienced the educational system in England at that time and as a grown up he visited schools to understand the negative aspects of education and educational methods. According to him good educational methods were distorted in Victorians schools and he wanted to talk about these bad educational systems in his work. (Coketown is the symbol of the poverty of these people, which is not only a real poverty but it's especially a spiritual poverty. Dickens wanted to underline people's spiritual poverty, the worst aspect of this society.)